The business name "Jingyitai" is a door to the memory of old Yinchuan people. Behind this door, there is a history of nearly a century and a half. After several ups and downs, the dust has cleared, and "Jingyitai" is still active today. What are in our minds are those vivid memory fragments

The earliest memory

It is said that during the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty (1862-1874), in Wanquan, Shanxi Province today. There is a wealthy family named Li in Yanjing Town, County. The Li family is prosperous and has a lot of supplies, all of which are provided by a small grocery store opened by the three Li brothers (Li Jingxin, Li Jingyi, and Li Jingtai). The small grocery store was named "Jing Xin Yi" and also sold goods outside. After the death of the Li brothers, Li Zirong, the son of Li Jing Xin, founded the "Jing Xin Yi" store. In addition to groceries, Li Zirong also Dealing in silk, satin and cloth.

The business of "Jingyitai" snowballed, and in the last years of Tongzhi, it was a time when Shanxi merchants were very active in northern China. Seeing that Ningxia's industry and commerce were backward and most of the daily necessities were imported from outside, he sent a manager named Wang Bingchu to Yinchuan with 1,000 taels of silver to prepare a branch of "Jingyi Tai", which was located to the west of Yuhuang Pavilion in Yinchuan City.

The opening of the "Jingyita" branch opened up a huge source of wealth for the Li family. It is said that Shanxi businessmen are born with business talents. This is true. "Yitai" has set up dealers in various counties in Ningxia to sell goods and purchase Ningxia specialties.

Every year in May and June of the lunar calendar, after the large and beautiful poppies in Ningxia's Yellow River Diversion Irrigation Area have fallen, the flowers will bloom. The plump and round poppy fruit came out - it was time for "Jing Yitai" to purchase large cigarettes. The black poppy paste was dried and processed into 50 taels and 75 taels of bricks, and then "Jing Yitai" was affixed. The red seal of "Yitai" became "millet goods". When it was shipped to other provinces and sold out, the white silver coins flowed into the account of "Jingyitai". The tobacco business made "Jingyitai" Ningxia branch became rich overnight.

Rose dew wine

Several years have passed, and the business of Ningxia "Jingyita" branch has been far better than that of Shanxi branch. Shareholders, managers, relatives and friends came to Ning frequently, and the newly built Jingyi Inn on the east side of the "Jingyi Tai" branch was bustling with people all day long. A few years later, the Jingyi Inn was renamed Jingyi Sauce Garden, which was the first in Ningxia at that time. A soy sauce garden. The front store and the back factory of Jingyi Soy Sauce Garden meet production and sales, producing and selling soy sauce, pickles, sauce, vinegar, pastries, rice wine, rose wine and wolfberry wine. Rose wine and wolfberry wine were the best wines in Ningxia at that time. /p>

Tags of bright red and sweet rose wine make Jingyi Sauce Garden famous. Rose wine is brewed from wild roses. When the flowers are in full bloom in spring and summer, farmers living along the large and small canals in the Yellow River Irrigation Area come to visit. Wild roses were picked and sold to Jingyi Sauce Garden. The clerk in the store washed the wine barrel, poured 60 jins of white wine (60 degrees), and then poured 6 jins of prepared roses, poured them with water, dissolved and layered them. , open the valve of the wine pot and let the wine flow into the cylinder; take another small pot, pour in clean water, 15 pounds each of white sugar, and 2 pounds of brown sugar. After stirring, add 4 egg whites, remove the residue, and boil over low heat. In 20 minutes, the ingredients are prepared; finally, the ingredients are poured into the vat and mixed evenly, and the rose wine is made. After the vat is sealed and stored for more than a month, it can be put on the market.

On the day when new wine comes out of the vat, the whole street is intoxicated by the faint fragrance of roses.

The respectful apprentice

When Jingyitai Ningxia Branch was founded, it had three shops, more than a dozen apprentices and clerks, and a capital of 1,000 taels of silver. At its peak, There are more than 30 clerks and apprentices, with 200,000 taels of cash.

Apprentices and clerks are always the poorest but hardest working group in the shop. They may be named Wang, Li or Zhang... ...From green hair to white hair, years later, they will always be tall or low, fat or thin in people's memory, and no one will remember their names.

" "Jingyitai" strictly adheres to the old Shanxi business customs. All apprentices and clerks are from Shanxi and will never recruit locals from the place where they do business. "Jingyitai" selects apprentices strictly, and most of the apprentices it recruits have relatives and friends with the operators of the store, and they have Reliable shopkeeper. The apprentice's work is very hard. He goes to bed late and gets up early every day. In addition to doing odd chores, he also has to bear many other tasks. The so-called "opening the door, sweeping the floor, washing cigarette bags, carrying tea, pouring urine, and warming the bed" are paid. At the end of the year, the shop owner will give each person three or four taels of silver as a gift. After three years of apprenticeship, the salary will be determined based on work performance and ability.

The clerk can go home to visit relatives once every three years for half a year, and his salary will be paid during the visit.

After several ups and downs

The prosperity of "Jingyitai" Ningxia semicolon lasted for more than half a century. By the 1930s, it gradually declined. The heavy levies and miscellaneous taxes imposed by Ma Hongkui after the Ning Dynasty, the continuous forced mercenaries, the exclusion of bureaucratic capital groups, and the depreciation of the currency forced "Jingyitai" into a difficult situation. The glorious era of "Jingyitai" has passed forever.

After the liberation of Ningxia in 1949, the "Jingyitai" Ningxia branch, which had been changed to "Datongqing", underwent peaceful transformation. In 1956, "Jingyitai" adapted to the socialist transformation and joined the public-private partnership. In 1959, "Jingyitai" was converted into a state-owned enterprise, mainly engaged in pastry production.

The 1960s

In the early 1960s, "Jingyitai", which had been converted into a state-owned enterprise, unexpectedly ushered in a production peak. The reporter found an employee of "Jingyitai" back then. According to him, in the early 1960s, the country was facing food shortages, but at that time the country had a policy to 100% guarantee the supply of raw materials for food companies. At that time, there were only two or three food processing companies in Yinchuan City, and "Jingyitai" was the larger one. Since the supply of grain, oil, sugar, etc. required for food production is not restricted, and people's demand for food is so urgent, it is conceivable that the production of "Jingyitai" is booming under such circumstances. According to the memories of old employees at that time, more than 70 workers in "Jingyitai" were working day and night to process and produce pastries, sauces, vinegar, etc., and more than 100 bags of flour were used to make pastries every day. The prosperity under such special circumstances was destined not to last long. Before the three-year natural disaster passed, "Jingyitai" completely stopped production in the autumn of 1963, leaving only a few storefronts.

Two turning points

In 1978, the Yinchuan Municipal Government ordered the restoration of the production of "Jingyitai". It still continued the pattern of front store and back factory, but the scale was much smaller than before. . Since there were no individual food companies in Ningxia at that time, the production of "Jingyitai" was smooth and uneventful.

Wang Quanzuo is one of the few old employees of "Jingyitai" who can still be found today. In 1983, Wang Quanzuo joined "Jingyitai" as a worker. According to his recollection, "Jingyitai" had more than 40 regular employees and five or six temporary workers at that time. The pastries produced were sold in various stores in Yinchuan City. In the autumn of 1987, he was promoted to the director of "Jingyitai" factory. In 1988, "Jingyitai", which had resumed production for 10 years, caught up with the first round of the contract responsibility system. After being appointed by his superiors, factory director Wang Quanzuo contracted "Jingyitai" for three years, with a profit of 70,000 yuan handed over to the state every year. After that, Wang Quanzuo contracted "Jingyitai" twice in a row until 1994. In 1993, "triangular debt" once again hampered "Jingyitai", which was once on the rise, making it overwhelmed.

In 1998, "Jingyitai", which was struggling to make ends meet, was merged by Yinchuan Gulou Hotel. The original deputy director of "Jingyitai" bought "Jingyitai" and started a new business. Stoves, processing and production of pastries.

New Era

In 2003, the "Jingyitai" brand was registered as a trademark by the State Trademark Office, and the "Jingyitai" brand certificate was registered and issued by the State Trademark Office. Passed ISO 9001: quality management system certification in 2005. In 2006, it was awarded as a key grain processing enterprise by the Yinchuan Municipal People's Government. In 2006, it was recognized as a "Chinese Time-honored Brand" by the Ministry of Commerce. The annual output of current food production reaches 680 tons, accounting for 1/5 of the market share of pastries in the region. There are more than 230 sales outlets in major shopping malls in the region and neighboring provinces. Its products include bread, cakes, low-fat and low-sugar pastries, peach cakes, Tianjin-style large and small twists, glutinous rice sticks, saqima, biscuits, boiled cakes and various dry pastries, which are sold in Guangdong, Jiangsu, Chaozhou, Beijing, Hong Kong, Japan, Korean and other kinds of mooncakes are available in more than ten categories and hundreds of pastry products. According to seasonal changes and market demand, the monthly pastry production has its own focus.