Qijing

Qijing

Qijing is a protected geographical indication product.

　　During his exile in Huangzhou during the Song Dynasty, Su Dongpo cooked local celery together with spring pigeon slices he had brought from his hometown, creating a dish called “Qijing Spring Pigeon Slices.” In the Ming Dynasty, Gao Qi lamented in his poem “Ode to Celery”: “Cooking rice, I recall the green mud; making soup, I think of the emerald stream. With no way to offer this to the imperial court, I can only sigh thrice before my meal.” Xu Wei of the Ming Dynasty wrote in his poem “Ode to Celery Sprouts”: “In the spring by the winding stream, tender celery sprouts emerge. Still growing wild, not yet ready to be picked—how long until they can be offered to you? Warm winds bring the swallows, and on Cold Food Day, they’re served with crabapple. Don’t let them age overnight; keep the tips to slice into fish.” The Qing Dynasty poet Zhang Xiongxī praised it in his poem “Eating Celery”: “How goes the art of growing celery these days? I hear the imperial chefs have new methods. Deeply buried white roots are prized by all, never letting their tips rise above clear waters.” Cao Xueqin, author of Dream of the Red Chamber, loved eating snow-covered celery. He drew inspiration from Su Dongpo’s lines: “Mud-born sprouts with old roots, an inch alone remains—when will the snow celery stir, so the spring pigeon may be stewed?” and “My father first picked the snow-covered celery,” using them to express a kinship with the ancients and to soothe his endless loneliness.

　　The production area of Qijing (Qicai) includes the following 15 towns and subdistricts under the current jurisdiction of Qichun County, Hubei Province: Qizhou Town, Balihu Office, Chidong Town, Caohe Town, Hengche Town, Pengsi Town, Guanyao Town, Zhulin Town, Liuhe Town, Shizi Town, Qingshi Town, Xiangqiao Township, Zhangbang Town, Tanlin Town, and Datong Town.