Yanjing Cake

Yanjing Cake

　　Yanjing Cake, also known as "Li Wei's Eye Cake" or Square Cake, is sweet and delicious. It is a specialty snack from Jiaxing, Zhejiang.

　　Related legend: It is said that Li Wei, a trusted aide of Emperor Yongzheng, was ordered to supervise the construction of the Yanguan seawall. One day, when the tides suddenly became fierce, over half of the seawall, which had taken more than two months to build, was washed away. Anxious, Li Wei investigated and discovered that building the seawall required an immense amount of effort — the soldiers working on the wall were only given standard military rations at noon, leaving them too weak to work in the afternoon. Later, when Li Wei dined at a teahouse in Yanguan, the owner recommended the teahouse’s special Eye Cake. After eating just two pieces, Li Wei felt quite full. He then renamed the “Eye Cake” to “Yanjing Cake” and had it sent to the seawall site daily for everyone. Everyone understood Li Wei’s good intentions, and from then on, the soldiers worked diligently and successfully completed every section of the seawall. To commemorate Li Wei, later generations called the Eye Cake “Li Wei’s Eye Cake.”