Home : China Guide : Jiangsu :Yangzhou
By ZHANG XUEYING

In contrast to neighboring Shanghai and Nanjing, Yangzhou City looks like a small town that has recently begun to prosper. Its central commercial street is lined with various restaurants, teahouses, and barber's shops, rather than skyscrapers and modern shopping malls. It is hard to imagine that 300 years ago it was home to large numbers of rich merchants. These days few local people are willing to work outside Yangzhou, and those obliged to leave their hometown in order to work return as soon as they have made their fortune.

In Yangzhou, traditionally woven blue-and-white fabric is in vogue once more.

Yangzhou dishes may be one of the reasons why the people of Yangzhou are so infatuated with their city. They have an appealing color, aroma, taste and also appearance. The original color of each ingredient is preserved after cooking, and no oily sauce is added, so as to retain the fresh savor of the food.

In Yangzhou all dishes, whether cheap or expensive, are elaborate. Cooks will not scrimp on their work, even with Zhugansi (stewed sliced dry bean curd), a popular dish that costs only a few yuan. Dry bean curd is made by each restaurant that serves it, so the flavor is guaranteed. The cook slices the 1-cm-thick curd into 30 shreds, each one paper-thin but none broken, and then stews them for hours with chopped bamboo shoots and shelled shrimps in chicken soup. In this way the dry bean curd shreds can soak up the flavor of the other ingredients, and the soup is clear but savory. It is not only Yangzhou cooks but also the ordinary people who are conscientious about cooking.

Yangzhou people are particular about ingredients. They eat river clams in the early spring, bamboo shoots in April, Hui fish (leiocassis longirostris) in May and June, and crab in the autumn. The whole year becomes a series of gourmet delights as each season brings own culinary specialty.

In Yangzhou one can enjoy a good meal for a hundred, or just a few yuan. The restaurants in Yangzhou fall into three categories: star-rated hotels, restaurants of traditional fame, such as the Yechun Teahouse and Fuchun Teahouse, and popular eateries, which are generally of spartan decor, but serve typical and economical dishes. The Xingshuo Restaurant on the Guoqing Road is famous for its snacks, while the Wanwan Chicken Restaurant is noted for its chicken soup. In order to try various styles of food, a stroll along Gourmet Street, where there is a concentration of some 100 restaurants of various grades, is strongly recommended.

Public baths are another feature of Yangzhou. Although showers have found their way into all local households, the custom of going to the bathhouse still prevails in Yangzhou, particularly among the younger generation.

At the weekend, many Yangzhou people spend the whole day at the local baths. The newly-built bath-houses usually contain three or four large bathing pools with water of a temperature 20 to 40 degrees centigrade. Some pools contain minerals, which are believed within traditional Chinese medicine to emit salutary elements. After bathing, attendants are on hand to rub the back, pedicure the feet or practice massage, or patrons may recline on a chaise longue, watching videos, taking some snacks or tea, chatting, having a hair-cut, or just sleeping. Waiters tuck bath towels around anyone who nods off. Lunch and dinner are also available, and the full-range service costs only 50 yuan -- one third of the price in Beijing.

Yongningquan on the Guoqing Road is a century-old bathroom. Its facade is a little worn, and the internal decor is in traditional style, taking everyone that crosses its threshold back in time. It still adheres to the public baths custom of admitting men only. The youth in the neighboring communities prefer the newer, better-equipped baths, so Yongningquan has a more elderly clientele, to whom it is a venue for meeting up with old buddies and exchanging chit-chat. Yongningquan is also famed for its excellent pedicures and back-rubs.

Pedicure is a traditional service trade in Yangzhou. In older times Yangzhou was well known in China for its "three knives" -- kitchen knife, razor and pedicure file. In recent years Yangzhou has built up a reputation overseas for its pedicure skill, and a crop of young pedicure masters has emerged. Back rubbing and massage also require stringent training techniques. The public baths in Beijing and Shanghai woo their customers by putting up notices announcing "Yangzhou masters in service."

Having undergone several ups and downs in its history, Yangzhou is now calm and easy. The local residents are content with their lot. It is said that a Yangzhou person never feels depressed even when he is sacked. Instead, he will use his severance pay to invite his friends to have dinner or visit a bathhouse. It seems Yangzhou people are born oblivious of the pressures of life. Around 9 o'clock every morning the elders appear at their gates, and prepare for lunch. They cull vegetables piece by piece, and wash each bundle in several basins of water. At noon they play mah-jong with the neighbors, and start to make dinner around 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

Yangzhou is planning to build a railway to other cities, the first one to go through the city. This is expected to spur the local economy and promote the flow of labor, and will, therefore, obliterate the tranquility of Yangzhou City. (Source: China Today)

   8 days Shanghai-Suzhou-Hangzhou-Wuzhen-Shanghai

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