Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1904-12-30
PED0LlNo BREAD IN CHINA.
Street Vendors Garry Various Kinds
About on Trays Suspended
About Their Necks-

Among the many curious sights In
China, none presents g. stranger as
pect to our American eyes than the
bread peddlers and their method Of
disposing of their wares. They carry
their stock in trade about with them,
says the Living Church, either in oval
boxes strapped to their backs, or n
two boxes depending from a yoke
across the shoulders, or on trays held
by strap hung from the neck, and
carried in front of them, after the
manner in which the pieman of Sim
pie Simon fame is invariably pic
tured by all orthodox illustrators of
Mother Goose. In the city of Tien-
tsin these street vendors offer three
different kinds of bread for sale Two
OF these are twisted in oval shape, AND
the third is thin, crisp cake
sprinkled with seeds of sesame, that
magic word which at once recalls 10
our minds the wonderful tale Of Ali
Bahia and the 40 thieves. How little
we ever dreamed, when we listened,
spellbound. in our childhood days to
the thrilling account of Ali Baba's ad-
ventures, that We should ever behold,
far less taste, the fateful sesame, the
name OF which proved so Elusive to
our hero at the crucial moment when
he was confronted by the rock of diff
Guilty. But the peddler's bread is not
more curious than his method of SELL
ing it, for it is frequently disposed OF
by rattle, for which purpose he car
r1es three dice, held in a little dish.
In Peking, the capital of the celes-
tia1 empire, the bread peddlers gener-
ally come from the provinces, mostly
from Shantung. They are called po-
po sellers. Their street cry, "Yao-
chin-mantoa" (Can 1 sell you a pound
of breadO is often heard until late
in the evening. Their bread is made
of wheat flour and baked in hot
vapors, distinguished from another
kind which is baked in hot pans. They
also sell several varieties of po-po, or
baked goods, a special favorite with
the Chinese being an oval oil cake
made of the very best -four and usual
ly eaten with pork, sausage or liver.
Thine MOhammedanS in China have
q reputation for good bread, and evil
IDENTIFY wish to be known as pure food
advocates, for in order to enable Gus
toners to distinguish their wares from
those of other vendors they ornament
their carts or boxes with the Moslem
emblem. This consists of a vase, con-
tanning branch Of the olive tree, on
the top OF which is perched the Mo-
hammedan cap. On either side OF this
design is inscribed the motto: pure
and true. Islam" These Moham-
medan peddlers also sell a kind OF
patty flied with a mixture of meat,
vegetables, oil and sage. Another of
their products, which is called 'la
shouping, va chakuei," is large
roasted cake or dumping baked in
oil. Many of these Chinese CONNECTIONS
are much more appetizing than one
would imagine from the description,
but like many foreign dishes, the taste
for them must be acquired by cultiva-
ton before they can be thoroughly
appreciated.
The average Chinaman eats very lit
tie bread prepared according to our
American formulas, consequently the
bakery and confectionery shops are
few and far between. Like all other
stores in China, they are open in
front, with no partition to protect
them from the heat or cold, or the
dust of the streets. Wooden shutters
are used to close them up at night.
One finds practically the same wares
At the bakers as the bread peddlers
offer for sale. Among them is one
special kind of cake having the figure
of hare imprinted ON it, which is
eaten by the Chinese in honor of the
birthday of the moon. AS soon as the
festivities celebrating this anniversary
are ever, the ca es are Wi. hGrawn
from sale and are not again displayed
until the next moon birthday, which
eeTs esponds in season to our Easter.