Research 10 History of Peony Sallow Dish

Shui xi: an ancient feast from the Emperor’s table

Speaking of Luoyang, one cannot fail to mention shui xi. Luoyang’s shui xi is a meal made up of a fixed set of courses. It was created and became popular during the Tang Dynasty and was an integral part of imperial banquets, called guan changer or guan xi (official clubs). It could only be eaten by guests of honour such as members of the Royal family, officials or foreign visitors.

Shui xi has been handed down and perfected over the centuries and is today widely  popular. Since 2008 it has been enlisted as part of Intangible Cultural Heritage of China.

It is actually from the slow succession of the dishes, which is reminiscent of the natural flow of water, that shui xi derives its name. Shui xi literally means “water banquet”.

The most famous shui xi dish is the “Peony Swallow Dish” and its story is well known all over the country. It is said that when the Empress Wu Zetian governed the nation, local farmers found a huge radish in a Dongguan field in Luoyang and presented it to the Empress because they regarded it as a harbinger of good tidings.

The royal cooks, after much thought, decided to cook it in a soup together with delicacies of every kind. The Empress, after tasting it, said that the new dish tasted like swallow’s nest soup and she gave it the name sai yanwo that literally means “better than swallow’s nest soup”. Since the dish originates from Luoyang, it is also known as “Luoyang Swallow Dish”.

In 1973 the Prime Minister Zhou Enlai wanted his guest Pierre Trudeau, the then Canadian Prime Minister who was visiting Luoyang, to taste shui xi.  Zhou Enlai, after seeing a beautiful peony, carefully carved by the chefs, on top of the Luoyang Swallow Dish, said with joy: “The Luoyang Peony is number one in the world: it can bloom even on a plate!” Since then the “Luoyang Swallow Dish” has also been known as the “Peony Swallow Dish”.