The Eight Strange Customs in Shaanxi
“The Eight Strange Customs in Shaanxi” are the customs that are mostly popular in the Guanzhong area of Shaanxi Province. Due to various factors such as the climate, economy and culture, the Guanzhong area has some unique ways in terms of clothing, food, housing, travel and music. With rich historical and cultural heritage, the Guanzhong area of Shaanxi follows the historical folk customs and forms the vivid “Eight Strange Customs in Shaanxi”.
The noodles are in the shape of belts
It’s well-known that people in Shaanxi love to eat noodles. If you come here, the noodles you eat everyday could be different from month to month, for people in Shaanxi have already practiced consummate skills on making various noodles. The most famous noodles are the Qishan noodles with minced pork and the biang biang noodles in the shape of belts.
The Guokui is in the shape of a Chinese pot cover
As a type of cuisine cooked with flour, Guokui has a historical story. During the marches in ancient times, the food that the soldiers carried was easy to mold. Therefore, the dry and hard Guokui came into being.
Chilli itself can be a dish
People always think that only people from Hunan and Sichuan provinces enjoy eating spicy food. However, the truth is that the people in Sichuan regard chilli as a kind of ingredient, while people in Shaanxi cook it as a main course. In front of every household in Xi’an, there is a string of endearing chillies.
“Chilli oil” (minced chili pepper splashed with oil) is red in color, fine fragrance in smell, and spicy in taste, which can be used as an ingredient in the noodles and as a stuffing in steamed buns. It is often said that “biang biang noodles mixed with chilli oil tastes really good!”
As the folk song goes, when compared with the ability of eating chilies in Sichuan and Hunan people, people in Shaanxi are intimidating. Chilli noodles mixed with salts are supposed to be mixed with hot vegetable oil. Delicious noodles and the Chinese Burger go well with the chillies.
Bowls and basins are hard to discriminated
This is another custom related to eating noodles. If you eat outside, you would find that all the ingredients are on the top of the noodles, and you have to mix the noodles and the ingredients before eating. However, the bowl is too small to mix them well. The noodles may be either tasteless or have a strong flavor. That’s why we need the basins. Note that the basins used here are not the big ones, as the basins are a little bit bigger than the bowls. Now it is enough to use the bowls with big rims in restaurants. Basins are not pleasant to look at in these occasions.
People enjoy wearing a handkerchief on head
“Films about western China” usually display the images of old men wearing a sheepskin towel on their heads, and a jacket with buttons down the front on their body, while the elderly women wore a black or white Papa (handkerchief) on their heads. If you happen to go to the Guanzhong countryside, you would find that it is exactly the same scene as what you saw in the movies.
The fact is that Shaanxi is rich in cotton. The native people used to wear the handkerchiefs weaved with cotton on their heads. This dustproof, rainproof and sun-proof handkerchief can be used to wipe sweat, dry hands and wrap things, which is economical and convenient.
As the folk song goes, the elderly women in the countryside of Shaanxi always wear a plaid Papa on their heads. The dustproof, rainproof and sun-proof handkerchief can also be used to wipe sweat and dry hands.
The house only has one sloping eave
Houses in the urban area of Xi’an or the countryside of Guanzhong with only one sloping eave can be seen everywhere. Why is this exactly? Generally speaking, the roof of a typical house has a herringbone pattern, but the houses in Guanzhong have just a half of the herringbone. It is said that due to the dry and rainless climate of Guanzhong, this kind of houses could collect most of the rainwater to be used in the field belonging to the household. That exactly is the meaning of the saying “Don’t let one’s fertile water flow into others’ fields.”
Besides, in the last hundred years, the agriculture development in the Guanzhong area was slow while the population here experienced rapid growth. Large families and tense residence spaces formed the custom of “the house with only one sloping eave”.
As the folk song goes, the houses with only one sloping eave can save labor, materials and wood. They are shelters keeping the wind, the rain and the coldness away from the inside. With the features of being warm in the winter and cool in the summer, the houses could bring you good luck and good fortune.
People prefer squatting on the ground than sitting on a bench
During dining time, it is common that three or five people in Shaanxi hang around with a bowl in their hands, eating while chatting, which has become a custom over time.
The local opera is performed by shouting vigorously instead of singing
The local opera here is known as the Qinqiang. It is characterized by high and loud sounds as well as intense and rapid paces. In particular, the singing of a man with pained face (also known as jing, a male character in Chinese opera with a painted face) is shouting at the top of one’s voice, which is called “Zhengpotou” (the actor on the stage used all his strength to sing Qinqiang). The outsiders joked that, “To sing Qinqiang, first and foremost, the stage has to be steady to avoid shaking. Additionally, the actors have to be in good health to avoid tiredness and fatigue. Finally, the audience has to be courageous to avoid being frightened.”
As the folk song goes, the native people are simple in nature and sturdy in temper, and the Qinqiang is one of the ways for them to show themselves. The audience are too happy to be afraid of the collapse of the stage.
