Mantou (also known as Chinese Steamed Buns) is a staple food in Northern China, because the main harvest is wheat, rather than rice. In the past, mantou referred to all steamed buns (with or without filling), but today, it is only used for steamed buns without filling.
The name “mantou” actually has a really interesting story. It was given by a famous war tactician ZhuGe Liang during the Three Kingdoms period. One day, when he was leading the Shu army to cross Lu River, he noticed the river had particularly strong currents that prevented his army from crossing… after many failed attempts, he consulted the barbarian king MengHuo who was local to the area. MengHuo told him, in order to appease the river god, he needed to sacrifice some men and offer their heads to their river god by throwing them into the river. However ZhuGe Liang thought that was too cruel, so he ordered his men to wrap meat into dough and shape them into human heads, which were thrown into the river instead as offering. After successfully deceiving the river god and crossing, ZhuGeLiang named his creation “mantou” – meaning “deception head” or “barbarian head”, but the modern term “mantou” merely sounds the same, but no longer shares the meaning.
Feeling hungry? Click here for the recipe, so you can make your own delicious Chinese steamed buns (mantou)!
Today, I traveled to HangZhou, visited the famous Six Harmonies Pagoda (LiuHe Pagoda) and San’Guo City of WuXi, and tasted the famous Dragon Well (LongJing) tea. If you’re interested in the tea, click here — I will briefly share the benefits of this tea.
The pagoda stands almost 60m tall, and from the outside appears to have 13 floors, yet inside there is actually only 7 floors! The folklore behind this pagoda is actually quite interesting, it is said that the Emperor of the time constructed this temple in order to suppress the dragon-king who lived in QianTang River. So why is the pagoda named Six Harmonies Pagoda then? Because this tower combines the six forces of Heaven, Earth, North, South, East and West to suppress the dragon.
Actually, the pagoda you see today isn’t the original one that was built in 970, because the pagoda was destroyed twice and therefore rebuilt twice. The first time it was destroyed was during a rebellion lead by FangLa against the Song Dynasty; the body of the pagoda which remains till today, was rebuilt in the Southern Song Dynasty. Fortunately, only exterior pillars were burned and destroyed this time, this was caused by the Wokou (Japanese pirates) in the year JiaJing during the Ming Dynasty; this was later repaired during the Qing Dynasty. Now, you can enter the pagoda and climb all 13 floors, which all have balconies that surround the pagoda, and have amazing scenic views (especially of the lake). Also, on the ground floor of the pagoda, you can actually still see the preserved foundation remains of the original pagoda. (Unfortunately, due to my fear of heights, I did not climb the tower so I do not have photos of the views).
城里的风景Scenery within the city walls
The second tourist attraction I went to was San’Guo City. Which is location in which the film “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” was filmed. “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” was originally a historical novel which describes the end years of the DongHan period. The story tells of the military and political conflict between the three kingdoms – Wei, Shu and Wu, which are led/commanded respectively by CaoCao, LiuBei and SunQuan — and the eventual, hard fought unification of the three kingdoms. The story combines elements of fact and fiction to portray the enchanting and breathtaking history of China’s history, if you’re interested, why not read it? (Or if you’re lazy like me, you could watch the film/drama instead!)
Blossom’s Travels 