Traditional Tofu Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
After the tofu-making technique spread among the common people, the mountain folk of Bagong Mountain township made their living by it thanks to their exceptional natural conditions, handing it down from generation to generation and constantly inheriting and perfecting it. By the Song dynasty tofu workshops sprang up like bamboo shoots after rain. In the Ming and Qing periods Bagong Mountain township had several hereditary tofu-making families, including the Lu family workshop, the Lai family workshop and the Huang family workshop.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Shou County tofu-making technique is a traditional food technique that, after spreading from the palace of Liu An, King of Huainan of the Han dynasty, to the common people, was gradually perfected through long exploration and refinement in the course of long-term production. Bagong Mountain township in Shou County lies in the centre of Anhui Province, on the south bank of the middle reaches of the Huai River, at the southern foot of Bagong Mountain; in the Western Han it was the capital of the kingdom of Huainan and today it belongs to Huainan City. The Shou County tofu-making technique mainly produces traditional water tofu, dried tofu and thousand-layer tofu sheets, and mainly comprises such process stages as selecting materials, grinding the slurry, squeezing the slurry and adding gypsum. Specifically, large yellow soybeans from Zhizhu Lake and Shouxi Lake in Bagong Mountain township and water from Agate Spring are chosen as raw materials; the soaked soybeans are ground with water from the springs of Bagong Mountain in a hand-operated stone mill into an evenly ground slurry, and tofu made this way is attractive in colour and good in texture and does little damage to the water-soluble protein in the soybeans; the ground slurry is put into a "cloth bag" and squeezed hard to yield raw soymilk. Gypsum in a strictly measured proportion is added to the hot soymilk, and the slurry is poured twice. In production, everything from the measured proportions used in squeezing the slurry and adding the gypsum to the accurate judgement of climate and temperature requires great care. The Bagong Mountain area abounds in soybeans and has had a tradition of growing and eating soybeans since ancient times. The springs at the foot of the mountain are bright and limpid and sweet, and the mountain folk used the spring water to grind beans and drank soymilk. Liu An, King of Huainan, followed the local customs and, in the course of his long practice of Daoist cultivation and alchemy, invented tofu. Lu You wrote in a poem, "Wiping the tray and pushing the mill round and round, washing the cauldron to boil liqi", describing the technique of making tofu at that time. The Shou County tofu-making technique has a long history and is an important component of traditional Chinese food culture, carrying a profound historical and cultural heritage and rich local cultural colour. The colourful tofu stories, ballads, proverbs and two-part allegorical sayings current among the local people, together with the tofu-making technique, have formed a distinctive tofu culture that has permeated from food into the spiritual realm of mankind, with considerable historical and humanistic value.
Archival Record of Process Steps
The Shou County tofu-making technique mainly produces traditional water tofu, dried tofu and thousand-layer tofu sheets, and mainly comprises such process steps as selecting materials, grinding the slurry, squeezing the slurry and adding gypsum.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Tofu workshops in Bagong Mountain township, Shou County, were handed down by division among families, and by the Ming and Qing periods the craft had become that of several hereditary families, including the Lu, Lai and Huang families: large yellow soybeans from around Zhizhu Lake and Shouxi Lake were taken and matched with water from Agate Spring, the slurry was ground and then squeezed, and gypsum in strictly measured proportions was added to the hot slurry and poured in twice. Compared with the urban area of Huainan, the Shou County process is recorded as grinding the slurry, squeezing the slurry and adding gypsum, with the emphasis falling on the dry hand that squeezes the slurry and on the measurement of the two pourings.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Traditional Tofu Making Craftsmanship · Traditional Tofu Making Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In recent years the Shou County tofu-making technique has been continuously transmitted and developed, playing an important role in supporting local economic and social development.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yang Shuntian 05-2906
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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