Chang'an Basin Dish

Chang'an Basin Dish

　　The Chang'an Basin Dish originated in Chuwu, Wusha, Chang'an. In April 1278, after the Southern Song court retreated to Guangdong, Empress Yang and her younger brother Yang Liangjie fled with Emperor Duanzong (Song Emperor Shi) and Emperor Bing (Song Emperor Bing) to the Dongguan–Hong Kong area. In June, they moved again to Yashan in Xinhui. Along the way, local residents came out en masse to support the imperial cause, warmly entertaining them. Chen, the mother of Li Jia from Wusha, to ensure her son could devote himself wholeheartedly to resisting the enemy without any worries, resolutely threw herself into the sea. To this day, the Yanghou Ancient Temple in Wusha continues to worship Yang Liangjie. As activities commemorating Chen were prohibited during the Yuan Dynasty, villagers began using the annual birthday of the Heavenly Queen on the 23rd day of the third lunar month as an occasion to honor her, while preserving the tradition of eating the basin dish.

　　The basin dish combines a variety of delicacies in one bowl, with fragrances, oils, flavors, and seasonings penetrating every layer, making each ingredient especially flavorful. Although the basin dish has a long history, its cooking method has remained largely unchanged. The earliest version was divided into five layers, from bottom to top: “radish, turnip greens, dried tofu skin, squid, goose (or meat, or poached chicken).” A typical basin dish usually consists of nine or even ten layers, symbolizing “everlasting” and “perfection,” including poached chicken, roast duck, southern-style pork, squid, eel, shiitake mushrooms, dried bean curd sticks, radish, and pork skin. Premium ingredients are always placed on the top layers, starting with chicken and duck, followed by pork and fish in the middle layers, and shiitake mushrooms, dried bean curd sticks, radish, and pork skin at the bottom. Vegetables are typically used as a base. The juices from the upper meat layers seep down, greatly enhancing the flavor of the lower ingredients.

　　After the reform and opening-up, people’s living standards improved significantly, and the ingredients became more refined—such as white eel, dried oysters, hair moss, dried scallops, sea cucumber, and poached chicken—marking a huge change from the past.

　　In the past, people ate the basin dish without tables or stools, crouching on the ground. Today, tables and stools are available, but many still prefer to sit or squat on the open ground around the basin, a custom the villagers of Chang’an call “encircling the trench,” commemorating the history of eating in trenches during wartime.

　　The greatest joy of eating the basin dish lies not in the food itself, but in the sense of togetherness. People gather around, eating, chatting, and laughing, with the entire village coming together (often in ancestral halls or temples in the past), freely mingling in a lively atmosphere. Eating the basin dish is really about enjoying the ambiance, and it carries special symbolic meaning: the whole village sharing one basin dish represents unity and harmony, symbolizing solidarity and togetherness. It reflects the harmonious coexistence and mutual care among people. The layered arrangement of the dishes in the basin also conveys meanings of harmony between different levels, unity, and collective effort.

　　Over the years, the contents of the basin dish have become richer and more diverse, with greater attention paid to ingredients and flavors. Eating the basin dish has also evolved into an essential banquet style for celebrating joyous occasions. The basin dish symbolizes harmony, prosperity, peace, and a bountiful harvest. It remains especially popular during events such as the Lantern Festival, the Lighting Ceremony, the Heavenly Queen’s Birthday, the Guanyin Birthday, and weddings.