【Lingnan Literature and History】The century-old city standard has a strong reputation and benefits the people hui ru lou

"Yangcheng Evening News" April 8 A06 edition

Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Huang Zhuhui Deng Qiong Intern Yang Rui Correspondent Ren Haihong Ma Weiwei

In the 1950s and 1960s, the originator of the new Chinese spy war film, "Yangcheng Dark Sentinel", caused a sensation throughout the country. This film, which was filmed on the spot in Guangzhou, let many Chinese people intuitively understand Yangcheng for the first time. Guangzhou's century-old tea house "Huiru Lou", as an important filming location in the film, has infected tens of millions of viewers with its unique Lingnan tea house culture.

Founded in 1875 on Zhongshan 5th Road in Guangzhou, Huiru Lou is one of the oldest tea houses in the city. Its fate has legends and ups and downs: from the creation of a good deed to the moment of prosperity, from the drinking of a thousand people to the relocation of the graduate, from the gathering of literature and ink to the survival of life... Huiru Lou, which has gone through vicissitudes, has exerted the emotional charm of Yangcheng Tea House to the extreme, and has engraved a cultural connotation of "benefiting oneself and benefiting people to be fair, such as being close to the old and warm guests" in the memory of Guangzhou City for a long time.

Picture of the former grand view of Huiru Building Courtesy of the interviewee

Kind heart to open a shop Tea forest pioneer

In the food and beverage industry in Guangzhou City, the operation of tea houses is a natural industry with the most stable operation and the largest capital, and century-old brands abound, which are rare in other industries. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the bamboo branches of the early Ming Dynasty sang: "The business of The hundred lines is nearly weak, but the tea forest is crowded." Do not love new tea love old tea, the best guest in the seat of the real question. ”

Founded in the first year of the Qing Dynasty (1875), HuiruLou is one of the oldest tea houses in Guangzhou, originally located at No. 117 Zhongshan 5th Road in Guangzhou (formerly known as Hui'ai Middle Road). In front of its house, there is a nearly 7-meter-high "Hui Ru Lou" signboard, which is not usually red, but instead has a black background lined with gold characters. At that time, huirulou soon after the opening of the qing dynasty, the death of the Tongzhi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the succession of Guangxu, the whole country mourned and banned the color of festivity, but the signboard could not be hung, so it had to temporarily cover the red with black paint. This can also provide a circumstantial evidence for the opening year of Huiru Building. This sign was used until the 1987 renovation of the tea house.

The opening of the century-old Hui Ru Building began with an act of kindness. This story has been recorded in many classics: the founder of Huiru Lou was named Chen Huiru, and during the Tongzhi period, the couple ran a small restaurant in Guangzhou. One day, Chen Huiru tried to prevent the guys from using boiling water to drizzle the thief's practice, and saved a thief hiding in the cupboard. Hearing that the thief was forced to steal food because of the disaster at home, Chen Huiru gave porridge and rice and attached money and silver to help him find another way to make a living. Over the past few years, Chen Huiru has received silver oceans from Nanyang one after another, expressing gratitude to the people who were saved that year.

According to Lei Wanli's article "A Century-Old Huiru Lou" published in 1990 in "Food in Guangzhou History", since then, "Chen Huiru has built a tea house on the roof of the 'Pan Family Hall' where the small restaurant is located, which is the original Huiru Building." By the time Tan Chengbo ("Tan Qingbo") took over The Huiru Building in the last century, the tea house had 4 floors and 60 employees. Later, Tan successively bought the houses of more than 30 residents near Huirulou and prepared to expand the operation, but due to the warlords' melee and the Japanese invasion of China during the Republic of China, the expansion did not succeed.

In the memory of the old Guangzhou, the architectural decoration of HuiruLou during the Republic of China is very unique, with both the tradition of Chinese architectural style and the charm of Western Baroque style. The second floor building of Huiru Building adopts the form of four pillars and three arches, and the outer wall has a semi-circular balcony protruding, which is quite different from the traditional tea house building, which gives people a refreshing feeling in the downtown area of Yangcheng, which is originally a traditional building.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Huirulou was converted into a public-private partnership, which was changed to a state-owned enterprise in 1958. In 1960, the state expanded the land of dozens of households near Huiru Building, and completed and reopened in October 1963, when there were more than 170 employees.

Thousands of people drink together, less salty set

In the past hundred years, Huiru Building has been expanded many times, and the business is like a day in the sky, and the turnover once reached the highest in the guangzhou tea house industry. According to the old employees of Huiru Building in the old days, Huiru Building opened its doors at 5:30 every morning, and the number of people in line was often so large that the dim sum master used a long rope to maintain order. A square platform that could only accommodate four people, often crowded with seven or eight people, is a common thing.

Hui ru lou is known for its beautiful tea and exquisite dim sum, and the most prestigious dim sum includes dried fish steamed and sold, bamboo shoot tip shrimp dumplings, lan ren saqi horse and so on. Its cakes are also well-known in Guangzhou, such as the dowry cake (lotus cake, refreshing sugar crisp, etc.), wife cake (winter cake), New Year's Eve varieties, Mid-Autumn Festival "tribute month" and so on.

Historically, there was no shortage of thousands of people drinking tea in Huiru Lou, which is breathtaking even today. In the 1982 edition of Famous Chinese Restaurants, it is recorded that "HuiruLou has only 1,000 seats, but often as many as 1,400 people. The belated one had to look at the building and sigh. "The first floor of Huiru Building is six meters high, the second floor is five meters high, and the south door and north window appear to be open-minded and open-minded, smooth and clear, so that customers living in the noisy room can get as quiet as possible." Only this point, Hui Ru Lou is superior. ”

Huiru Lou's first "Weekly Beauty Point" in the industry is even more sensational. According to records, their "Zhou Mei Dian" was launched as early as the 1930s, in addition to shrimp dumplings, dry steamed steamed and other basic varieties that customers often eat, the rest are rotated once a week, and there are as many as five to eight styles. Over the years, Hui Ru Lou has rotated a total of how many dim sum, it is really difficult to count. Since the restoration of the "Weekly Beauty Point" around 1980 alone, 113 rotations have been carried out, and more than 1500 varieties have been rotated.

Gong Bohong summed up in his book "Century-old shops: Guangzhou old restaurants and old food language": "From the perspective of the development process of Huiru Lou, attaching importance to publicity and advertising and attaching importance to cultural connotations is the way of its wangdian. Many senior tea guests remember that the "Shaochang Xianji" banner on the second floor of Huiru Building is a handwritten book by Zhao Zhiqian, a famous calligrapher and painter of the Qing Dynasty, which attracted many literati and inkers to come and appreciate. This was purchased by Chen Yiqin, the director of Huiru Lou, from the antique shop in Yangcheng in the early republic of China.

HuiruLou gathered artists that year (data map)

Guangzhou city standard film and television favor

As one of the landmarks of Yangcheng Tea House culture, Huiru Lou is often associated with artists, literati, film and television works, which makes it more famous. In the 1930s, HuiruLou set up a "singing girl", where famous artists Xu Liuxian, Zhang Yue'er, and little stars sang songs.

The famous local writer Liang Fenglian was born in Xiguan, Guangzhou in the 1960s. She recalls that in her childhood, she "woke up early every day by Grandma and took her to a nearby tea house restaurant for morning tea, almost drinking all the famous tea houses in Guangzhou." Many years later, in the novels created by Liang Fenglian such as "Young Master Dongshan" and "Miss Xiguan", the figure of Huiru Lou and Tao Taoju can be found in tea houses such as Huiru Lou and Tao Tao Ju. In her impression, "the façade on the first floor of Huiru Building is open to the arcade building, and the lobby is hollow and appears very open." The tea house is very regular, and the decoration style is a combination of Chinese and Western. Different floors are equipped with card seats, private seats, lively areas, and quiet places."

The characteristics of Huirulou's old store have been favored by film and television creators for decades. Released in 1957, the "Cantonese"," the "Yangcheng Dark Sentinel", was written by the famous Guangdong writer Chen Renyun and produced by Shanghai Haiyan Film Studio. In order to reflect the characteristics of the region, there is a scene in the film where The Eight Gu takes a fake photo in order to provoke the relationship between Dr. Chen and his wife, and the location is selected in Huiru Building. At that time, Hui Rulou was closed for half a day to assist the crew in filming, and also invited diners to act as extras. In the tea house scene, the Cantonese "burning and selling" and "big bags" shouting and selling, and the Famous Cantonese opera singing section of the Red Line Woman", "Search Academy", are faintly audible, and the strong southern color adds lyrical characteristics to this thrilling film, which is greatly loved by the audience.

This tea house is recognized as one of the city standards of Guangzhou in the last century. The 1979 movie "The Story of Brother Bao", which was released in March 1926, was also filmed on the scene of Hui Ru Lou; in 2008, the period drama "Dong shan drifting rain and West Guan Qing" (starring Wang Mingquan and She Shiman) produced by Hong Kong TVB also had such a plot: in the play, the Pan family loved to eat Hui Ru Lou's dim sum, and the second young grandmother played by Wang Mingquan simply invited the dim sum master of Hui Ru Lou to her home to make it, and the reputation of this tea house was directly out of the screen.

During the renovation in April 1987, the staff of Huiru Building stumbled upon an old couplet in the warehouse utility room: "Huiji Huiren is fair" At that time, it was examined that this was written in 1890 when Hui Ru Lou celebrated its 15th anniversary of opening, but it was scattered under the line. Therefore, Hui Rulou decided to publicly report to the lower league. At one time, there were more than 400 conscription couplets sent from all over the country and even overseas Chinese. In late November of that year, Hui Rulou specially invited Chen Renyun, Chen Ludi, Huang Shimin, Wei Qiu, Chen Yutian and other writers and poets to be selected together, and after careful selection and deliberation, the final joint was determined to be "warm and warm as a family". Since then, this couplet has been famous at home and abroad along with Hui Ru Lou.

"Nine Fish" was once reborn

In the heyday of the Republic of China, there were as many as nine tea houses in Guangzhou with the character "Ru", collectively known as "Jiu Ru", and the people of Guangzhou took its harmonic pronunciation and called it "Nine Fish", that is, "Nine Fish Out Together". Hui Ru is one of the "fish (such as)".

Regarding the origin of "Nine Fish", the "Famous Old Brands in Guangzhou" edited by Zhen Ren and Tan Shaopeng records: "Chen (referring to Chen Huiru) has many wealth and good deeds, in addition to expanding the Huiru Building in the same place, he has also built several tea houses, all of which are named after the word 'Ru', such as Sanru, Duoru, Tairu, Dongru, Nanru, Ruiru, Furu, and Tianru. But there is also another saying: "A group of big men, led by Tan Xinyi, who is known as the 'King of The Tea House', acquired a number of famous tea houses in the thirty-fourth year of The Qing Dynasty (1908), and Huiru Lou was also acquired at about that time." Tan Xinyi has a special love for the word 'ru', through his hosting and participation, opened a number of tea houses named after the word 'ru' in one go, and other bosses also came to join in the fun, opening a tea house with the word 'ru' as the name, when it was 'nine fish (such as) out'. "No matter which way it is said, it can be seen that the Yangcheng Tea House was prosperous in that year.

The Guangzhou Municipal National Archives has preserved a historical video of Hui ru Lou, which, although only 57 seconds, is extremely precious. The Yangcheng Evening News reporter saw in this video taken before the demolition of Huirulou in 1995 that the entrance hall of an arcade building was very high, and the large sign erected at the door was a green background, and the red font on it read "Huirulou Seafood Restaurant". It is understood that after the renovation of Huiru Lou in 1987, it was renamed "Huiru Lou Seafood Restaurant".

In 1995, the original site of Huiru Building was demolished and relocated to Guanghua Road in Sanyuanli, where it was closed in 1997. Guangzhou writer Ning Quanping once had a feeling and wrote a poem: "Su holds a fair and beneficial building, and often warms up and calls him a good plan." A hundred years of wind and flow into the past, Zhenglian fortunately has a reputation to stay. ”

The wind is always blown away by the rain and the wind. Pan Yongjie, deputy general manager of the former Huiru Lou, introduced that by 1949, there were only five "fish" left in the Guangzhou Tea House: Huiru of Zhongshan Fifth Road, Sanru of South China Middle Road, Tairu of Guangfu Road, Dongru of Triangle City and Nanru of Beijing Road. Especially after the 1990s, either due to the change of name or due to the construction of the subway, these tea houses with the word "Ru" in their names have become the past.

With the country's emphasis on the revival of long-established brands in recent years, in 2018, under the leadership of Guangzhou State-owned Assets Management Group, Huiru Lou's century-old signboard was quietly revived in the mode of brand licensing operation - Hui Ru Lou opened two stores at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, and people were able to re-taste the "Taste of Guangfu" that had been up and down for nearly a century and a half. In 2019, the Huirulou brand was rated as "Guangzhou Time-honored Brand". At present, Huirulou Airport Store has become a souvenir shop.

Zhou Ruizhe, brand director of Guangzhou Time-honored Investment Holding Co., Ltd., told the Yangcheng Evening News reporter that in addition to the "rebirth" at Baiyun Airport, Huirulou will also introduce food industry partners to jointly open up a new food "track", with the century-old heritage of the old brand, integrate the brand concept of the new era, and reshape the Huirulou brand in multiple dimensions.

Exterior view of Huirulou Baiyun Airport Store after rebirth Courtesy of Guangzhou Time-honored Company

【Interview】

Liang Fenglian (Director of Lingnan Cultural Research Center, Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences, researcher, first-class writer)

I hope that the old brand will "live" around us well

Yangcheng Evening News: How do you view the unique Yangcheng tea house culture represented by Huiru Lou and formed in our city?

Liang Fenglian: The tea house culture in Yangcheng is a precious wealth left by the ancestors. The tea house is closely related to our lives, even in the 1960s and 1970s, the roots of the guangzhou tea house culture have not been broken, and many famous tea houses have been preserved, such as Hui Ru Lou on Zhongshan 5th Road.

Guangzhou is a thousand-year-old commercial capital, and tea houses have slowly become the standard of commercial society, extending many functions. Not only drinking tea, but also promoting the development of social, trade, kinship and food culture. The greatest contribution and inheritance of Guangzhou's food culture is to elevate everyone's common needs into a kind of survival wisdom - to hold the day in your hands and live well. With this culture, Guangzhou talents will be calm and calm, spoiled and not shocked. The tea house culture is indispensable to the creation of a harmonious social atmosphere in Guangzhou.

Yangcheng Evening News: Indeed, the citizens feel that the days in the tea house are very "Lingnan".

Liang Fenglian: There are many things that Guangzhou Tea House culture accommodates, such as business talks, blind dates, meetings, family reunions, etc. can be carried out in it. The tea house belongs to the public space, and everyone treats each other frankly, which can be relaxed and casual, but also solemn and ritualistic. This is the difference between Guangzhou tea house culture and other cities.

The tea houses in Guangzhou are also very elegant places to go. Acid branches and chairs, wood carvings and flowers, celebrity calligraphy and paintings, garden layout, water and tea fragrance, which have achieved a number of famous old brands, such as Chengzhu Lou, Hui Ru Lou, Tao Tao Ju and so on.

"Have to go to drink tea", "morning tea" and "night tea" have become the life concept and lifestyle of new and old Guangzhou people. Drinking tea is the carnival where Guangzhou people greet the alternating morning and evening. Guangzhou tea house culture has also become the nostalgia of wanderers. "Where there is Cantonese, there is a tea house", and the guangzhou tea house culture spread to the whole world with the Chinese and Chinese.

Yangcheng Evening News: At present, how should we inherit and develop the Yangcheng Tea House culture?

Liang Fenglian: Guangzhou Tea House has a distinct degree of identification and recognition, and its pattern, atmosphere and production can reflect the regional characteristics of Guangzhou. Guangzhou is built into an international metropolis, and the tea house is an indispensable consumption scene in Guangzhou. Doing a good job in the inheritance, innovation and development of tea house culture is very important to publicize the image of Guangzhou, and we must operate it well.

Many tea houses in Guangzhou were once popular during the Republic of China, and now most of them do not know the end, which is a bit regrettable. The development of Guangzhou Tea House is not only a problem of tradition, but also a problem of the future. Guangzhou can't be full of Western restaurants and clubs, can we resurrect these centuries-old brands? I believe that these old brands with historical precipitation should not be sent to the archives, but should be allowed to live by our side and continue to be old neighbors who live together.

The so-called modernization is to bring valuable traditions into the future. These time-honored brands are beneficial to Guangzhou's urban image, and should be supported by government policies and activated by private capital.

In many film and television works, such as the 1980s TV series "Foreign Sister" and "Public Relations Miss", there is a Guangzhou Tea House in the background of its shooting. I think that literary and artistic works can become a weapon to promote the culture of Yangcheng Tea House and help promote the image of Guangzhou.

【Extension】

Guangzhou's time-honored revitalization fund completed the filing

Since 2021, Guangzhou Restaurant, Baiyun Mountain, Pearl River Piano, etc. have successively issued announcements saying that the Guangzhou Time-honored Revitalization Fund has completed the filing procedures for private equity investment funds in accordance with the requirements of relevant laws and regulations and the Asset Management Association of China.

On September 16, 2021, Guangzhou Guofa (now "Guangzhou Production and Investment Group"), together with its subsidiary Kechuang Guofa Fund, signed a partnership agreement with Lingnan Group, Guangzhou Commercial Holdings, Guangzhou Restaurant, Pearl River Piano, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group, Guangzhou Light Industry State-owned Assets Management Company, Guangzhou Yuexiu Capital Management Company, Guangzhou Food Shang Guowei Catering Company, and Guangzhou Fengsheng Investment Company, and jointly funded the establishment of Guangzhou Time-honored Revitalization Fund Partnership. The total scale of the first phase of the plan is 404 million yuan, and all the funds have been paid up. From the perspective of capital contribution, 8 enterprises such as Guangzhou Restaurant, Baiyun Mountain and Pearl River Piano have all contributed 50 million yuan.

The investment direction of the partnership enterprises is mainly related to the long-established brands and related industries such as big health and large consumption, with the purpose of deepening the reform of state-owned assets and state-owned enterprises, developing a mixed-ownership economy, strategically investing in long-established enterprises, and promoting the preservation and appreciation of state-owned assets.

The Guangzhou Time-honored Revitalization Fund undoubtedly has a demonstration effect on the revitalization of the time-honored industry, and it is expected that it can create a new path for the revitalization of the long-established brands in Southern Guangdong.

The Culture and Literature and History Materials Committee of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference jointly sponsored by Yangcheng Evening News