Chinese Pastry And Villagers' Etiquette Life

The thesis concentrates on the combination of the traditional etiquette food Chinese pastry and the villagers' etiquette and custom of the west of Shandong province. Through the path of the rise, development, retreat and recurrence of Chinese pastry in the west of Shandong province, the thesis tries to penetrate the social changes, the operation and maintenance of the villagers' relationship order in the area. And from that the thesis will illustrate the folklore symbol significance of Chinese pastry in the local society.Chinese pastry always has a strong character of etiquette in history, as a delicacy having a long history. The Chinese pastry industry was developed during the period of Ming and Qing dynasties in the west of Shandong province, because of commercial prosperity brought by the Grant Canal. The Chinese pastry industry goes on in this area and Chinese pastry is used in the villagers' etiquette life as the traditional etiquette food. The Daxing Zhai Chinese pastry Store had been in Liaocheng City. The Chinese pastry Store moved into Liuqinghong Village for the decline of the Grant Canal and commercial depression. The Chinese pastry has quite effect on the villagers' etiquette life in the area. Villagers in this area look Chinese pastry as a kind of noble food, connecting it with the important ceremonies. Before the 1950s the usages of Chinese pastry in the villagers' etiquette and custom reflected that women's status was quite low in marriage and family life. From the 1950s to 1980s, Chinese pastry retreated from villagers' etiquette and custom as a result of state control. Meanwhile, villager's etiquette and custom had greatly changed under the influence of state control. Since the 1980s, the Daxing Zhai Chinese pastry Store has been reopened meanwhile the villagers' economic situation has been greatly improved. Chinese pastry massively appears in villagers' new etiquette and custom, forming a new pattern of Chinese pastry used in the new etiquette and custom life. In the new etiquette and custom, villagers use Chinese pastry to express different relationships, maintain and operate the social order in practice, and think that others cannot replace Chinese pastry in their etiquette and custom.Based on the Chinese pastry used in the etiquette and custom, this thesis tries using the theory of "representative culture" and "representative culture-oriented" writing style to reveal the special course of history of the local society, the local people's life style and relationship order. With the thesis, the author also hopes to give a helpful supplement to the research on folk customs of diet as well as the practice of the new theory of "representative culture".