South China's Snacks Loved in Beijing

The snacks and holiday treats of South China are always fragile and delicate, light on the tongue and the sensibility. Traditional and beloved, the snacks reflect thousands of years of tradition. Savouring them is an encounter with the beautiful.

So it’s not surprising that these snacks would find their way to Beijing in antiquity, with its refined imperial and scholarly atmosphere.

And so it was that the Dao Xiang Chun Food Company, a Zhonghua Laozihao (China Time Honoured Brand) was established in 1916 at Dongan Market (the original site of the current Beijing apm) on Wangfujing Dajie.

Zhang Senlong, the founder of Dao Xiang Chun, brought his special skills in making South China-taste snacks and cakes to Beijing in 1913 from his hometown in Jiangsu Province. He began by selling meimao roujiao (fried-meat dumplings) and his own hand-made sausage. His business soon exceeded his expectations. Some say it was because his snacks became famed for their high-quality materials and the meticulous skills that were used in making the snacks. Seizing his opportunity, Zhang

Senlong set up several food stores under the name Sen Chun Yang before later establishing the Dao Xiang Chun Food Store.

But there was a rival.

Even before Dao Xiang Chun (rice flower fragrance in spring) was established, there was Dao Xiang Cun (rice flower fragrance village), another South China snack store that was founded in Beijing in 1895: both of the similarly named companies remain in existence today. According to Cui Liping, the director of the General Office of the Beijing Dao Xiang Chun Food Company Limited, Dao Xiang Cun and Dao Xiang Chun have a similar origin. Their founders both came from the same place in Jiangsu Province; they may even be related in some way, but there is no solid evidence to prove the case.

Still, their styles and tastes were similar. But the arrival on the business scene of Zhang Senlong was troublesome for Dao Xiang Cun; some of its competent staff defected to Zhang’s operation. Because of social instability, Dao Xiang Cun was forced to close in 1926 and did not reopen until 1984. Dao Xiang Chun survived and continued to develop over the next 90 or so years into what it is today.

As with other Zhonghua Laozihao good products are an important part of the company’s success, but like other traditional companies, its business methods have adjusted with the times to keep the product at the forefront in the market. For one thing, Zhang Senlong was never illiberal in employing skilled cooks from Suzhou and Shanghai. This emphasis on quality made it possible for Dao Xiang Chun to corner the South China-taste snacks market in Beijing for some time.

The company has worked hard to remain in step with social and business developments, and it has survived two significant periods of reform during its nearly one century of existence. It was changed into a nationally owned company during the joint state-private ownership trend in 1954; and it became a State-owned, stock-controlled company in 2004. Regardless of its legal status, Dao Xiang Chun has stuck to its original orientation, with concern for its customers and the quality and taste of its snacks. This is why its long-time customers can still enjoy authentic Dao Xiang Chun in these modern times.

But reforms have tested the company’s ability to adapt at times. Since its separation from the Beijing Wangfujing Dongan Group Company Limited, the company has suffered somewhat from limits to its plant and production capacity. Some products have not been delivered to the market in a timely manner, much to the chagrin of its customers. Some of its products’ shelf-lives are so short that regular retail outlets don’t like to stock them.

Cui Liping related a story reflecting this situation involving an 84-year-old customer who once rode a bicycle for two hours from Nanlishi Lu in West Beijing to a Dao Xiang Chun outlet on Hepingli in North Beijing to get his meimao roujiao, because there was no other way for him to get them. Despite the delicacy’s popularity, it has a short shelf life and is seldom stocked in regular food stores.

Such is Dao Xiang Chun’s popularity; the nearly 100-year-old company still has its attraction for loyal customers. At the core of this high regard is the company’s traditional culture. The Chinese diet is still often closely related in the mind to China’s thousands of years-old traditional Chinese medical culture; the people still trust this culture’s principles, and so does Dao Xiang Chun. Production is still closely associated with the seasons and other traditional practices, such as those associated with Qingming Jie in April, for which Dao Xiang Chun makes sacrificial products. In May, “poisonous bugs” emerge. In response Dao Xiang Chun makes some wudu bing (Five Poison Cake) for people to eat; its herbs reportedly repel unwanted pests. In June and July, the company’s green-bean cakes help dispel body heat, and, of course, there are mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival (this year on September 25). Winter is the time for the meimao roujiao oft-mentioned above.

“Our foods are cultural products rather than commercial products; perhaps some modern commercial products are more beautiful and delicious, but we persist with the natural character of our products, while avoiding using food colouring and additives,” said Li Yinian, the manager of Beijing Dao Xiang Chun Food Company Limited.

Li’s words speak to the importance the company attaches to its raw materials. For instance, the roses they use in their rose cakes are gathered on Miaofengshan Mountain in Fangshan District; the rice used in its zongzi must be from Jiangxi Province and its bamboo leaves from Hunan Province. The Chinese dates used in its zongzi come from Cangzhou of Hebei Province.

This focus on every detail of its products may hold the secret of this Zhonghua Laozihao historic success.

Address: Cuigezhuang Development Area, Chaoyang District, Beijing

Tel: +86 10 6432 0835

Outlet at Hepingli:

Address: Building 1, Heping Xijie, Dongcheng District

Tel: +86 10 6420 1643

Outlet at Beijing apm:

Address: 138 Wangfujing Dajie, Dongcheng District

Tel: +86 1365 103 7063

Outlet at Zhichunli:

Address: 23 Zhichunli, Shuangyushu, Haidian District

Tel: +86 1362 127 6072