by Ruotong (Riesle) Zhao
Nominated by Srimati Ghosal for CompLit 122: Writing World Literatures
Instructor Introduction
As a final research paper for the term, the students are required to choose an archive or primary text to methodologically explore the archive and form a critical argument about the same.
In this project, Riesle explores Yuan Mei’s Recipes from the Garden of Contentment (Suiyuan Shidan) as a central archive, to explain how scholar-gentry used food and architecture to maintain a distinct cultural identity against social extravagance and commercialization. The study concludes that the aestheticization of Jiangnan cuisine was a conscious effort by the scholar class to preserve cultural dignity through restraint. While the traditional system of "refined food and refined setting" disintegrated under the pressures of modernization, its emphasis on seasonal rhythm and moderation remains a vital historical archive for understanding Chinese cultural changes.
The singular most impressive aspect of this essay is in the contrast it develops between the spatial organisation of culture in the mid- Qing times and that in market driven modern Sanghai. It engages in deep archival work methodologically and works through the archive to make a sound scholarly argument.
Riesle’s interest in the region has developed into concrete research prospects over the course of the term and one can see it is headed towards a really bright direction. She is one of the most deserving and hardworking students we have had the privilege of teaching.
— Srimati Ghosal
The Cultural Interaction between Refined Cuisine and Aesthetic Space in the Jiangnan Region from the Mid-Qing to the Republican Era: An Archival Study of Suzhou Gardens, Huizhou Architecture, and Regional Cuisines
Yuan Mei, a renowned literary figure of the Qing dynasty, once cooked porridge to ease his hunger after returning from a banquet because he had been unable to eat there. This anecdote later spread widely and came to be interpreted as an implicit debate over the boundary between elegance and vulgarity. Confronted with a feast of more than forty dishes and over a dozen pastries, what Yuan Mei felt was not satisfaction but a kind of weariness, an exhaustion brought on by conspicuous consumption. He regarded food and drink as a form of refined discipline, a moral and aesthetic practice rather than mere indulgence. In Recipes from the Garden of Contentment (Suiyuan Shidan), Yuan Mei elaborated on the significance of jing (“exquisite detail”), shi (“seasonality”), and jie (“appropriateness”), criticizing the extravagance and vulgarity of wasting what heaven has bestowed (emphasizing the improper waste of resources, ingredients or talents).[1] The ancient saying goes, “The violent do not value others’ merits, and the wasteful do not cherish the gifts of nature.” In his view, waste was not only a material transgression but also the collapse of ethical order. For the scholar-gentry, the pursuit of refinement thus became a means of preserving cultural self-restraint and maintaining the boundaries of social identity. This aesthetic sensibility was not confined to the dining table; it also extended to their residences and gardens. Just as the Suzhou garden served as an emblem of the literati’s way of life, it reflected, in the order of every pond and every rock, the same awareness of season and measure. In a spiritual sense, cuisine and space were already isomorphic, shaped by a shared aesthetic consciousness. Therefore, the starting point of this paper is not merely to explore cuisines or culinary history, but to reveal a deeper cultural mechanism: the interrelationship between the development of regional cuisines, architectural forms, literati aesthetics, and local economic structures.
Figure 1. Original recipe layout from Yuan Mei, Suiyuan Shidan (original edition).
Taking Recipes from the Garden of Contentment as its central archive, this paper focuses on how Jiangnan scholars from the mid-Qing period to the Republican era, through the dual practices of ya shi (“refined eating”) and ya jing (“refined dwelling”), constructed a local cultural system that sustained itself amid social transformations. The central question of this research is: when Qing scholars sought to regulate their diet according to the principles of jingxi (“refinement”) and shiling lunli (“the ethics of seasonality”), how did they employ specific spatial configurations (such as gardens, residences, and Huizhou-style architecture) to define and display this aesthetic authority? Furthermore, in the late Qing and early Republican period, as urbanization advanced, how did the rise of fusion cuisine in Shanghai challenge, rewrite, or even supplant this regional order grounded in ethics and cultivated taste?
Most existing studies have focused on one-directional analysis of culinary traditions, cooking techniques, or architectural aesthetics, yet few have examined food and setting within the same cultural framework.[2] There exists a strong correspondence between the seasonal ethics described in Recipes from the Garden of Contentment and the principles of temporal order and rhythm embodied in Suzhou gardens and Huizhou-style architecture. Grounded in archival research and supplemented by material culture analysis, this study not only reads the textual content of Recipes from the Garden of Contentment, but also analyzes the functional design of banquet spaces in gardens and residences, arguing that the aesthetics of ya shi (“refined eating”) cannot be realized apart from specific spatial conditions. The research hypothesis suggests that the refinement and aestheticization of Jiangnan cuisine represented a conscious practice among the scholar class to resist the standardization and vulgarization of food culture. By transforming local architectural spaces into aesthetically delimited sites of dining, they sought to preserve cultural dignity and sustain an ethical order amid the tides of social extravagance and commercialization.
This paper unfolds along three interrelated dimensions. First, it examines the dietary ethics and the archival formation mechanism established in Recipes from the Garden of Contentment. Second, it explores how Suzhou gardens and Huizhou-style architecture spatially accommodate and shape the aesthetics of ya shi (“refined eating”). Finally, through an analysis of the urbanization of Shanghai cuisine, it investigates the disintegration and reconstruction of the traditional system of ya shi and ya jing (“refined eating and refined setting”). The significance of this research lies in its attempt not only to redefine the relationship between food and space, but also to reveal how local culture sustains and transforms itself under the pressures of modernization. This study speaks not only to the historical Jiangnan, but also to the enduring possibility of culture preserving grace and restraint in a changing world.
Recipes from the Garden of Contentment is not merely a cookbook but an implicit archive of the ethical and aesthetic order of Jiangnan society. Yuan Mei elevated food beyond daily sustenance, endowing it with both moral and aesthetic dimensions. In his view, eating was not only a matter of culinary skill or sensory pleasure, but also a part of a scholar’s spiritual cultivation. The flavor of a dish, the control of heat, and the choice of seasonal ingredients all reflected one’s understanding of nature and order. Throughout the book, he repeatedly criticized the extravagance and vanity of banquets, insisting that cooking should be grounded in jing (“refinement”) and guided by jie (“appropriateness”). Such an ethic was both a dietary rule and an aesthetic consciousness and a cultural stance that employed restraint to resist excess and ostentation.
Figure 2. Recipe illustration from Yuan Mei, Suiyuan Shidan, annotated by Yuan Jiangxue (Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2018).
The principle of “eat only what is in season”(derived from The Analects of Confucius: Traditional Chinese cuisine emphasizes adapting to the time, the scene, the season and the place) runs throughout Recipes from the Garden of Contentment. This notion is not simply an expression of health preservation but is deeply rooted in the life philosophy of Jiangnan scholars, who sought harmony between human conduct and the rhythms of nature. The excellence of a dish, for Yuan Mei, lies not in its complexity but in its attunement to the flow of the seasons. For example, in spring, malantou ban sun(the name of a cuisine, Stellaria herb salad with bamboo shoots) must be made from the tenderest greens and freshly sprouted bamboo shoots to achieve a delicate and refreshing fragrance. In summer, when dining near the water, both cold and lightly steamed dishes should follow the temperament of the climate. In autumn and winter, the mellowness and richness of the food must be held in balance.[3] This dual sensitivity to ingredients and to the seasons made ya shi (“refined eating”) a daily practice through which Jiangnan scholars embodied the natural rhythm of life. In this sense, gardens and cuisine shared the same aesthetic logic: Chinese garden design emphasizes orderly seasonal vistas, using the changing interplay of flora and water to show the beauty of the four seasons; similarly, cuisine reflects the rhythm of nature through appropriately timed flavors. The interweaving of the two formed a complete system of seasonal aesthetics.
It is worth noting that the compilation of Recipes from the Garden of Contentment was not an isolated individual act, but a product of a social network. Yuan Mei’s culinary knowledge was largely accumulated through social interactions. After tasting dishes at others’ homes, he often instructed his family chef, Wang Xiaoyu, to learn the techniques.[4] This learning mechanism reveals the private and selective nature of culinary culture transmission: the exchange of culinary skills occurred in private residences or gardens, facilitated through mutual visits among gentry and scholars. Dietary knowledge was thus refined within a closed aesthetic community and was not disseminated to the general public. It can be said that the formation and development of local cuisines did not arise from competition in the commercial market, but from the accumulation of cultural capital.[5] Each banquet and each dish was screened, judged, and recorded within elite social spaces. Gardens and mansions were therefore not only living spaces but also experimental sites where food culture could be sedimented and standardized.
The existence of Suzhou gardens perfectly exemplifies this type of experimental space. Hailed as “the finest gardens in the south of the Yangtze River,” Suzhou gardens embodied the comprehensive ideals of the literati toward nature, life, and art.[6] Their creation was inseparable from the long-term economic prosperity and cultural accumulation of the Suzhou region. Since the Spring and Autumn Period, the tradition of garden-making in this area has never ceased. The meticulous aesthetics and favorable economic conditions together shaped the lifestyle of Jiangnan. A garden is not only a space for leisure; it is an extension of the scholar’s spirit and a visible marker of social status. Pavilions, terraces, towers, waterside pavilions, and winding corridors were designed with layered perspectives and the interplay of reality and illusion, while also providing carefully considered venues for banquets. The arrangement of the banquet, the seating order, and the selection of views all became integral parts of the aesthetic sense.
In such a space, the elegance of food is made tangible. On a summer afternoon, a waterside pavilion in the garden catches the breeze, and on the table lie cold dishes whose aromas complement the coolness of the pool. Here, food and scenery merge into one, forming the ideal order of life for the literati: everything has measure and moderation. The garden not only filters out the hustle and bustle of the outside world, but also refines the palate by excluding coarse or vulgar tastes. It is precisely within such a controlled and private space that the standards of ya shi (“refined eating”) are continually affirmed and transmitted. Gardens, through their privacy and manageability, provide the material basis for sustaining the scholars’ taste and ethical stance in culinary culture. As Yuan Mei remarked after tasting the stir-fried fish slices at the Tang family residence in Suzhou, their flavor far surpassed the banquets held in the mansions of high-ranking officials. The quality of cooking was no longer determined by social rank, but by the depth of aesthetic cultivation. This shift from status to taste signifies Jiangnan culture’s redefinition of elegance.
Compared with the elegant privacy of Suzhou gardens, the architecture and cuisine of Huizhou present a different kind of weighty character. The towering horse-head walls, deep courtyards, and vast clusters of ancestral halls constitute the distinctive spatial order of Huizhou. Banquets here often served clan rituals or commercial exchanges, and their public and ritualistic nature far exceeded the individual leisure of Suzhou gardens. The flavor profile of Huizhou cuisine was shaped accordingly: rich in oil and color, adept at preparing mountain delicacies, and offering fullness and intensity suited to gatherings. It satisfied the energy needs of traveling Huizhou merchants and communal feasts, while also reflecting the structural strength of Huizhou society. In this context, food was not a medium for the self-cultivation of scholars, but a social adhesive.
However, this sense of weightiness does not conflict with elegance. The wealth and cultural refinement of Huizhou merchants enabled their cuisine to occupy an important position within the Jiangnan dietary tradition. In Recipes from the Garden of Contentment, Yuan Mei incorporated flavors from both Jiangsu and Zhejiang (the Jiangnan region) and Anhui (the Huizhou area). This inclusiveness demonstrates that he regarded Huizhou cuisine as part of elite culinary culture. Huizhou merchants frequently built mansions and ancestral halls across Jiangnan, disseminating Huizhou-style architectural layouts alongside culinary and ritual practices. The introduction of Huizhou cuisine thus extended the reach of ya shi (“refined eating”) from the water towns of Jiangnan into broader inland regions. It attested to the influence of scholar culture in another way. Even in Huizhou, where material practicality and family order were emphasized, food was still incorporated into the framework of aesthetics. The anecdotes recorded by Yuan Mei, such as “Monk’s stir-fried chicken leg mushrooms” and “Taoist’s seasoned soup,” further illustrated that dietary knowledge was not entirely confined to the literati, but circulated among religious practitioners and merchants.[7] This cross-boundary transmission renders the formation of regional cuisines more inclusive and mutually permeable.
From Suzhou to Huizhou, cuisine and architecture together formed a cultural structure. The former embodied subtle aesthetic sense and seasonal awareness, while the latter provided institutionalized spatial support. The two defined each other, making ya shi ya jing(“refined food and refined setting”) a symbol of Jiangnan culture. However, once one broke away from this spatial limitation, the elegance of food and drink became difficult to maintain. It was precisely during the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China that the wave of urbanization disrupted this balance. The rise of Shanghai brought about new social forms and consumption logics. Its open port attracted a large number of immigrants, forming a diverse and integrated food market. The boundaries of cuisines gradually blurred in urban life. The traditional concept of lightness and moderation gave way to the stimulation and richness of thick oil and rich sauce.[8]
The emergence of Shanghai’s local cuisine essentially resulted from the integration of multiple regional cuisines in the Yangtze River Delta. It absorbed the exquisite knife skills of Jiangnan cuisine and the rich flavor of Huizhou cuisine, forming an independent urban style in the process of adapting to the tastes of industrial and commercial people.[9] The pace of commercialization demanded faster cooking, stronger flavors and more eye-catching colors. This shift in aesthetic standards also reflected changes in social values. Food was no longer a symbol of taste but a manifestation of efficiency and consumption. The simplicity and elegance advocated by traditional scholars became regarded as a sign of obsolescence, and ya shi ("refined food") thus lost its cultural center.
Changes in space further accelerated this transformation. Banquets in gardens and private residences gave way to public restaurants. Restaurants like Laorongshun and Dexingguan became new social venues, governed by a dining order centered on the market. The exquisite seating arrangement and etiquette in the former gardens were redefined here by efficiency and profit. The customers of the restaurant were no longer scholars and refined people, but merchants, politicians and the new middle class of the city. Du Yuesheng, Soong Mei-ling and others frequented these places. Their tastes and lifestyles determined new aesthetic standards. Cooking shifted from a cultural self-study to a commercial service, and the ethics and order of ya shi ya jing ("refined food and refined setting") thus collapsed.
However, if we look back from a long-term perspective of culture, this process is not merely a degenerate or disintegrated one. The formation of Shanghai cuisine, in a certain sense, also inherited the spirit of refined food: the ingenious use of local ingredients and the exquisite design of dish combinations continued the Jiangnan obsession with refinement. But the dominance of aesthetics no longer belonged to scholars but to the market. This shift reveals the transfer of culture from the elite to the masses, and the elegance of food was redefined as a tradable commodity aesthetic. The traditional sense of cultural self-restraint no longer existed, but a new cultural consensus quietly emerged amid the hustle and bustle of the city.
The evolution of the culinary culture in the Jiangnan region unfolded precisely in this continuous yet fragmented process. From the literati ethics reflected in Recipes from the Garden of Contentment, to the spatial practice in gardens and Huizhou-style architecture, and then to the commercialization of Shanghai's urban cuisine, the entire process constitutes a trajectory from restraint to integration. In this sense, studying the cultural coupling of food and environment is not only a retrospection of the past, but also a key to understanding the cultural changes in modern China. It reveals how an ancient society maintained its moral and aesthetic system through the joint weaving of taste and space, and also how this system was reshaped by urban logic in modern times. The aesthetic of refinement and restraint has not vanished; it merely lurks in contemporary life in another form, awaiting re-identification.
To sum up, looking back at Yuan Mei’s solitary moment after the banquet, where he cooked porridge to stave off hunger, one may understand that the bowl of porridge was actually an act of returning to simplicity. It embodied the scholar’s will to rediscover elegance amid luxury and impetuosity, a cultural stance that resists chaos through restraint and order. Through an examination of Recipes from the Garden of Contentment and the spatial correspondences between Suzhou gardens and Huizhou-style architecture, the paper reveals the intrinsic connection between refined food and refined setting: both dietary ethics and architectural aesthetics are grounded in the awareness of seasonality, appropriateness, and moderation. In this way, the scholar class constructed a self-sustaining cultural system to resist the extravagance of the bureaucracy and the vulgarity of the marketplace.
Therefore, the hypothesis of this paper has been verified: the aestheticization of the Jiangnan regional cuisine does indeed rely on the spatial and ethical support provided by the scholar culture, and its decline is also inseparable from the publicization of space and the infiltration of market logic. Understanding the emergence and disappearance of ya shi ya jing ("refined food and refined setting") is both a look back at the past of Jiangnan and a questioning of the sustainability of current culture.
However, precisely because of this, it is particularly important to look back at this historical archive. It reveals a more ancient and complete cultural structure on which Jiangnan cuisine relied before the wave of urbanization arrived. With the irreversible advancement of modern urbanization, the rise of Shanghai fusion cuisine replaced the refined and restrained aesthetic tastes of scholars with its rich and practical flavors, and also shifted banquets from the private spaces of gardens to the commercial spaces of restaurants. The subject of dietary power was transferred from scholars to merchants and politicians, and the order of cultural self-restraint thus disintegrated. This transformation is not only a turning point in taste, but also an update in social structure and cultural mentality. Perhaps in an era dominated by speed and efficiency, rediscovering the rhythm of that bowl of porridge is the way for us to regain elegance and slowness.
Bibliography
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Li, Huilun, and G. Ma. “The Culinary Culture, Characteristics, and Nutritional Value of Su Cuisine in China.” Journal of Ethnic Foods 9 (2022): 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42779-022-00130-x.
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Swislocki, Mark. Culinary Nostalgia: Regional Food Culture and the Urban Experience in Shanghai. 1st ed. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009.
Wang, Yi. A Cultural History of Classical Chinese Gardens. SCPG Publishing Corporation, 2015.
Zhang, Hui. “How Do Nanjing Residents Make Their New Year’s Eve Dinner Taste Like Home? Looking for Inspiration in Recipes from the Garden of Contentment .” Shanghai Observer, January 28, 2025. https://web.shobserver.com/wx/detail.do?id=848403. [in Chinese]
[1] Du, Duzhengyi. “The Elegant Sentiments and Frugality in Recipes from the Garden of Contentment.” Study Times, April 8, 2024. https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2024/0408/c442005-40211197.html. [in Chinese]
[2] Xinqu Liu, Yaowu Li, Yongfa Wu, and Chaoran Li, “The Spatial Pedigree in Traditional Villages under the Perspective of Urban Regeneration—Taking 728 Villages in Jiangnan Region, China as Cases,” Land (2022); Huilun Li and G. Ma, “The Culinary Culture, Characteristics, and Nutritional Value of Su Cuisine in China,” Journal of Ethnic Foods 9 (2022): 1–7
[3] Hui Zhang, “How Do Nanjing Residents Make Their New Year’s Eve Dinner Taste Like Home? Looking for Inspiration in Recipes from the Garden of Contentment,” Shanghai Observer, January 28, 2025. https://web.shobserver.com/wx/detail.do?id=848403. [in Chinese]
[4] Guowen Li, “Yuan Mei: A Connoisseur Who Created Recipes from the Garden of Contentment,” Chinese Reading Weekly, June 27, 2007. https://news.blcu.edu.cn/info/1024/10195.htm. [in Chinese]
[5] Du, Duzhengyi. “The Elegant Sentiments and Frugality in Recipes from the Garden of Contentment.” Study Times, April 8, 2024. https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2024/0408/c442005-40211197.html. [in Chinese]
[6] Yi Wang, A Cultural History of Classical Chinese Gardens (SCPG Publishing Corporation, 2015), 10–17.
[7] Du, Duzhengyi. “The Elegant Sentiments and Frugality in Recipes from the Garden of Contentment.” Study Times, April 8, 2024. https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2024/0408/c442005-40211197.html. [in Chinese]
[8] Mark Swislocki, Culinary Nostalgia: Regional Food Culture and the Urban Experience in Shanghai, 1st ed. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009), 68-71.
[9] Mark Swislocki, Culinary Nostalgia: Regional Food Culture and the Urban Experience in Shanghai, 1st ed. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009), 78–81.
