Many of us are very familiar with this breadstick and probably eaten it all our lives... so did we! But to our surprise this little dough has a very good story behind its making. And we learned of it in Hangzhou, China when we visited Mieu Nhac Phi or Yue Fie's Temple.
Yue Fei (March 24, 1103 – January 27, 1142), Pengju, was a military general of the Southern Song Dynasty. He is best known for leading the defense of Southern Song against invaders from the Jurchen-ruled Jin Dynasty in northern China, before being put to death by the Southern Song government.[2] He was granted the posthumous name of Wumu by Emperor Xiaozong in 1169, and later granted the posthumous title of Prince of E (鄂王) by Emperor Ningzong in 1211. Widely seen as a patriot and national hero in China, since after his death, Yue Fei has evolved into a standard epitome of loyalty in Chinese culture.
In 1126, several years before Yue became a general, the Jurchen-ruled Jin Dynasty invaded northern China, forcing the Song Dynasty out of its capital Kaifeng and capturing Emperor Qinzong of Song, who was sent into captivity in Manchuria. This marked the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty under Emperor Gaozong.
Yue fought a long campaign against the invading Jurchens in an effort to retake northern China. Just when he was threatening to attack and retake Kaifeng, corrupt officials advised Emperor Gaozong to recall Yue to the capital and sue for peace with the Jurchens. Fearing that a defeat at Kaifeng might cause the Jurchens to release Emperor Qinzong, threatening his claim to the throne, Emperor Gaozong followed their advice, sending 12 orders in the form of 12 gold plaques to Yue Fei, recalling him back to the capital. Knowing that a success at Kaifeng could lead to internal strife, Yue submitted to the emperor's orders and returned to the capital, where he was imprisoned and where Qin Hui would eventually arrange for him to be executed on false charges.[10]
Shuo Yue Quanzhuan states after having Yue Fei, Yue Yun, Zhang Xian arrested under false charges, Qin Hui and his wife, Lady Wang (王氏), were sitting by the "eastern window", warming themselves by the fire, when he received a letter from the people calling for the release of Yue Fei. Qin was worried because after nearly two months of torture, he could not get Yue to admit to treason and would eventually have to let him go. However, after a servant girl brought fresh oranges into the room, Lady Wang devised a plan to execute Yue. She told Qin to slip an execution notice inside the skin of an orange and send it to the judge presiding over Yue's case. This way, Yue and his companions would be put to death before the emperor or Qin himself would have to rescind an open order of execution.[10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yue_Fei
People of the land were sad and angry for they had really admire the General and hated the Official and his wife for their bad deed. One of the food stall owner who sells cakes was so upset and he just couldn't find a way to express how he felt. As he looked around his shop and saw some left-over bread dough. So after he pound the dough for a while and mold it into two human figures stuck together (the Official and his wife). After that owner was still not please so he threw the dough into the frying pan to fry them until they were golden brown. As a customer came in asking for his regular cakes, the owner said there's no cake today and he's only selling these breadsticks or you char kway meaning corrupted Offcial or Giang Than. As words gets out people really love the breadsticks and that had carried on till today!
Whether it's really true or not I'm not sure ... but it's quite interesting don't you think?
Oh!!! At Yue Fei's Temple there are kneeling statues of the couple in front of his grave and people who comes in there can freely hit them however they like... from what we have heard, they were made of stones at first but they were severely damaged by people beating them so they then got cast in iron... even as iron, the Official's head has a mended dent!
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