1. Diet
Rice is the main staple food with potatoes, wheat, corns and beans as supplements. The potato shreds which used to be the staple food in the barren mountainous and coastal areas have been replaced by the rice and have become the non-staple food for the urban residents to enrich their diet. The three meals of the day vary according to the places and seasons. During the busy period for farming from the Beginning of Summer to the Mid-autumn Festival, besides the three meals, snacks will be added, which is called “jieli” (relay). The dishes are also called “xiafan” (accompanying the staple food) or “caishu” (vegetables). The coastal areas are rich in aquatic products, the mountainous areas boast mountain products, and the plain areas combine the two features. Vegetables, dried seafood and pickles are popular and common non-staple food. The bean curd stewed in the juice of edible amaranth stems is a local specialty. According to the old customs, there are banquets of “six bowls (plates)” and “eight bowls (plates)”, etc. The banquets failing to meet the standards should not be called a formal one. The banquets are usually named after the first dish. The high-standard banquets include the sea cucumber banquet, the shark's fin banquet, and the bird's nest banquet, etc. with up to over 20 dishes. In recent years, the banquet names are less important but the banquets tend to be extravagant in urban areas. The local specialties are mainly the food made of rice flour or wheat flour.
Shuijin cake (soaked cake) At the end of the lunar year, New Year cakes are made from nonglutinous rice flour which is pounded with pestles, rubbed and steamed. When the cakes are ready, they would be stored in water with alum. People would take pride in storing many cakes which are usually consumed until the second or the third month of the next lunar year. The cakes made from glutinous rice flour are called maci, which can also be stored in water. In recent years, the mechanized production has replaced the hand-made approach.
Rice noodles The steamed rice flour is pressed, shredded, and dried in the sun for long-time storage. It is also called “miangan” (dried noodles).
Bean noodles The potato flour is steamed, pressed with rolling pin, shredded, and dried in the sun. The noodles feature glistening, green color, smoothness and good taste. It is called “doumiangeng” (been noodle thick soup) when boiled with seasoning. It can also be eaten as a snack, which is called “doumiansui”. It is better to eat the hot bean noodles with pepper in cold weather.
Pork wheat cakes The cakes with pork filling are fried in the pan, soft and savory. It is better to be eaten with eggs. The best cakes are made in Linhai City, Tiantai County and Xianju County.
Bianshi It is similar to huntun (the boiled small dumplings with pork) with the fillings fried first and then wrapped. It can be steamed, fried, or boiled in soup. In recent years, when jiaozi (dumplings) begins to gain popularity, bianshi is also favored by urban and rural residents.
Guang cakes It is a small oval wheat cake baked in oven, crispy outside and soft inside, tasty and easy to store. It is also called “belly button cake” since there is a hole in the middle so that the cakes can be easily taken along by linking them together by a strand. The cakes were said to be the rations of the soldiers led by the national hero Qi Jiguang in fighting against the Japanese invaders in the Ming Dynasty, therefore, it is called “guang cake”.
Fish noodles The fish flesh is dipped into the starch, pounded with a stick, baked in the pan by gentle heat, and then shredded into noodles. They can be eaten instantly or died for storage. With the fillings, they can be made into fish cakes or fish noodle huntun. It is unique to the coastal areas and most prevalent in Yuhuan County.
Bean curd balls The bean curd is pressed with a knife, made into balls, dipped into starch, and then boiled in seasoning soup. It is a snack unique to Linhai.
“Egg white sheep tail” The sweet bean paste is made into balls, dipped into starch, with egg white foam applied outside, and then deep fried in oil. It is served with white sugar applied on the top. It is a dessert unique to Linhai City and common at a banquet with the features of the golden color, crispy outside and tender inside, and sweetness and good taste.
Five-flavor porridge It is the custom to have the breakfast of the five-flavor porridge on the spring festival in Tiantai County. The porridge is made of rice together with red dates, sweet potatoes, taros, red beans and bean curd. It originated from the vegetarian diet in the Buddhist temples.
Zaogeng The rice flour or potato flour is boiled in soup together with various ingredients into sweet or salty thick soup. It is usually eaten at the Yuanxiao Festival. When it is made of potato flour, it is also called “shanfenhu”.
Green balls (also known as green cakes) During the Qingming Festival, the Gnaphalium multiceps is boiled and pounded into thick liquid, which is mixed with the glutinous rice flour. Then the fillings are put in the balls of the mixture, which are put into the steamer with tree leaves or bamboo leaves at the bottom. The balls are steamed with sweet or salty flavor. Aromatic and fresh, it is also conducive to digestion. It is also eaten at the Hanshi Festival.
Wufanmaci (vaccinium bracteatum fried glutinous pudding) In the period between the spring and the summer, the tender leaves of vaccinium bracteatum are pounded into juice, rubbed with glutinous rice, and steamed. The food is excellent in color, aroma, and taste, usually in the shape of sheet. It is better to put sweet bean paste in it.
Yang cakes It is a summer pastry. The rice flavor or wheat flavor is fermented and steamed in the size of a big plate. It can be cut into segments, soft and tasty.
Huiqinggao (Ash green cakes) The sesame stalks or rice straws are burnt and the ashes are put into water, then the mixture is filtered. The newly harvested rice is put into the filtered ash water for one night and then ground into thick liquid, which is put on the steamer in eight or nine layers. When it is ready, it can be eaten with syrup and peppermint water. Light green, soft, smooth and aromatic, it is the best cold snack in the summer.
Chongyang cakes (double ninth festival cakes) It is also called glutinous rice sugar cake. It is a seasonal food at the Chongyang Festival, symbolizing rising step by step. It is ready when the glutinous rice is steamed, pounded and pressed with lines of sugar fillings, dates and chestnuts embedded and orange pulps, red and green sugared orange peel shreds on the top. It can be cut into pieces. The vendors usually sell it with small colorful paper banners inserted in, which add more pleasure to the festival.
Glutinous rice balls The balls with meat or sweet fillings may be boiled or steamed. The smaller ones are the rice dumplings of the Yuanxiao Festival. The balls without fillings are boiled and put into the fried bean powder with sugar and sesame to roll over. So it is called leiyuan (rolling ball). Soft, glutinous, aromatic and sweet, it is a snack of the winter solstice, also called “the winter solstice ball”. They can also be fried with noodles and seasonings.
Wheat cake rolls It is also called “jiaobingtong” in Tiantai County, “maiyouzi” in Linhai City, and “maijiao” in Sanmen County. The wheat flour is made into paste, which is spread in the pan to be made into thin cakes. It is ready when rolled with meat or vegetable fillings. It can also be fried. It used to be unique to Taizhou, but now it is an everyday snack.
There are other foods such as zongzi and huntun, similar to other places.
Frozen rice candy, peanut candy and sesame candy are also local specialties, which are made at the spring festival. In Linhai, Tiantai, and Xianju, “yangjiaoti” (sheep foot) is made by baking the flour with sugar into the shape of sheep foot. The yellow rice wine is the most prevalent, the older the better, so it is also called “old wine”. The liquor is also called “shaojiu” or “zaoshao”. It is called “red bayberry liquor” when the red bayberries are soaked into it, which can help relieve the summer heat and recover from the fatigue. Therefore, it is popular in urban and rural areas.
2. Apparel
There are no major differences in clothing, shoes, hats and hair styles from other places in the province. Before the founding of the new China., men usually wore Han jackets with loops and buttons down the front and round collar, while women wore outerwear with buttons down the right side and narrow cuffs. The gentlemen and businessmen wore skullcaps and long gowns. In the Republican era, cheongsam was fashionable among women, hats for formal dresses were popular with men, and Chinese tunic suits were prevalent among intellectuals. Children were characterized with tiger-head-shaped caps and bellybands. In the periods after the 1950s, Chinese tunic suits (male), Lenin coats (female) and service dresses were the common clothing then. In the 1980s, jackets, sportswear and suits began to gain popularity. The women fashions in cities such as Shanghai and Hangzhou came soon even into the rural areas. Cloth shoes and cloth socks were adopted in the past. In the Republican era, gauze socks, leather shoes and sports rubber shoes were introduced. After the 1950s, the soldiers’ green rubber shoes, named “liberation shoes”, were fashionable. Following that, plastic shoes and leather shoes were commonplace. In recent years, sneakers are soaring in popularity and leather shoes tend to be exquisite. Gauze socks have been replaced by the nylon socks. Silk stockings are popular with young ladies in summer.
In the past, the clothes were mostly made of the materials of native cotton cloth, which was thick and wear-resisting. The summer clothes were usually made of ramie cloth or the “kaojuan” (kiginu with tanning extracts applied to one side). Dyed in dyehouses or households, the materials were usually blue or deep blue. The rural girls were fond of colorful materials. In the Republican era, printed cloth began to be popular. Nowadays, the materials of leather, cotton, silk, wool and synthetic fibers tend to be exquisite with various colors.
Except the aprons used in kitchens, the various kinds of protective aprons used by laborers and pregnant women are rarely seen now.
The fishermen used to wear special clothes which were made of the cotton cloth dyed and soaked in evergreen chinquapin extracts to facilitate their work on the sea. They are rarely seen nowadays.
In some poverty-stricken areas, the residents used to wear the clothes with inside out in daily life while in a normal way when they had guests or paid visits. The practice was expedient due to the poverty and thrift. It has been extinct after the 1950s.
Men growing braids and women binding feet in the Qing Dynasty were abolished after the 1911 Revolution. Young girls wore braids, married women wore a bun, and haircut began to be adopted. After the 1950s, bobs and double braids were popular. In the 1980s, it was prevalent to have the hair permed and the young ladies also had the hairstyles of longhair, ponytail, etc. The urban senior citizens began to have their hair dyed.
In the past in rainy days, wooden shoes, bamboo shoes, bamboo hats, straw rain capes, paper umbrellas, oil cloth umbrellas and leather boots used to be used. In the Republican period, the rubber rain shoes were introduced. After the 1980s, with the emerging of the folding umbrellas, nylon rain coats and mackintoshes, the paper umbrellas and oil cloth umbrellas have disappeared but the straw rain capes can still be seen in rural areas.
3. Habitation
The inhabitants tend to cluster to form villages with few single households scattered in mountainous areas. Most of the villages are organized in the form of clan with one clan or several clans in a village. The fishing villages and the populous towns are usually not clan-characterized. The villages face south and the sun in general. The villages are named after the clan names, geographical names, architecture names, historical celebrities or specialties.
The dwellings usually face south or south-east, which helps lighting and ventilation, and a proverb says, “The south-facing house brings happiness to offspring.” There is also a taboo of the house facing due south, since the temples are built this way. The traditional pattern of the dwellings for the rich usually includes the front courtyard and the back garden with walls around. The courtyard is inside the main entrance, the central room is in the middle with a few steps, and there are rooms on the two sides with small windows. The glass windows were introduced in the Republican era. There are also compounds with several households in. Most of the storied buildings are in the form of winnowing pan. “Wufenglou” (five-phoenix building) is unique with high overhanging eaves. The farmer’ dwellings were mostly flat houses or low storied buildings of wooden structures by making use of the materials nearby. In the mountainous areas, the walls are usually made of clay or rock blocks and cobbles. In the plain areas, the walls are mostly made of bricks or stone slices. In the coastal areas or inner mountain areas, there were thatched cottages. In Wenling plain areas, there were once houses entirely made of stones. In the early 1970s, “dazhai houses” were promoted in the rural areas with rows of two-story buildings built. Since the 1980s, modern houses have been built with balconies, kitchens and bathrooms. There are more and more multi-storey dwellings. Apartment buildings were built by various work units or developed by the real estate companies.
There are locally characterized bamboo wares such as deck chairs, armchairs and baskets. Now there are many whole sets of wooden furniture of fashionable styles. Plastic wares are common in households.
