China News Service Incheon, January 1 (Xinhua) -- Incheon Chinatown, South Korea: A bowl of jajangmyeon carries the memory of overseas Chinese for a century

Author: Liu Xu, Jin Lin

When it comes to Koreans' favorite Chinese food, Jajangmyeon is well deserved. In Incheon, South Korea, there is a museum of jajangmyeon.

The Jajanjangmyeon Museum is spread over two floors and covers the origin, development, and culture of Jajanjangmyeon, as well as special exhibitions on a variety of themes every year.

The photo shows the Jajangmyeon Museum in Incheon's Chinatown in October 2023. Photo by China News Service reporter Liu Xu

This museum was formerly the "Republic of Spring" Chinese restaurant. In 1912, overseas Chinese Yu Xiguang founded this Chinese restaurant in Incheon, named "Gonghe Chun", which was intended to commemorate the victory of the Xinhai Revolution and welcome the "spring of the first year of the Republic". "Gonghechun" is recognized as the first restaurant in Korea to sell this Chinese delicacy under the name "Jajangmyeon".

Today, Jajangmyeon is still popular, but diners are coming to Incheon's Chinatown to choose more and more, Dongpo pork, dry-cooked chicken, Peking duck, beef noodles, xiao long bao, ...... Cuisines from all over China come together here.

Zhou Xifeng, vice president of the Incheon Overseas Chinese Association, told reporters that the restaurants in Incheon Chinatown were mainly Shandong cuisine in the early days, and many Chinese dishes popular in South Korea now have also evolved from Shandong cuisine in those years. For example, "Shark Fin" is to replace the expensive shark fin in the "Three Shark Fins" with other seafood and meats, and "Sweet and Sour Pork" is to replace the tenderloin in the "Sweet and Sour Tenderloin" with the more common pork thigh.

Every traditional festival such as the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival, there are many tourists who come here to buy traditional dim sum.

One of the street's most distinctive dim sum is the "Fear Cake", which is also known as the Chinese "Sugar Drum Baked Cake". The word "scared" here means "bluffing", because this oval-shaped pastry looks fluffy on the outside, but there is only air inside, which makes the person who bites it feel "cheated".

Incheon Chinatown sells "Fear Cakes", and the oldest one is "Resurrection". The owner's son told reporters that the store opened in 1920 and that "it was my grandmother who brought the 'fear of drinking cakes' to Korea." Unlike many Chinese dishes in Chinatown, which have been adapted to suit the tastes of Koreans, the "Fear Cake" still retains the taste of <> years ago.

The picture shows the "fear of drinking cakes" sold in "Returning Spring". Photo by China News Service reporter Liu Xu

In the eyes of the local diaspora, Incheon Chinatown is not only a food street, but also carries a deep historical memory.

Chow Hee-pung said that the area where Incheon's Chinatown is located has been a bustling area for 140 years. After the opening of the port of Incheon in 1883, the area around Seongae-dong, Incheon City, where Chinatown is now located, attracted a large number of Chinese merchants and farmers. Among them, the most overseas Chinese from the Jiaodong area of Shandong Province are the largest, because it is across the sea from South Korea and has a similar environment and climate.

Overseas Chinese worked diligently in South Korea and their careers flourished, which promoted the relatively backward production and management capacity of South Korea at that time. At the same time, a large number of Hua Nong introduced many vegetable varieties to South Korea. Zhou Xifeng said that cabbage (used for kimchi, which needs to be pickled for more than two seasons), kohlrabi, carrots, onions, green peppers, etc., for Korean kimchi, were first cultivated by Hua Nong in South Korea.

As you can see from the exhibition at the Jajangmyeon Museum in Incheon's Chinatown, until the 20s of the 50th century, Jajangmyeon was considered a high-class dish, and it was eaten only on certain festivals and celebrations. In 1948, Shandong overseas Chinese developed the "Lion Brand Spring Sauce", which is convenient to make, low in price, and more in line with the taste of Koreans, making jajangmignin noodles gradually become a daily delicacy for Koreans.

Today, the most representative dish of Incheon Chinatown is Jajangmyeon. The entire street leading from Incheon Station to the 1st Pailou is lined with restaurants with jajanjangmyeon signboards, and is called "Jajanjangmyeon Street".

The photo shows a street view of Incheon's Chinatown in October 2023. Photo by China News Service reporter Liu Xu

Here, visitors can enjoy special jajang-miso such as white jajang-miso and 100-year-old jajang-mizo. The sauce of Baekjajangmyeon is white and made from soybeans, which has a lighter flavor than Korean-style jajangmyeon. The appearance of 100-year-old jajangmyeon resembles that of Chinese jajangmyeon, but the taste is more like that of Korean jajangmyeon, but it is slightly saltier than Korean-style jajangmyeon, and the sauce is rich and almost devoid of moisture.

After a difficult time during the coronavirus pandemic, Incheon Chinatown is gradually recovering. Zhou Xifeng told reporters that in addition to tourists from South Korea and China, many tourists from Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and other countries also like the food and culture of Incheon's Chinatown.

In October 2023, Incheon Chinatown held a two-day "Incheon Chinese New 10th Anniversary Celebration" with a variety of activities to experience Chinese culture, such as traditional Chinese music performances, mooncake making experiences, and a parade of Guan Gong statues, to remember the more than 100 years of Chinatown's history and start the next <> years with vigour. (ENDS)