The Timeline of Excellence
Three centuries,
Three centuries,
one recipe
{YEARS} Years1738 — {NOW}
1738 · Xianyukou
A wine shop,
A wine shop,
a name to come
In 1738, Wang Ruifu rode a donkey east from Shanxi to the capital. By the lanes of Xianyukou, outside the Qianmen gate, he opened a humble wine shop — Wang Ji. None could know that, a decade on, an emperor would give it a name in his own hand.
The Forbidden City
It was Qianlong,
It was Qianlong,
travelling in secret
So moved by the warmth and the dumplings served to him on that silent holiday night, the Emperor declared it the one and only place of its kind in all the capital — and so it has remained.
1956 · A New Era
The house moves,
The house moves,
the craft stays
Under the public-private partnership, the house moves to larger premises north of Xianyukou.
2008 · Intangible Heritage
A craft the nation
A craft the nation
now safeguards
Duyichu’s shaomai craft is inscribed as National Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Intangible Heritage
Folded by hand,
Folded by hand,
every time
A new generation trains under senior masters, inheriting the craft of rolling wrappers so thin they turn translucent — dragonfly wings, a skill that takes years to perfect and a lifetime to keep.
Enter the craft →