Famous fish tale

China Daily | Updated: 2007-02-13 06:52

Thanks to the many rivers and lakes scattered around Hangzhou, the locals have developed many famous dishes with fish.

Xihu Cuyu (West Lake Sour Fish) is cooked with both vinegar and sugar and there is a legend behind its special taste.

It's said there were two brothers in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) making a living by fishing on the West Lake. The elder

Famous fish tale

You haven't visited Hangzhou unless you've had a taste of its famed Xihu Cuyu (West Lake Sour Fish). File Photo

brother's wife was beautiful and wise but a local bully wanted her and killed her husband in an effort to have her. The widow and her brother-in-law fled their hometown. The young man plotted revenge and prepared to attend the imperial exams to become an official.

The wise widow cooked a sweet and sour fish asking him to remember the sad death of his brother even if he succeeded in the exam.

The young man passed the exam and returned home as an official to bring justice on the murder, but could not find his sister-in-law.

One day he was at a banquet and found a dish with the exact taste.

He asked for the chef, and his sister-in-law appeared. She had disguised herself as an ugly woman and worked for a rich family to make a living. The young man resigned from his post and accompanied his sister-in-law to live peacefully as fisherman again on the West Lake.

China Daily

(China Daily 02/13/2007 page19)