On an easy-living afternoon, Chen Kuei-fei, the woman in charge of the sticky rice cake section, is wrapping cakes and making up special orders for customers. "These six 'head cakes' are part of an offering for the soul of a deceased person. There is also a writing-brush stand shaped out of sticky rice; that means that the deceased was male. We also make fagao [another kind of cake], which is offered up to the bodhisattva Dizang and the deceased. Even though there's been a death in the family, people still use cakes that signify auspiciousness, because they are hoping their luck will be better in the future." Speaking lucidly about a subject she knows intimately, Chen explains why people make offerings of rice cakes after a death: The rice has to be ground with stone, which, she says, "symbolizes coming anew to the beginning."

Beneath the arcade in front of the arched brick doorway, two young people are looking around. Dressed in jeans and speaking English, they seem to be Overseas Chinese. When they see the fat, round "longevity peach" set out on the bamboo sieve they raise their cameras for a quick photo. Upon noticing the "red turtle cake" (red sticky rice shaped like a turtle) and the dough pig and dough sheep just then being rushed to completion in the shop, they ask timidly what these are used for. "Turtles symbolize longevity and tranquillity. And the sheep and the pig are used as offerings." Chen Kuei-fei doesn't speak English, so she asks someone to help her translate for the two visitors. Then she takes out a knife and cuts the turtle cake into four pieces, saying, "Come on, please have some!" The visitors, having been nourished in both body and mind, depart fully satisfied, leaving Chen to mumble to herself, "I really should memorize those explanations in English."

The legend of "Taro Cake Shui"

Huang Ho Fa was established in 1917, during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, so it is now in its 78th year of business. It is located on Kueiyang Street, Section 2, one of the early centers of development of the Wanhua District of Taipei.

According to historian Lin Heng-tao, at the end of the Ming and early part of the Qing dynasties, the Shaomaochu Tribe of plains aborigines lived in this area. It became a place where people who had come over from mainland China traded with the plains aborigines, and was popularly known as "Chihhsing Street" or "Sweet Potato City." Ships sailing up the Tanshui River could put in to shore right near here, and it was long the most prosperous area of old Taipei.

Huang Ho Fa was founded by the late Huang Te-shui, whose nickname was "Taro Cake Shui." His parents died when he was quite young, and he was raised by his grandmother single-handedly. He came from Takanhsi (now Tahsi in Taoyuan County) to Sweet Potato City when he was in his teens to make a living. With no inherited property from his family, he was forced to take any work he could get, including selling meat dumplings at an outdoor stage, working in a restaurant, and helping out in a dry-goods store. Then one day a master chef from mainland China opened a shop in the area. Huang learned the traditional pastry business from him. Eventually the chef returned to his home, and Huang Te-shui took over the shop. Huang became famous throughout the city for his taro pastries, which is how he earned the moniker "Taro Cake Shui" ("Shui" being the last character in his name). This nickname is often applied to the shop itself as well.

How they made their dough

Two of Huang's sons succeeded to the business--which was going so well that it was subdivided into different divisions. The third eldest, Tien-chu, took over the sticky rice cakes section. The second oldest, Tien-sung, got the wheatflour-based products section. Talking about the shop's history, Tien-chu, already past 70, can't hide his pride in the family's achievements.

He points out that in those days many people came by boat from Sanhsia or Tahsi to Sweet Potato City to trade. Tien-chu describes the scene: There were always a lot of people coming and going from the docks to the market. And when business was done for the day, the merchants had finished their trading, and the laborers could put an end to another hard shift, everyone wanted a little reward. So they treated themselves to taro cakes, sweet cakes, or red turtle cakes. Or they might have taken the opportunity to buy some "rare" Quanzhou pastries to take home. In this way, the shop prospered, and the name of "Taro Cake Shui" spread.

In the last years of the Japanese era, Huang Ho Fa, like many shops, passed through very lean times. During the war, for example, as Tien-chu recalls, "we had to pawn our clothes to get rice and sweet potatoes to make our cakes." After the departure of the Japanese, who had forbidden Taiwanese to worship in the Chinese manner, "after so many years of restraint, people returned to the temples in droves and revived the old holiday traditions." Business boomed. "Take for example the New Year. From the 20th of the last month of the year to New Year's Eve, we were making cakes from morning till night. We only slept a few hours during these ten days."

The professional

Along with Shilin's "Kuo Yuan Yi" and the now-closed "Pao Hsiang Chai" of Tataocheng, Wanhua's Huang Ho Fa was one of the three leaders in the traditional pastry industry in Taipei. Today, when most traditional bakeries have changed lines or gone out of business, Huang Ho Fa adheres to the idea of "not scrimping on labor or ingredients, making things with the old-fashioned methods, and doing most steps in the production process by hand rather than by machine." Lin Ming-teh, secretary-general of the Chinese Folk Arts Foundation, finds it very admirable that they have been able to maintain these traditions to the present day.

You can get an idea of the spirit of professionalism at Huang Ho Fa by observing in detail the pastry-making process. Take for example the production of rice cakes. Nothing is left to chance, right from the selection and grinding of the rice. "When the Old Man was still in charge, all the rice merchants knew that Taro Cake Shui was very picky about the rice he used," says Mrs. Huang, who has been helping Tien-chu for the better part of her life. "We make our cakes with the best kind of sticky rice, not with that mix with the powdered sticky rice added," explains Chen Kuei-fei. Although this drives up costs, "the best rice is soft and chewy, and very malleable; it doesn't harden up in just a short time."

Another example is how the rice cakes are wrapped. It is virtually impossible to get banana leaves anymore (Taiwan used to be a major banana producer), so many people have turned to using bamboo leaves or even paper. But Huang Ho Fa insists on banana leaves only: "That's the only way the pastries will be thoroughly cooked," says Chen in a tone of voice implying "isn't that obvious?" That is why Chen's husband, Huang Ming-tsun, a third generation Huang, has to run all over the place cutting off leaves from the few remaining banana trees.

Small but beautiful

The techniques used in the wheatflour products section are not simple either. Huang Ho Fa has never used baking powder in its wheatflour-based products. "According to traditional practice, you knead the dough the night before and then let it sit," says Huang Ku-oh, the wife of Huang Tien-sung. The dough is affected by the temperature and humidity, so the chef must rely on his or her experience to know just when the dough has risen and is ready to be made into cakes. It takes real skill to have such a grasp of the "natural way." She concludes, "If you haven't judged correctly, then the dough peaches and dough turtles won't rise. They will look as wrinkled as an old woman, and taste terrible, and you can forget about selling them."

From the point of view of folk traditions, there is much to be gleaned from a visit to Huang Ho Fa. In this small enterprise of less than 750 square feet squeezed into Kueiyang Street, you can see products that reveal much about how Chinese have traditionally seen human life, from birth to death; the culinary accoutrements to mark all the festivals and events of a year; and all kinds of items needed for popular religious worship. As Lin Heng-tao wrote in an article, "It includes both the rhythms of life (the passing of time through the 24 solar terms) and of lives (births, marriages, deaths), and its business is also intimately tied into the festivals for the deities at the various temples in the Wanhua area."

Take the "24 solar terms" (the key periods marking off the Chinese lunar calendar) and traditional holidays. Tien-chu enumerates all the key days--and their appropriate pastries--as prescribed by Taiwan custom. There's the birthday of the Lord of Heaven on the ninth day after the lunar new year, then Lantern Festival on the 15th day. Both are celebrated with red turtle cakes and glutinous rice balls (served in soup). On the second day of the second month (all of these according to the lunar calendar) come offerings to the Earth God, which include cakes.

On Tomb Sweeping Day in the third month, the season when the grass is starting to grow, "grass cake" is served, along with sticky rice cakes and fagao. Dragon Boat Festival in the fifth month is celebrated with all kinds of zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves). People get past the ghost month, beginning in the seventh month, by putting out fagao and sweet cakes to appease the wandering ghosts. Then glutinous rice balls are made for Mid-Autumn Festival in the eighth month. Red turtle cakes, grass cakes, and fagao mark Double Ninth Day (the ninth day of the ninth month), which is when people pay respects to their ancestors.

In the tenth month comes the great celebration at the Ching Shan Temple, one of Wanhua's oldest, for which people buy some red turtle cakes and sticky rice cakes to appeal to the gods for tranquillity. And finally the New Year rolls around again after the 12th month. People serve auspicious foods like fagao (whose name in Chinese implies "prosperity"), sweet cake (which is sticky, suggesting a family that "sticks together"), and turnip cakes. Thus is another year rewarded.

Stepping on turtles

Besides marking holidays and religious events, pastries have also always been part of family events. For example, when a child reaches its first month, that calls for glutinous rice balls--called "full month balls"--to celebrate. The grandmother on the father's side brings bright red ones, while grandma on the mother's side brings peach-red. When a child reaches four months, it is time to for the ceremony known as shouxian (literally, "to take away the saliva"). Crisp shortcakes are placed around the child's neck; tradition has it that this will halt the child's drooling, which in turn is seen as hastening the child's growth. At one year, twelve small turtle cakes express gratitude to Heaven for the family's good fortune. Two larger turtle cakes are also necessary. The child pretends to step on them in a ritual said to be a way of praying for long life for the child. In addition, two meat dumplings (baozi) are used; one is rubbed against the child's mouth, and one against the backside, with the meaning being "only those who eat and expurgate will grow big and strong."

Marriage is another milestone that, so to speak, takes the cake. The bride and groom must be serious about their future; traditionally the bride had to sit very steadily in the palanquin used to transport her to the groom's house. So how about a few cakes to help steady the sedan chair? And when a new bride--now representing her husband's family--goes back home to visit her own family, what is the right thing to bring? Surprise, it's rice pastries! Thus we have the saying "first time sticky rice cake, second time peach cakes, third time nothing at all." (The new bride brings pastries from her in-laws' home the first two visits, but by the third the families are so familiar with each other that it is no longer necessary to stand on ceremony and bring anything.)

And when someone dies, fagao and sticky rice cakes are indispensable as offerings. "Even though when someone dies people feel bad, they don't stop wishing for good fortune. The sticky rice cakes express the hope that everyone will 'stick together' through this trying time," explains Huang Tien-chu.

Another custom is that on the seventh day after someone passes away, white cakes, called "head cakes," are used as an offering. The ritual use of these cakes traces back to Zhuge Liang, a statesman of the Three Kingdoms Period. Unwilling to lop off the heads of living creatures as sacrifices in the worship of the river deities, he substituted ones shaped from cakes; these came to be called "head cakes." There is a black spot on a traditional head cake, and there is so little filling that "you can't see the filling even after three bites," so people have convenient excuses for not wanting to eat this pastry. Yet the real reason most folks avoid it is "not because it doesn't appeal to the taste buds, but because it reminds people of death," says Huang.

No half-baked operation

Located in Wanhua, where there are many places of worship, the shop is sited near the venerable Ching Shan, Tsu Shih, and Lungshan Temples. Huang Ho Fa's fortunes have been closely tied to temple festivals since the end of the Japanese occupation era. For decades now, items used at Lungshan and other old temples have all been made by Huang Ho Fa. Such items include the longevity-peach tower and the longevity-noodle tower; the dough sheep and pigs used as substitutes for live animal sacrifices; and a pile of sticky rice (in the shape of a bowl turned upside down) with the character for "good fortune" on the outside and a longan added for "supplementary luck."

Huang Ho Fa has over time extended its business beyond these long-established centers of worship, and currently "more than 300 temples in the Taipei area use our products," says Huang Ku-oh, who runs the wheatflour-based products section. Adds daughter-in-law Wu Yu-min: "Our survival depends on this 'divine intervention.'"

Most of these temples have been clients of Huang Ho Fa for decades now. "Why do we use Huang Ho Fa products? For one thing they taste better than other companies', and they are the real thing, not some imitation," says Lin Chao-yu, head of the committee in charge of the Matsu Temple in Sanhsia. They have been customers at Huang Ho Fa for at least 30 years.

In search of old Taipei

Trustworthiness and authenticity are key reasons why many people are not willing to give up old-fashioned shops. From the point of view of folk culture, there is even more meaning to what the chefs at Huang Ho Fa are doing--it is an art form. Just look at the longevity-peach and longevity-noodle towers with their depictions in bright red colors of the "child of good fortune"; the dough sheep and pigs covered all over with the character for "long life," their eyes guileless and innocent; the well-rounded, breast- or teardrop-shaped dough peaches or the dough turtles, both used to celebrate birthdays; the dark red kenna, glistening with oil, in the shape of coins, symbolizing prosperity. . . . Today, in a market seemingly dominated by novelty for its own sake, people will linger a little longer over these creations. "These products remind us of the long road that Taipei has traveled from a traditional agricultural society to a modern metropolis," says Lin Ming-teh. Huang Ho Fa is living testimony in the "search for old Taipei."

Bring back the days of old Taipei! These days, with many scholars placing great emphasis on local traditions, lots of experts are drawing people's attention to Huang Ho Fa--treating it like a living antique. In fact, some guidebooks, in their segments devoted to Wanhua, now talk about this old shop, and curious visitors often come by for a look.

But its popularity among scholars and tourists cannot halt the downward slide that Huang Ho Fa is experiencing. Though the wheatflour-based products section is still doing all right thanks to the patronage of the temples, the sticky rice cake division--which is most treasured by scholars for "reflecting the rhythms of life"--is facing an unprecedented crisis.

The way the cookie crumbles. . .

The biggest blow has been that in a fast-paced metropolis populated by people working 9-to-5, "who has the time and interest to care about the old rhythms?" asks Chen Kuei-fei. Last year on the Double Ninth Festival, she made ten bamboo sieves of red turtle cakes (with 20 in each sieve), of which six batches went unsold. "Doesn't anybody pay their respects to their ancestors anymore? Or does everybody now use fruit and fresh flowers instead of pastries?" she wonders. Even sales of their Dragon Boat Festival zongzi, long their most popular product, have been declining year after year because of so much competition.

Even if there are some elderly people in the family who insist on marking these holidays, and who want to have Chinese pastries for weddings, funerals, and other events as tradition demands, there are so many substitute products in the city that the old-fashioned ones often get displaced.

For example, in the past the ceremony of qigui (literally meaning "beggar turtle"), when people went to the temple to pray for tranquillity, was a very festive occasion. If in one year people made a 20 catty turtle cake as an offering, and the year passed peacefully, then the next year they would make an even bigger one. But these days, other products which have the same symbolic meaning--like turtle-shaped patterns constructed out of canned food or made from mushrooms or day lilies--are widely popular; some people even just use cash as a substitute.

And anyway, modern life is not suited to such ceremonies as the qigui. In the old days, after the ceremony the cakes would be divided up among the extended family and friends. But today families have far fewer children, and personal relationships in the big city are remote, so it would be hard to make use of such large pastries. "So who makes a big deal out of qigui?" says Chen.

The traditional baking industry is especially meticulous about doing work by hand, with emphasis on attention to detail and the creativity of the individual. For example, there is an old taboo that says that when goods are in the oven, children cannot be talking or fooling around nearby, so that the chef gets his proper respect and can concentrate. This spirit has been passed along at Huang Ho Fa for generations, but the Huang family is facing a severe challenge keeping such traditions alive. Huang Ming-tai, part of the third generation in the business, looks a little impatient with a life of spending all day in front of the oven selecting, washing, and grinding rice, kneading rice dough, wrapping cakes, and baking. . . . He is in fact planning to change professions, especially seeing as business is certainly not good.

No cakewalk for this old shop

One of the main reasons why the industry has long had trouble keeping young people is that they must spend all day in the shop, and have no holidays off all year--indeed, holidays is when they are busiest. In this industry which follows the rhythms of the calendar, on days when nothing is going on they just hang around sleeping, while in busy periods they may go several days with little sleep. One of the biggest problems Huang Ho Fa faces is how to get and retain workers. "In the past, when things got real busy we would ask the children of our relatives to come and help out, or go to southern Taiwan and hire some temporary help. These days the kids are all grown up and working, and it's even difficult to arrange for temporary employees," sighs Chen Kuei-fei. They don't know what to do when holidays come around. But even this is not the biggest problem facing the owners.

"If there really was business to be done, of course we would never willingly change professions and let these skills die out," sighs Chen, letting her deepest feelings show through. In fact, in the past few years some department stores have sought cooperation with old-fashioned enterprises to put up a stand selling traditional pastries in the supermarket sections of the department stores. Folk arts scholar Lin Ming-teh also suggests that the chefs might try making smaller red turtle cakes to become a kind of pastry that people would consume even on normal days. But any kinds of changes would require some new investment, and Huang Ho Fa is already having trouble making ends meet.

Finding their niche

Many of the other traditional bakeries which once shared the field with Huang Ho Fa--such as Kuo Yuan Yi Foods Co. Ltd.--have long since made the transition to being modern enterprises producing both Chinese and Western baked goods, and are no longer limited to just hand-made pastries. Although the Huang family doesn't believe the only choice for traditional pastry shops is to turn to mass production and a chain of retail outlets, they can't help but feel envious at the level of sales such operations maintain.

In today's Taipei, where everybody is only interested in their own business, people could live without a Huang Ho Fa, and the holidays would still come and go as they always have. But more worrisome than the loss of the company per se is what the city might be lacking in the event that one day there really is no place like Huang Ho Fa.

Where does the old shop go from here? Folk culture scholars say that it must adapt to social change and either move in the direction of mass production or, like old "Snake Alley," tie into the tourist trade. But would the old shop retain its special simplicity and character under the standards of management and efficiency of a modernized firm?

Wang Chen-hua, an architecture expert who participated in the reconstruction planning for the old Kuo Yuan Yi building, offers another alternative.

He argues that the problem with the old shops is not in their management, but in people's attitudes toward life. "Perhaps there is too little spiritual content in people these days," he suggests. The most moving thing about these old shops to most people is their connection to the old rhythms of life and their attitude toward nature. Is it possible that modern people don't need to treasure these as well? "For such shops to survive, perhaps what needs to change is not the old operations, but the way people today look at life."

What do you think?

[Picture Caption]

Their inconspicuous sign (located on a corner near the shop) has been modernized, but the shop name still has that old-fashioned ring to it.

Huang Ho Fa is divided into two sections--one for wheatflour-based products, one for sticky-rice-based products. Now the shop is in the hands of the third generation, and everyone in the family works there.

In the Japanese occupation era, ships could sail up the Tanshui River al l the way to Kueiyang Street, very close to Huang Ho Fa. The ease of river transport concentrated marketing in this area and attracted waves of people, causing local pastry shops to prosper. (courtesy of Chuang Yung-ming)

Kueiyang Street Section 2 was a center of activity in days of old; you c an still see the look of old Taipei there today.

Dough that is packed by hand and kneaded in this antique pot comes out with fewer cracks, so it is more malleable.

Tower shaped "longevity peach" platforms are made by threading the dough peaches together; it is both a skill and an art form.

After the dough turtles are ready, coloring is added, and then edible oil is applied to the surface, creating a lustrous appearance. They are sweet to the taste, but won't stick to your teeth.

Banana leaves, which are placed under sticky rice cakes, must be washed, cut up, and dried.

For "rising cake" (fagao), rice juice is poured into molds lined with red paper. The timing must be perfect, or else these cakes won't rise properly.

Molded sticky rice is used in ceremonies to honor the deceased or when praying for luck in temples; the rice must first be steamed, then formed into an upside-down bowl shape using a mold.

Amidst drums and gongs, the major deity of the Ching Shan Temple goes on an "inspection tour" to rid the Wanhua district of bad influences and to understand the hardships of the people. This is one of the most important of local ceremonies.

When making pastries, it is most important to control the oven temperature. In order to insure that the chef can concentrate fully, traditionally bakeries have had a taboo against children talking and playing near the oven.

This turtle mold can make a sticky rice tortoise weighing nearly 70 kilograms. The "shell" is inscribed with the words "A prayer for tranquility, in thanks for beneficence." There are five toes on the front feet and four on the back, and there are sculpted flowers and grass next to the shell. There is nothing haphazard about this sculpture.

Pastries and Religious Life

Kenna

◆Kenna

These kenna, made into long rolls and stamped with circles, represent wealth.

Dough pig

Dough sheep

◆Dough pig and sheep

Traditionally, sacrifices of pigs and sheep marked large-scale temple worship of the Lord of Heaven or important popular occasions of prayer for good fortune. Today dough animals have replaced live pigs and sheep.

Lungshan Temple

Tsu Shih Temple

◆The Huang Ho Fa Pastry Shop

Huang Ho Fa is located right near the major temples of the Wanhua district-Lungshan, Ching Shan, and Tsu Shih. Most of the pastries used in temple festivals or in private offerings are made by the old shop.

◆Sticky rice

Sticky rice formed into the shape of a bowl and topped with a longan (Suggesting "well-rounded good fortune"), is a way of providing "supplementary" good luck to people.

"Supplementary luck" cake

Red turtle cake

◆Red turtle cakes

"Red turtle sticky rice cakes" are associated with several values, including longevity and tranquility.

Qigui ("beggar turtle")

◆Qigui ("beggar turtle")

It is popular for people to appeal to deities for tranquility, prosperity, sons, or longevity. The dough tortoise, representing long life, is frequently used as an offering.

Ching Shan Temple

　Pastries and Special Days

New Year's cake

◆Twelfth lunar month

The New Year rolls around again. Custom calls for auspicious foods like fagao (whose name in Chinese implies "prosperity"), sweet cake (which is sticky. suggesting a family that "sticks together"), and turnip cakes.

◆Tenth lunar month

A great celebration at the Ching Shan Temple, one of wanhua's most important, is held every year in the tenth month, People buy some red turtle cakes and sticky rice cakes to appeal to the gods for tranquility.

◆Double Ninth Day

Red turtle cakes, grass cakes, and fagao mark the ninth day of the ninth month, when people pay respects to their ancestors.

◆Mid-Autumn Festival, eighth lunar month

Moon cakes and red turtle cakes are made for this holiday.

Red turtle cake

Kenna

Grass cake

Sticky rice

Zongzi (sticky rice dumplings)

Longevity peach tower

Moon cake

Fagao ("rising cake")

Turnip cake

Glutinous rlce balls

◆First lunar month

The ninth day of the first month on the lunar calendar is the birthday of the Lord of Heaven, and Lantern Festival falls on the 15th. According to Taiwan custom, both are celebrated with red turtle cakes and glutinous rice balls (served in soup).

◆second day, second lunar month

This is the birthday of the Earth God; appropriate offerings include red turtle cakes.

◆Tomb Sweeping Day

"Grass cake" is served, along with sticky rice and fagao.

◆Dragon Boat Festival, fifth lunar month

This day is celebrated with various kinds of zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves)--eat whatever kind you like!

◆"Ghost month" (the seventh lunar month)

On the 15th of this month, people put out taro cakes, sweet cakes, and "longevity peach towers" to appease the wandering ghosts.

　Pastries and the Cycle of Life

◆When a child reaches its first month:

This calls for glutinous rice balls--called "full month balls"--to celebrate. The grandmother on the father's side brings bright red ones, while grandma on the mother's side brings peach-red.

Full month balls

◆At a child's first birthday:

Twelve small turtle cakes express gratitude to Heaven. Also, the child pretends to step on two large red turtle cakes; the ritual is said to be a way of praying for long life for the child. In addition, meat dumplings are rubbed against the child's mouth and backside, with the meaning being "only those who eat and expurgate will grow big and strong."

"Stepping turtle"

Longevity peach tower decoration

Longevity peach

◆On the birthday of an older Person:

According to "Taiwan precedent," the number of "longevity peaches" should exceed the person's age by six or twelve to "add years to his [or her] life." (For instance, there should be 66 or 72 peaches for a 60-year-old).

"Writing brush stand"

Crisp shortcake

◆When a child reaches four months:

In the shouxian ceremony, crisp shortcakes are placed around the child's neck. Tradition has it that this will halt the child's drooling, hastening the child's growth.

Steamed dumpling (baozi)

A bride's basket of sticky rice

"Palanquin steadying" pastry

◆Weddings:

In days of old, cakes used to symbolically steady the sedan chair in which the bride was carried to the husband's home, in hopes of a "stable" and carefree marriage. And when a new bride goes back home to visit her own family, she follows the adage "first time sticky rice cake, second time peach cakes, third time nothing at all."

Head cake

Head cake

◆Death:

When someone passes away, fagao and sticky rice express, respectively, the hope for better fortune in the future, and the hope that everyone will "stick together" through this trying time. On the seventh day after some one passes away, white cakes, called "head cakes," are used as an offering. In addition, formerly if the deceased was male, sticky rice molded into the shape of a writing brush stand was provided; for a woman, the rice had the shape of a mountain. These have been replaced by mashu (rice cakes with peanut powder).

Birth

Death

Huang Ho Fa is divided into two sections--one for wheatflour-based products, one for sticky-rice-based products. Now the shop is in the hands of the third generation, and everyone in the family works there.

In the Japanese occupation era, ships could sail up the Tanshui River al l the way to Kueiyang Street, very close to Huang Ho Fa. The ease of river transport concentrated marketing in this area and attracted waves of people, causing local pastry shops to prosper. （courtesy of Chuang Yung-ming）

Kueiyang Street Section 2 was a center of activity in days of old; you c an still see the look of old Taipei there today.

Dough that is packed by hand and kneaded in this antique pot comes out with fewer cracks, so it is more malleable.

Tower shaped "longevity peach" platforms are made by threading the dough peaches together; it is both a skill and an art form.

After the dough turtles are ready, coloring is added, and then edible oil is applied to the surface, creating a lustrous appearance. They are sweet to the taste, but won't stick to your teeth.

Banana leaves, which are placed under sticky rice cakes, must be washed, cut up, and dried.

For "rising cake" （fagao）, rice juice is poured into molds lined with red paper. The timing must be perfect, or else these cakes won't rise properly.

Molded sticky rice is used in ceremonies to honor the deceased or when praying for luck in temples; the rice must first be steamed, then formed into an upside-down bowl shape using a mold.

Amidst drums and gongs, the major deity of the Ching Shan Temple goes on an "inspection tour" to rid the Wanhua district of bad influences and to understand the hardships of the people. This is one of the most important of local ceremonies.

When making pastries, it is most important to control the oven temperature. In order to insure that the chef can concentrate fully, traditionally bakeries have had a taboo against children talking and playing near the oven.

This turtle mold can make a sticky rice tortoise weighing nearly 70 kilograms. The "shell" is inscribed with the words "A prayer for tranquility, in thanks for beneficence." There are five toes on the front feet and four on the back, and there are sculpted flowers and grass next to the shell. There is nothing haphazard about this sculpture.

　Pastries and Religious Life Kenna ◆Kenna These kenna, made into long rolls and stamped with circles, represent wealth. Dough pig Dough sheep ◆Dough pig and sheep Traditionally, sacrifices of pigs and sheep marked large-scale temple worship of the Lord of Heaven or important popular occasions of prayer for good fortune. Today dough animals have replaced live pigs and sheep. Lungshan Temple Tsu Shih Temple ◆The Huang Ho Fa Pastry Shop Huang Ho Fa is located right near the major temples of the Wanhua district-Lungshan, Ching Shan, and Tsu Shih. Most of the pastries used in temple festivals or in private offerings are made by the old shop. ◆Sticky rice Sticky rice formed into the shape of a bowl and topped with a longan (Suggesting "well-rounded good fortune"), is a way of providing "supplementary" good luck to people. "Supplementary luck" cake Red turtle cake ◆Red turtle cakes "Red turtle sticky rice cakes" are associated with several values, including longevity and tranquility. Qigui ("beggar turtle") ◆Qigui ("beggar turtle") It is popular for people to appeal to deities for tranquility, prosperity, sons, or longevity. The dough tortoise, representing long life, is frequently used as an offering. Ching Shan Temple

　Pastries and Special Days New Year's cake ◆Twelfth lunar month The New Year rolls around again. Custom calls for auspicious foods like fagao (whose name in Chinese implies "prosperity"), sweet cake (which is sticky. suggesting a family that "sticks together"), and turnip cakes. ◆Tenth lunar month A great celebration at the Ching Shan Temple, one of wanhua's most important, is held every year in the tenth month, People buy some red turtle cakes and sticky rice cakes to appeal to the gods for tranquility. ◆Double Ninth Day Red turtle cakes, grass cakes, and fagao mark the ninth day of the ninth month, when people pay respects to their ancestors. ◆Mid-Autumn Festival, eighth lunar month Moon cakes and red turtle cakes are made for this holiday. Red turtle cake Kenna Grass cake Sticky rice Zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) Longevity peach tower Moon cake Fagao ("rising cake") Turnip cake Glutinous rlce balls ◆First lunar month The ninth day of the first month on the lunar calendar is the birthday of the Lord of Heaven, and Lantern Festival falls on the 15th. According to Taiwan custom, both are celebrated with red turtle cakes and glutinous rice balls (served in soup). ◆second day, second lunar month This is the birthday of the Earth God; appropriate offerings include red turtle cakes. ◆Tomb Sweeping Day "Grass cake" is served, along with sticky rice and fagao. ◆Dragon Boat Festival, fifth lunar month This day is celebrated with various kinds of zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves)--eat whatever kind you like! ◆"Ghost month" (the seventh lunar month) On the 15th of this month, people put out taro cakes, sweet cakes, and "longevity peach towers" to appease the wandering ghosts.