After two weeks of traveling, I had reached the end of the line. Nanjing was to be the last stop on my journey from the Yangtze Delta to the backwoods of Anhui and back to the Delta. I had to return to Shanghai to catch a flight back to Chicago, and Tex had to get back to Wenzhou to start teaching again. After a few days of relaxing and enjoying the laowai life in Nanjing, we busted out the backpacks, and headed off for one final hurrah, a day trip to Yangzhou.
Yangzhou is a relatively modest sized town about an hour and a half from Nanjing via train. From what we had gathered, we could walk most of the town in a single day if we had an early start. Before our trip, I admittedly didn’t know much about Yangzhou. In fact for many people, (myself included) they only know Yangzhou in the context of being the birthplace of Yangzhou (young chow) fried rice…that, and former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, although I’m guessing the the fried rice probably receives more fanfare.
Tex and I set out with the simple goals of 1) exploring the Yangzhou city area on foot and 2) seeking out the world famous Yangzhou fried rice. It didn’t take us long to tackle the second goal, as our bus from the train station dropped us off immediately in front of this restaurant, named simply “Yangzhou Fried Rice.”
Fried rice has a certain allure in the West as being one of those sought after Asian dishes, presumably made carefully from fine ingredients in fancy kitchens and dining establishments across the Middle Kingdom. In reality, fried rice is essentially the Chinese response to leftovers. In most Chinese households, fried rice is what happens when you are stuck with cold rice and leftover scraps of meat and veggies from the previous day’s meal. The rice is thrown into a wok, along with a fried egg, and then mixed with whatever excess foodstuffs might be lying around the house. It is not intentional, gourmet or exotic. It’s simply practical, a functional method for the disposal of leftovers, which of course was also the impetus for the invention of Chop Suey in California.
Now with all that being said, Yangzhou has become known across the Middle Kingdom (and in many parts of the world for that matter) for Yangzhou Fried Rice, a special recipe, which is prepared intentionally, and is commonly eaten in classy restaurants, by those with a refined taste for Chinese cuisine.
If I had to break it down to a simple explanation, the secret ingredient to Yangzhou Fried Rice is…everything! According to the free brochures at the Yangzhou Fried Rice restaurant, the ingredients include “white rice, sea cucumber, dried scallops, chicken thigh, Chinese ham (火腿), fresh river shrimp, mushrooms, fresh bamboo shoots, peas, etc,” however this is just a small sampling. Unfortunately I didn’t take better notes at the time, but I remember counting nearly 20 different substances in my rice.
When all was said and done, there wasn’t anything which jumped out as particularly special about Yangzhou fried rice. It was just…well…fried rice, albeit a rather multifarious recipe, but still on the whole, fried rice. Definitely not worth a trip to Yangzhou just to sample it, but it surely worth eating if you are there.
Other than eat fried rice, there really isn’t much to do per se in Yangzhou, but fortunately the city has some rather picturesque streets and architecture, so we spent most of the day meandering around town.
There are of course the requisite 80’s style bathroom tile buildings and cement cages.
But overall, a rather large amount of the local infrastructure and housing stock is of vintage style.
Like Suzhou, and many other cities in Jiangsu, Yangzhou is a water town with canals flowing throughout the city.
Unlike Suzhou, Yangzhou has not undergone an explosion of modernism and industrial development, and there are no skyscrapers, industrial parks, or compounds of Westerner businessmen and their latte-sipping wives.
Many of its locals continue living the simple life, pictured here washing clothes in the street with their neighbors.
Most of the canals were lined with ornate cement bridges and railings, making Yangzhou one of the more aesthetically pleasing small Chinese cities to explore on foot.
Unlike Fuyang and Taihe, Yangzhou is not poor. As is the case most of southern Jiangsu and Northern Zhejiang, the pocket books people of Yangzhou have benefited greatly from the economic development of the post Reform and Opening up era. One manifestation of this is the Dairy Queen we found there. While it may not seem significant at first, 18 RMB (approx $2.50 USD) for a Blizzard is an astronomically large amount to pay in a country where ice cream can commonly be purchased from street kiosks for 2 RMB. Accordingly, Dairy Queen (simply called “DQ” in China, there is no Chinese name), is generally found only in the wealthiest, most developed cities in China. As you can see from the picture above, Tex was quite excited by our find.
Yangzhou has recently been focusing on exploiting its tourism potential and in the eastern part of the city, a large tract of neighborhoods had been leveled to make room for a new tourist street (pictured above). It’s part of a new trend in Chinese city planning which I like to call “tastefully touristy” development, where buildings and streets are reconstructed, in a careful attempt to mimic the architecture of times past. While it’s never as good as the real thing, these developments do provide some sense of historical authenticity, as opposed to the typical plasticy tourist traps.
As much effort as was put into the tourist area, it still paled in comparison to the extant canals and dwellings which still make up the majority of the Yangzhou cityscape.
I also found Yangzhou to possess some of the best public landscaping I have seen in China.
Several of the canals are lined with tour boats…
…as well as restaurants on the water.
In one of the public parks, Tex and I came across the site of retirees partaking in their daily half hour exercise regiment. A woman in the middle of the group led the exercises with a cheer cadence which was repeated loudly by the group throughout the workout. Here’s a video below.
more canals and bridges…
even more canals and bridges
Yes, there was definitely no shortage of water in Yangzhou.
Like anywhere in China, Yangzhou also had its default “scenic spots,” like this temple which we did not bother going into. Often times “attractions” such as these are simply commercialized versions of the sites and buildings which can be experienced for free in their natural context anyway.
We had planned to take the last train from Yangzhou to Nanjing which left around 7 pm, so we spent our final hour in Yangzhou exploring this bustling snack street.
Shawarma (or 土耳其烤肉, “Turkish roasted meat” as it’s called) is apparently a growing fad in Chinese street dining. We had to have a little taste before our final meal in Yanghzou, which consisted of…
…yup, you guessed it, more Yangzhou Fried Rice. We figured since we’d come all the way, and probably would never be back in Yangzhou, we owed it to ourselves to try the famous fried rice from at least two different restaurants.
As an interesting side note, Yangzhou Fried Rice is actually quite expensive in Yangzhou, typically going for about 15 RMB (approx $2.15 USD) for a serving like this, even in most hole-in-the-wall eateries. In most parts of China, fried rice in restaurants such as these is priced in the mid single digits.
We topped it off with an order of gulaorou (sweet and sour pork).
China is known for cramped bus seats, and low hanging doorways, but this is something I had never previously come across in my travels: a miniature toilet. I tried to get the brooms and the trashcan in the picture to capture a relative size comparison, but let’s just say this contraption would have been ergonomically perfect for me when I was about 5. The characters on the wall read:
Bowel Movements Prohibited; The pipes will get clogged
Finally, here’s a shot at night of the tower pictured at the top of this post. If anybody knows the name and/or the history of this monument, please feel free to speak up in the comments section. It was quite a spectacle at night. I couldn’t help but wonder how often the sides have to be repaired from erhant motorists crashing into it.
After our 8 hour soujourn in Yangzhou, Tex and I caught the train back to Nanjing. The following morning Tex headed back to Wenzhou, and I took the bullet train to Shanghai, where I crashed for the evening with some old friends, hurridly stocked up on tea and supplies from a Fujianese tea shop, and then flew back to the US the following afternoon. After two weeks of non-stop fieldwork and writeups, and then two more weeks of travel through eight different cities, it had been my shortest (and most efficient) trip to China to date. I’ve got a few more posts in the works formulated from thoughts and experiences from the trip, but will probably shift the focus of this blog more towards Chicago (including the Chinese community here) in the coming months. As of now, I have no set plans for any future trips to China. Thanks to everybody for following this series, and I’ll do my best to keep the content flowing.
Thanks, Ben, I’ve wondered for five years about Yangzhou Chao Fan in Yangzhou. Outside of Yangzhou it often seems to be made with frozen vegetables, not fresh, and it certainly doesn’t have all the ingredients you found in Yangzhou.
Hee, you just visited my two hometowns (Nanjing & Yangzhou.) It invariably makes me happy to see photos of familiar places (and faces) when I’m far from home. Thanks~
As far as Dairy Queen only being known as DQ, it’s only half-true. That is the preferred nom-de-plume, but there is a Chinese name, 冰雪皇后 (literally, ‘Snow Queen’ for those who don’t read Chinese). Check this blog post and picture evidence: http://www.cqscene.com/1/post/2009/06/beat-the-cq-heat-part-1.html
Hah, everytime I think of Yangzhou all I can think of is their fried rice, though from what I’ve seen and how I learned to cook it:
Usually the egg is cooked first, removed, “other” ingredients put in the now eggless wok, then rice added then cooked egg added back in.
Yangzhou fried rice is a bit different as the egg isn’t cooked first, but added raw (beaten) after the rice is added.
But I think it is pretty uncommon that the rice would be added first and then the other ingredients.
Harmonization of street food vendors be damned, I want to try some 土耳其烤肉, but Nanjing’s street food vendors have largely been exiled out of the downtown areas.
Thanks for the fact check. According to the employee at DQ, there is no English name, but I’m going to trust you (and your link) more than her.
@ Fiona
Uh…yeah, maybe “exotic” was the wrong choice of wording…yes, definitely the wrong word. Point I was trying to make, is that Westerners will order fried dish in a restaurant, and make a meal out of it. In China, it’s basically leftovers, or a cure for a hangover. I’ve since changed the wording. Thanks for keeping me in check on that.
I visited Yangzhou in late 2006 to see a friend teaching English at Daming Temple (大明寺)–a new Buddhist College has been started there with a more international orientation. Walked around the city and took in the sights and all. I enjoyed my stay very much… The identity of the building you asked about is Wenchang Pagoda (文昌阁); it was built during the reign of the Wanli Emperor (r. 1563-1620) during the Ming dynasty. Wenchang is a reference to Lord Wenchang, belonging to the Daoist pantheon of gods and known as the God of Learning; anybody wishing for success in the old civil service exams would be asking this deity for help. This pagoda was associated with the local government’s academic institute in imperial times, hence the name. I too have a photo similar to yours; it was surrounded by plants and I could not see any path that would actually reach the building if you managed to survive the attempt at crossing through all the traffic.
Ben, thanks for your effort in your recent series.
Re: That round building in the middle of the road, it is called Pavilion of Flourishing Culture (Wenchang Ge, 文昌阁) according to wikipedia.
“This round, three-story pavilion in Yangzhou\’s eastern sector was built in 1585 and celebrates the city\’s rich cultural traditions. It is also the de facto center of the city.
Built during Ming dynasty, it is located on the cross of Wengchang Road and Wenhe Road. The whole building is about 79 foot high, and looks like Temple of Heaven in Beijing. Today, boarded by many shopping stores, Wenchange had been a symbol of commercial center to residents.”
About the Chinese shawarma, the only thing the Chinese haven’t quite figured out (or chose to ignore) is that their Shawarma is pork. An unfortunate case for all you halal and kosher cats out there.
Nice to see your report from what I called my home-town for four months, back in 2008! Your text and pictures bring back some good memories. Thanks for that.
Best regards from The Netherlands,
Rogier
P.s. You can find quite some pictures of Yangzhou at my website.
Leave a Comment
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Eric
said,
June 7, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Thanks, Ben, I’ve wondered for five years about Yangzhou Chao Fan in Yangzhou. Outside of Yangzhou it often seems to be made with frozen vegetables, not fresh, and it certainly doesn’t have all the ingredients you found in Yangzhou.
Sai-creek
said,
June 7, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Hee, you just visited my two hometowns (Nanjing & Yangzhou.)
It invariably makes me happy to see photos of familiar places (and faces) when I’m far from home. Thanks~
pojaya
said,
June 7, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Thank you for writing. I have enjoyed reading your blog, especially the sections taking me to areas of China that I am very unlikely to ever visit!
Matt
said,
June 7, 2009 at 10:04 pm
As far as Dairy Queen only being known as DQ, it’s only half-true. That is the preferred nom-de-plume, but there is a Chinese name, 冰雪皇后 (literally, ‘Snow Queen’ for those who don’t read Chinese). Check this blog post and picture evidence:
http://www.cqscene.com/1/post/2009/06/beat-the-cq-heat-part-1.html
Fiona
said,
June 7, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Fried rice is considered an exotic dish by non-Chinese in the States? Really?
Nanjinged
said,
June 7, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Hah, everytime I think of Yangzhou all I can think of is their fried rice, though from what I’ve seen and how I learned to cook it:
Usually the egg is cooked first, removed, “other” ingredients put in the now eggless wok, then rice added then cooked egg added back in.
Yangzhou fried rice is a bit different as the egg isn’t cooked first, but added raw (beaten) after the rice is added.
But I think it is pretty uncommon that the rice would be added first and then the other ingredients.
Harmonization of street food vendors be damned, I want to try some 土耳其烤肉, but Nanjing’s street food vendors have largely been exiled out of the downtown areas.
Benjamin Ross
said,
June 7, 2009 at 11:49 pm
@ Matt
Thanks for the fact check. According to the employee at DQ, there is no English name, but I’m going to trust you (and your link) more than her.
@ Fiona
Uh…yeah, maybe “exotic” was the wrong choice of wording…yes, definitely the wrong word. Point I was trying to make, is that Westerners will order fried dish in a restaurant, and make a meal out of it. In China, it’s basically leftovers, or a cure for a hangover. I’ve since changed the wording. Thanks for keeping me in check on that.
Robert Smitheram
said,
June 8, 2009 at 1:06 am
I visited Yangzhou in late 2006 to see a friend teaching English at Daming Temple (大明寺)–a new Buddhist College has been started there with a more international orientation. Walked around the city and took in the sights and all. I enjoyed my stay very much… The identity of the building you asked about is Wenchang Pagoda (文昌阁); it was built during the reign of the Wanli Emperor (r. 1563-1620) during the Ming dynasty. Wenchang is a reference to Lord Wenchang, belonging to the Daoist pantheon of gods and known as the God of Learning; anybody wishing for success in the old civil service exams would be asking this deity for help. This pagoda was associated with the local government’s academic institute in imperial times, hence the name. I too have a photo similar to yours; it was surrounded by plants and I could not see any path that would actually reach the building if you managed to survive the attempt at crossing through all the traffic.
KK
said,
June 8, 2009 at 9:22 am
Ben, thanks for your effort in your recent series.
Re: That round building in the middle of the road, it is called Pavilion of Flourishing Culture (Wenchang Ge, 文昌阁) according to wikipedia.
“This round, three-story pavilion in Yangzhou\’s eastern sector was built in 1585 and celebrates the city\’s rich cultural traditions. It is also the de facto center of the city.
Built during Ming dynasty, it is located on the cross of Wengchang Road and Wenhe Road. The whole building is about 79 foot high, and looks like Temple of Heaven in Beijing. Today, boarded by many shopping stores, Wenchange had been a symbol of commercial center to residents.”
Andy Goldstein
said,
June 9, 2009 at 4:28 pm
About the Chinese shawarma, the only thing the Chinese haven’t quite figured out (or chose to ignore) is that their Shawarma is pork. An unfortunate case for all you halal and kosher cats out there.
Andy
Rogier
said,
June 22, 2009 at 11:37 am
Hi Ben,
Nice to see your report from what I called my home-town for four months, back in 2008! Your text and pictures bring back some good memories. Thanks for that.
Best regards from The Netherlands,
Rogier
P.s. You can find quite some pictures of Yangzhou at my website.