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Beijing cuisine mirrors city's rich history

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      China

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      Beijing cuisine mirrors city's rich history

      2025-01-30 20:18 Last Updated At:22:17

      Beijing, serving as China's capital for over 700 years, boasts a unique cuisine created through the integration of various ethnic groups and the influence of both imperial and civilian lifestyles.

      Dashilan and Qianmen, a historic and cultural center in Beijing, have significantly contributed to the development and preservation of Beijing cuisine. Business there has thrived since the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and they became the epicenter of Beijing's culture and entertainment about 100 years ago.

      Like many shops on the famous commercial streets of Beijing, a Beijing duck restaurant has a history of over 100 years.

      "We use ducks native to Beijing. The cooking process involves 36 procedures, using the handmade tradition. I'm the sixth - generation inheritor, and I'll do my best to keep the taste consistent," said Xiao Baolin, an inheritor of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Technique of Roasting Duck.

      The crispy duck skin is eaten with white sugar, while the breast meat is rolled in a pancake with scallions and sauce.

      "There are three Quanjude in Canada -- Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. There's one in Bordeaux. There are, I think, three in Japan. They are going international," said Jim Boyce, a foodie from Canada.

      Many of Beijing's street delicacies have their roots in imperial court cuisine. Take Luzhu, for example, which originated from a royal dish called "Suzhou-style stewed pork." However, smart Beijingers swapped the expensive pork -- the main ingredient -- for affordable pig offal, creating a nutritious and hearty dish perfect for winter.

      "My friend, who has been a chef for 20 years, he is a Beijinger. He says Luzhu is the real Beijing dish. It's a very working-class dish, but also full of nutrients. It's healthy, and it's great in the winter. It will warm you up," said Boyce.

      To cater to the consumption habits of young people, century-old stores are blending Beijing's culture and aesthetics into coffee, bridging the past and the present.

      In century-old stores on the century-old streets, the food becomes a tangible piece of history of Beijing, which was the mixing point of nomadic and agriculture lifestyles during the ancient time.

      "If you look at pictures of Beijing from a hundred years ago, you see camels in Beijing. These were nomadic people coming through, and if you also look at those pictures, you see people selling tanghulu (sugar-coated haws on a stick). You could go on the street and buy tanghulu, so there is this long history of food here," said Boyce.

      Beijing cuisine mirrors city's rich history

      Beijing cuisine mirrors city's rich history

      Beijing cuisine mirrors city's rich history

      Beijing cuisine mirrors city's rich history

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      China's financial institutions create business incubators for sci-tech startups

      2025-02-23 01:35 Last Updated At:02:27

      Financial institutions in China's Shanghai and Tianjin are building incubators for the development of sci-tech startups.

      In Shanghai, more than 40 sci-tech startups have settled in the Zhangjiang Incubator of the Pudong Development Bank Innovation Center, covering multiple fields such as integrated circuits, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence.

      The Zhangjiang Incubator not only provides offices, account settlement and policy declaration for the startups, but also helps them secure loans, negotiate business deals, and find investments.

      A company in the field of artificial blood vessels received a credit loan from the bank even without any income. Because it moved into the incubator, the bank knew its startup team, research progress, and growth very well.

      "The bank granted us a credit loan, and it was because of this credit loan that we completed the construction of our factory, which also helped us secure a new round of financing of 30 million yuan (about 4.14 million U.S. dollars). With the factory and this financing, we were able to enter the phases of clinical trials," said Dai Weimin, chairman of Sunna Technologies (Shanghai) Company.

      In north China's Tianjin Municipality, the Tiankai Higher Education Innovation Park was established, where enterprises in the park can benefit from joint support from technology, industry to finance. Financial institutions have set up branches in the park to provide comprehensive services for startups.

      "We do not meet the typical conditions for bank loans. Because we are in a special incubator environment of the Tiankai Higher Education Innovation Park and have an investment-loan linkage product from the Agricultural Bank of China, we are able to secure our first loan to overcome significant difficulties," said He Jianjun, general manager of Tianrun Hanyang Technology (Tianjin) Company.

      "Over 90 percent of the companies in the innovation park are early-stage private enterprises. We have launched several financial products tailored to the companies in the Tiankai Higher Education Innovation Park based on their characteristics. Meanwhile, we actively assist these enterprises in facilitating investment and financing connections and strengthen cooperation with small and medium-sized guarantee companies to address the medium- to long-term large financing needs of these businesses," said Han Le, deputy manager of the Tianjin Nankai Sub-branch of the Agricultural Bank of China.

      China's financial institutions create business incubators for sci-tech startups

      China's financial institutions create business incubators for sci-tech startups

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