Great Food Tasting Experience Drama ---- Yu Xian Du: A Flavor Lasting for Thousands of Years

Brief Introduction

Yu Xian Du. A Flavor Lasting for Thousands of Years, a grand drama with food tasting experience staged in the Chinese Royal Gastronomy Museum and with promoting traditional Chinese catering culture and civilization as its thread, is created based on the historical record on the conservation and inheritance of the cooking techniques in Chinese imperial cuisine as a non-material cultural heritage. It is divided into four scenes, namely the Flavor of Delicacies in Zhou and Qin Dynasties, the Feast Style of Han and Tang Dynasties, the Popularity of Mutton Dishes in Song and Yuan Dynasties, and the Heyday of Cuisine in Ming and Qing Dynasties, combining films, TV plays, songs, dances, innovative and fanciful performances, and interesting interactions together with various historical figures appearing on the stage. The food tasting experience which lasts for nearly one hour covers the traditional Chinese catering culture which has a 3,000 years of history, presents the past in the reality, and brings this non-material cultural heritage alive at the moment.

“Enjoying a Royal Feast, Traveling Through 3,000 Years of History”. Focusing on the New Normal of Chinese economy and new demands from cultural development and tourism development of China, Yu Xian Du: A Flavor Lasting for Thousands of Years is an original experience drama which integrates culture and catering together. It is a golden representative of the cultural tourism of Beijing, a magnificent feast of traditional Chinese catering culture, and a classical work which promotes morality and civilization.

This drama is brought to you by the Beijing Kairui Yuxiandu Catering Investment Holding Group with a huge investment.

Act 1 Flavor of Delicacies in the Zhou and Qin Dynasties

King Wu prepares a feast for Jiang Ziya,

Son of Heaven orders to cook delicacies, which must taste extremely delicious.

The female cook, holding a stick to make ingredients,

Looks graceful and gorgeous.

Tian Zi Dao Zhen 天子捣珍

This dish originates from the imperial palace of the Zhou Dynasty and was one of the top eight delicacies of the Son of Heaven of the Zhou Dynasty. Now we select fine beef, mutton, deer meat or other meats, and the bones and sinews are stripped before they are beaten into minced meat. Cooked with ingredients, the dish will taste tender and crispy and be very good for your health, especially for your spleen. It is regarded as the earliest “steak” ever found.

Carved pot holds delicacies,

Beautiful ladies carry them pacing gracefully.

Miyue eats them and begins to think about her hometown,

They really deserve their reputation.

Da Chu Tian Xia 大出天下

Stewed soft-shelled turtle, which was a renowned dish in the palace of the Chu Kingdom. After becoming the empress of the Qin Dynasty, Miyue brought this dish to the Qin Kingdom. After the Qin Kingdom defeated his six enemies and became the Qin Empire, this dish was finally given the name “Da Chu Tian Xia (大出天下)”. These soft-shelled turtles originate from Chudi (the area where the Chu Kingdom once occupied). To cook this delicacy, you should boil, fry or stew the turtle by adding different ingredients. The meat tastes tender and the soup is really fresh and tasty. Eating this fish can benefit your liver, stomach, kidney and other organs of your body.

Act 2 Feast Style of Han and Tang Dynasties

Zhang Qian first begins the Silk Road,

And brings home the beauties of Xiyue.

They look gorgeous and gracefully dance,

Which seems like fairies dance on Earth.

Huainan Tofu 淮南豆腐

Tofu was invented by Liu An, Ruler of Huainan in the Western Han Dynasty. He and other seven people prepared three furnaces in Bagong Mountain to produce elixir but produced tofu as a result, which was reputed as “vegetarian meat” and only eaten in the imperial palace. Later, it was spread to the average civilians’ families and Japan and has become a delicious meal good for your health, Stewed with chicken soup, shrimps and lettuce, Huainan Tofu tastes even more delicious and is full of nutrition today.

Green sleeves move up and down,

Dress hems dance from side to side.

Taste the delicacy and enjoy the beautiful dance,

Red gowns look charming.

Ru Niang Yu 乳酿鱼

This was a famous dish in the imperial palace of the Tang Dynasty. It is recorded that when a senior courtier named Wei Juyuan once prepared a fish feast as a gift to Tang Zhong Zong, in which there was Ru Niang Yu. Now cooked with the old method and combing the healthy eating concept of modern times, today’s Ru Niang Yu has white soup and tender fish meat and tastes really delicious. This delicacy has no fish bones and can benefit your spleen and help you have healthier blood, and so it is suitable for everyone.

Act 3 Popularity of Mutton Dishes in Song and Yuan Dynasties

Blue sky, white clouds and a prairie,

Mongolian girls dance like happy birds.

Holding Hada and singing about “Three Treasures”,

They bring auspiciousness and peace to us.

Roasted Whole Lamb 烤全羊

This was a famous dish in the imperial palace of the Yuan Dynasty. Today we choose the local lambs of Alxa League and roast them with traditional techniques. After being processed many times, each lamb that has been roasted looks golden and tastes crispy and very delicious. It said eating the lamb is good for your health.

Quiet and modest maidens are slender,

Making people drunk as they dance.

With their heart and soul to give Xiang Cheng,

They make the guests pleased and satisfied.

Xie Xiang Cheng 蟹镶橙

This was a famous dish in the imperial palace of the Song Dynasty. It is recorded by the Old Stories of Wulin, once the ruler of Qinghe Shire Zhang Jun invited Song Gao Zong to drink at his mansion, he had Xie Xiang Cheng on his menu, which was cooked in a process that one puts crab meat into an orange and steam them with other condiments. This dish looks beautiful and tastes really good.

Act 4 Heyday of Cuisine in Ming and Qing Dynasties

The melodious music from the Guzheng floats between the mountains and waters,

The shadows of swords and slender figures are here, and that’s why Jiangnan is beautiful,

They are like the wild geese soaring into the west wind,

Or like the the powerful dragons swimming through the clouds.

Xi Feng Dong Jian 西风东渐

The imperial cuisine of the Ming Dynasty contained the styles of the south and north of China and more emphasizes seasonal differences. Zheng He led a fleet of huge ships navigating at sea and opened the marine Silk Road, and brought back the vegetables of the outside world to enrich the dining culture of the Ming Dynasty. Cooking this dish, you cannot leave alone cabbages and minced chicken meat, and then rain it with fresh soup and make the soup clear. Not only does this dish taste delicious, but it is also good for your health, especially for relieving cough and eliminating phlegm.

The country prospers in the flourishing times of Emperor Kangxi and Qianlong,

The politics is clean and people have more happiness and live longer.

Toast three times to Heaven,

Everyone is pleased as beautiful ladies happily dance.

Yi Zhang Qian Kun 一掌乾坤

This was a dish in the Ming and Qin Dynasties. Cooking this dish, one must choose the palms of the Bactrian camels in Alxa League and add lily, onion, ginger, yellow rice wine and so on into them. Then, you need to put them into tomatoes to steam. After that, you need to rain them with delicious juice and place them on the trays. Their colors are attractive and taste even better. Therefore, Emperor Qianlong and his mother loved them very much.

Act 1 Flavor of Delicacies in Zhou and Qin Dynasties