Fujian Fuqing Native Product-Guangbing

The story of this cake is also from Qi Jiajun. In War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Qi Jiajun often fought on an empty stomach because of the change of the enemy's situation, which affected the combat effectiveness of the troops and sometimes lost soldiers. So we established the legal system, made bread, carried it with us, and ate while marching, which enhanced the mobility and combat effectiveness of the troops. In memory of Qi Jiajun, it is called Light Cake and Zhengdong Cake. There are also two cake models on display in the temple.

Eat light cakes according to local conditions.

Among many kinds of snacks in Fuzhou 100, light cake is the coarsest and cheapest one. Its raw materials are only flour, alkaline noodles, salt, and a little sesame, which is as big as a silver dollar. Compared with Beijing sesame sauce sesame seed cake and Jiangsu Huangqiao sesame seed cake, it has no grade and no taste. However, don't underestimate it, this light cake is still well-known.

According to the Records of Fuzhou Prefecture, in the forty-second year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty (AD 1563), Qi Jiguang, a national hero, led an army into Fujian to pursue the enemy. He doesn't want it to rain for days on end, so he can't build a stove in the army. Qi Jiguang ordered him to bake a simple biscuit and hang it on the soldiers with hemp rope as dry food, which greatly facilitated the battle to destroy the enemy. Later, this kind of cake flowed into the people, which was not only widely eaten, but also became a necessary offering to worship the ancestors of the gods. Later generations felt that Qigong was pitiful, so they called this biscuit "light cake".

In Fuzhou, people usually call cakes without sesame seeds "light cakes" and cakes with sesame seeds "Fuqing cakes". But in Fuqing City, 60 kilometers away from Fuzhou, people call this kind of cake with sesame seeds on it "light cake". In terms of "relish", in comparison, the light cakes made by Fuqing people are slightly better.

Fuzhou people used to bake cakes with charcoal. Nowadays, in order to save trouble, most of them are baked in an electric oven. Fuqing people still keep their own way of making light cakes, which is both fresh and interesting. To put it mildly, it can be called a labor art that combines music and dance.

They are baking light cakes in a big barrel with a height of nearly two meters and a diameter of about one meter and covered with yellow mud. First, bundles of pine branches were used to ignite a raging fire in the cylinder, which made the cylinder wall "white" and only embers were left at the bottom of the cylinder. Then, two people cooperate to put their hands into the cylinder and stick them on the cylinder wall quickly and accurately. If they are slow, they are afraid of baking bubbles with bare arms. Because when baking light cakes, they are faced with a big cupping pot, so both of them are shirtless in winter and summer. One hand passes the embryo, and the other hand receives the embryo and puts it in the jar. They lean forward in tandem, are agile and cooperate tacitly. Coupled with the crackling sound of the paste cake, it seems to be accompanied by music, with a strong sense of rhythm. In less than ten minutes, hundreds of light cakes were all pasted, and then the cakes were slowly cooked with charcoal fire, which was really an eye-opener. The light cake baked in this vat is only golden yellow and very crisp.

Small shops selling light cakes in Fuzhou are all mixed with shops and workshops. Fuqing's light cakes are made by workshops and distributed to vendors for sale. So in Fuqing, stalls selling light cakes can be seen everywhere along the street. The light cakes piled up on the stall became a street scene in Fuqing.

Once upon a time, light cakes were eaten by ordinary people and were not allowed to be elegant. Maybe things have changed. Nowadays, hotels in Fuzhou also cut light cakes into clams, put them together with rotten meat, steamed meat, snow red and moss, and pour some vinegar and garlic juice as special snacks at the banquet.

No one ever thought that light cakes still have such scenery as today.