Gang Bing

Gang Bing

　　Gang Bing is a local specialty product from Hubei Province, boasting a history of over 170 years.

It is said that during the Jiaqing era of the Qing Dynasty, in the Liu Renba area of Daye County, about forty li from the city, there was a general store named Liufengtai. The shop employed a pastry chef named Liu Heyi. In an effort to attract more customers, he enhanced the traditional Longfeng Bing (Dragon and Phoenix Pastry) by adding ingredients such as orange cake, and also coated both sides of the pastry with sesame seeds. This creation came to be known as Heyi Bing (Agreeable Pastry). Another legend has it that during the Tongzhi era, Yin Hua, a timber raft merchant from Daye County, partnered with Ma Limen to navigate rafts to trade in areas around Suzhou. On one occasion, while drifting downstream, Yin and Ma were traveling through the Huangshi Port area when their rapidly moving raft, unable to avoid a collision, overturned an oncoming salt boat. The salt merchant refused to settle the matter, and the case escalated all the way to the imperial capital. Fearing they might lose the lawsuit, Yin and Ma specially selected the local specialty, Heyi Bing, as a gift when they went to Beijing. Upon arrival in the capital, they presented the Heyi Bing to all the officials along with a poem: “The rafts arrive like collapsing mountains, the boats glide swift as flying swallows. Three strikes of the gong resound—why do the swallows not take flight?” Emperor Tongzhi, upon reading the poem, found the reasoning sound and thus ruled in favor of the timber raft merchants. With the lawsuit won, the merchants wished to offer a generous gift to the emperor, but having spent a fortune on legal fees, they had nothing left. Boldly, they presented the Heyi Bing. To their surprise, Emperor Tongzhi was delighted with the flaky, fragrant, and delicious pastry, and praised it highly. Pleased, he bestowed upon it the name “Ruyi” (As-One-Wishes). Hence, Heyi Bing is also called Ruyi Bing, and when later sold at the port, it became known as Gang Bing.