Old Tongzhou people will remember the so-called three treasures of Tongzhou: Wantong’s soybean curd, Dashunzhai’s sugar-fired roast, and Xiaolou’s roasted catfish.

You must ask, where are these three treasures? You may ask, it was once near our home.

In the past, my family lived in No. 38 Zayuaner at the west end of Huimin Hutong. It was a close neighbor of Tongzhou Sanbao. The farthest distance between each other was fifty or sixty meters, and the nearest distance was sixty-seven meters.

Opposite Dazayuan is Dashunzhai Pastry Factory, and its sales department is diagonally opposite the west entrance of Huimin Hutong (at the north corner of the east entrance of West Street); at the south corner of the west entrance of Huimin Hutong is Xiaolou Restaurant, Xiaolou Shao Catfish is the signature dish of Xiaolou Restaurant; when it comes to Wantong’s soybean curd, of course, you can’t do without Wantong Sauce Garden, which is diagonally opposite the sales department of Dashunzhai Pastry Factory.

1. The unique cultural symbol of the Grand Canal

According to records, in 1918 (the seventh year of the Republic of China), Mr. Ma Zhaofeng, a Hui nationality whose ancestral home was in Tongzhou, founded the Muslim Wantong Sauce Garden with sole proprietorship. The business method of front shop and back factory is to produce and sell by oneself. The three doors are located at the north entrance of South Street in Tongzhou Old City and the east corner of the north corner of the west entrance of Huimin Hutong. The processing plant used to be at No. 47, the original Hui Min Hutong (now where the National Primary School is located).

Wantong Sauce Garden mainly produces and operates five categories of soybean curd, soy sauce, yellow sauce, pickles and vinegar, with dozens of varieties. In 1956, when the public-private partnership was established, the number of large and small tanks reached 780, and there were 35 employees. During the pickle season, temporary workers were also hired.

At that time, the raw materials for soybean curd produced by Wantong Sauce Garden came from Shaoxing. From the early days of Wantong Sauce Garden to 1928, the transportation of raw materials for soybean curd still took the canal waterway. Although water transportation had been abolished at that time, the canal was still open, and there were still many boat owners along the river making a living by operating boats. Later, trains were used to transport raw materials for soybean curd.

After the public-private partnership in 1956, Wantong Sauce Garden was merged into the Tongzhou Pastry and Sauce Industry Head Office, and later was merged into the Tongzhou Food Factory in Xihaizi. A separate pickle workshop was built, and Wantong Sauce Garden was still regarded as the main store. The main body retains the production technology, traditional flavor and unique characteristics of Wantong Sauce Garden products. In 1960, the pickle workshop of Tongzhou Food Factory moved to No. 227 Guoyuan, Tongxian County, and a fermented bean curd workshop was established. Later, soy sauce, pickles, yellow sauce, rice vinegar and other workshops were added. In 1967, all brewing product workshops of Tongzhou Food Factory moved to No. 227 Guoyuan, Tongxian. Five years later, Tongxian Brewing Factory (renamed Tongzhou Brewing Factory in 1997) was established, which is affiliated to Tongxian Supply and Marketing Cooperative. On September 15, 1999, after review by the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Trade, Tongzhou Brewing Factory was certified as a Chinese time-honored brand.

In the first year of the 21st century, Tongzhou Brewing Factory moved to the Miao County Economic Development Zone and continued to produce five series of products including "Xianyuan" brand soy sauce, rice vinegar, yellow sauce, bean curd (soy tofu, stinky tofu), and vermicelli. . Later, the company was renamed Beijing Xianyuan Food Brewing Co., Ltd. It is said that before the company changed its name, it originally wanted to register the "Wantong" time-honored trademark with the Industrial and Commercial Bureau. However, it only registered the "Xianyuan" trademark because a domestic unit had already registered it. In May 2011, the company was recognized as a "Chinese Time-honored Brand" enterprise by the Ministry of Commerce and issued a plaque and certificate, becoming another unique symbol of the Grand Canal culture.

2. The Four Heroes of Wantong Sauce Garden

Speaking of Wantong Sauce Garden, we must mention the founder, Mr. Ma Zhaofeng, and the three great shopkeepers, Yang Shanqing, Cong Shouchen and Gao Zhensheng.

Mr. Ma Zhaofeng is a Hui nationality and has lived in Tongzhou for a long time. He has opened many businesses in Tongzhou and is a famous enlightened person in Tongzhou. He lives a frugal life, is prudent in budgeting, is kind-hearted, helps those in need, and is philanthropic. In time for Lent and Chinese New Year, he often helps Hui compatriots who are living in difficulty.

The Tongxian National Primary School I once studied in was originally named "Muguang Primary School" and was founded in the winter of 1939 (the 28th year of the Republic of China). It was initiated by Jin Jitang, a member of the Tongxian Branch of the China Islamic Federation, to raise funds from Hui people in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Lushan and other places. Mr. Ma Zhaofeng personally donated real estate to establish it.

After 1949, Mr. Ma Zhaofeng was elected as a member of the Tongxian CPPCC and a deputy to the County People’s Congress.

He was highly respected among the Hui residents of Tongzhou. He once served as the village elder of the Tongzhou Mosque, contributing funds to the mosque and volunteering as an accountant for 50 years until his death.

After Mr. Ma Zhaofeng founded "Wantong Sauce Garden", he did not bother to run it himself and was still busy with social welfare undertakings. So he asked a big shopkeeper who knew business and was good at management to run it for him. From its founding in 1918 to the public-private partnership in 1956, three major shopkeepers, Yang Shanqing, Cong Shouchen and Gao Zhensheng, were in charge of "Wantong Sauce Garden", and they never appeared. At the end of the year, the distribution was "East, three, Group and seven". This distribution ratio was very rare in private enterprises at that time.

3. Xiao Zhuge Gao Zhensheng

Gao Zhensheng was born in September 1910. He is a Hui nationality and a celebrity in Tongzhou business circles. He was a member of the Tongzhou Chamber of Commerce before 1949 and was originally the accountant of Xiaolou Restaurant. Mr. Ma Zhaofeng later hired him as the last capital manager of Wantong Sauce Garden.

Gao Zhensheng and I are very familiar. It can be said that I grew up under his watch. At that time, my home was very close to Wantong Sauce Garden, and I often saw Gao Zhensheng when I went to the store to buy things.

Since July 1984, Gao Zhensheng has served as a member of the Sixth and Seventh CPPCC Beijing Tong County Committee, a member of the Standing Committee, and Vice Chairman. He was also a member of the Tong County branch of the China Democratic National Construction Association and lived at No. 22 Anjia Courtyard, Tongzhou Town. At that time, it was also common for us to do this at the CPPCC meetings.

On November 29, 2017, Gao Guihe, a primary school classmate who had been away for more than 50 years, and his wife came to my house from Shijingshan. We talked about Ma Zhaofeng and Gao Zhensheng. Gao Guihe told me that Ma Zhaofeng was his uncle. Gao Zhensheng is his uncle.

According to a friend who is familiar with Gao Zhensheng: "Gao Zhensheng has a flexible mind, knows business, is good at management, and is very popular. He is respectfully called Xiao Zhuge."

4. Daily life Opening and closing

Wantong Sauce Garden "opens" at eight o'clock every morning and "closes" after dark. "Close boards" are made of many rectangular wooden boards that cover doors and windows. There are two symmetrical holes on the upper side of the wooden boards, and there is also a hole in the middle of the lower side. The symmetrical door frames and window frames are equipped with fixed " The iron hook also has a hole in the middle below it. When "closing the board", the wooden boards are hung on the two iron hooks on the top of the frame in turn, and a special thick iron nail is passed through the hole at the bottom. There is a hole on the other end of the iron nail. After the wooden board is installed, the salesperson When you return to the store, insert the pins into the holes of the thick iron nails one by one. The board will be fixed and the "closing board" will be completed, which can prevent theft. When the door is opened the next day, these wooden boards are removed, which is called "opening the boards."

After each "closing", Gao Zhensheng and his colleagues will be busy for a while, vigorously brushing the two-inch-thick wooden counter top with alkaline water and a brush, and then brushing it several times with clean water and drying it , brush the counter tops clean. In winter, the 1-meter-high briquette stove in the store must be sealed with live coal slime. Before going to work the next day, open the stove, use fire chopsticks and fire hooks to lift the stove, and add new coal. The stove is on day and night, and the store is always warm. Customers will feel warm when they come to buy things.

5. The unforgettable old taste

I clearly remember that Wantong Sauce Garden sells oil, salt, soy and vinegar, various pickles, soy tofu, stinky tofu, dough noodles, alkaline noodles and seasonings Products etc.

When you enter the store, you will see gouache advertising paintings, shelves, wooden counters, steelyards, bench scales, abacus, egg inspection light boxes, floor scales, large oil drums, sauce baskets, etc.

On the shelves on the east wall are vermicelli, vermicelli, dried kelp, bottles of Beijing smoked vinegar and so on. There are large and small vats under the shelves, containing soy sauce, rice vinegar, yellow sauce, bean paste, and sesame paste for sale in bulk. There are several blue and white porcelain pots on the counter, which contain pickled dumplings, pickled cucumbers, pickled eight-treasure vegetables, spicy dried radish, five-spice dried radish, etc.

There was no fine salt at that time, only large salt. When residents bought it at home, they had to smash it with a kitchen knife, then roll it into pieces with a rolling pin, and save it for cooking. When the pickle season comes, every household comes to buy pickled vegetables such as salted potherb and mustard dumplings.

Yellow sauce, bean paste, pickles, etc. are all packed in wattle baskets. After the store purchases the goods, the packaging at the mouth of the basket is opened, and the yellow sauce, bean paste, pickles, etc. are put into jars or blue and white porcelain basins for sale. , the shape of that basket is similar to the current Baoding pickle basket, taller than a stool, and the mouth of the basket is about half a foot in diameter.

In particular, the world-famous Wantong Sauce Tofu, with its delicate texture and fragrant aroma, is not only famous in Beijing, but also sold well in eight counties in Beijing. It is also liked by government and private business travelers who take the Grand Canal waterway and transfer to Tongzhou.

My grandfather, grandfather and fourth grandfather all like to eat Wantong’s soybean curd. My fourth grandfather once told me that when he was young, he often came to Tongzhou from the capital to buy Wantong sauce tofu and pickles for my grandfather, and he liked it. Buy soybean curd and use it at home to stew meat, mutton-shabu-shabu and have breakfast. When my uncle Tan Shiying, grandson of Peking Opera master Tan Xinpei and a famous Peking opera master, came to Tongzhou, he also loved to eat Wantong sauce tofu and pickles. When my grandmother was in Tong County, she often ate Wantong sauce tofu or stinky tofu. When I was unemployed after graduating from junior high school, I went to my grandma’s house in Yongnian County, Handan, and brought a large carton of soy tofu, stinky tofu, pickles and soy sauce bought from Wantong Sauce Garden.

In the late 1970s, Wantong Sauce Garden and surrounding stores were demolished, and temporary simple bungalows were built. After the Dashunzhai Pastry Shop opposite was demolished, they moved to one of the bungalows. inside. In 1987, those simple bungalows were also demolished. Many years later, the Hualian Commercial Building was built there, where it remains today.

At this point, you must ask, why can’t you see Xianyuan sauce tofu, Xianyuan yellow sauce, etc. in the supermarket? I had the same idea as you and wanted to find out, so I searched on the computer and found the specialty store set up by Beijing Xianyuan Food Brewing Co., Ltd., which is located at the bottom of Dafuyuan Community near the orchard.

It has been more than 20 years since I tasted Wantong’s soybean curd. While writing this article, I went to the specialty store to interview and purchase.

There were many people in the store carrying bottles, kegs and steel pots of varying capacities, making soy sauce, vinegar, yellow sauce and pickles... After queuing up, I found out that some people came from Some came all the way from Fangshan, Mentougou, Haidian and Miyun, and some came from Dachang and Sanhe in Hebei. The salesperson and cashier were extremely busy, and my interviews were intermittent. Cashier Song Yaping told me that this place is so busy every day.

I also queued up to buy a big plastic bag full of soybean sprouts, soy sauce, soy sauce, soybean curd, stinky tofu and vermicelli. I have been cooking porridge, frying sauce and cooking for a few days. Try it, it still tastes the same as before.