1.The fresh lichee and yang yuhuan in Tang Dynasty
“Seeing a horse galloping up on the road,the emperor’s concubine smiled happily;no one but her knew the Lichee is coming.”
The well-known two lines comes from the famous poet in Tang dynasty, which describes then emperor’s most beloved concubine named Yang yuhuan and her loved fresh fruit Lichee .
The method of transporting fresh litchi in the Han and Tang Dynasties is as recorded in Historical Annals of Litchi in the Han and Tang Dynasties on “Fresh Lichee Delivery”, together with branches and leaves,a ball of litchi wrapped in wet bamboo paper was put into a big diameter (more than10 cm) bamboo and then sealed with wax. After swift horse running day and night with non-stop from south to the North-west, the Lichee is still so fresh. The 800-li transportation of lychees is probably the earliest cold-chain transportation.
2.The Ming Dynasty–hilsa herring Delivery
It is said that in our Ming and Qing dynasty with capitals in Beijing,the emperors were fond of eating a kind of fish named hilsa herring. The then problem was that the fish was from the Yangtze River, thousands of miles away from Beijing, and in addition,hilsa herring was so delicate and easy to die. How could emperors eat fresh shad in Beijing? The old way of cold chain shipment helps!
According to historical records, “thick pig lard plus ice make a good storage”.In advance, they boiled a large barrel of lard oil, then when it cooled down before solidification, just caught the fresh shad into oil barrel. When lard oil got solidified, it prevented the fish from the outside word,equivalent to the vacuum packaging, so that the fish was still fresh as they arrived in Beijing by swift riding,day and night.
3.The Qing Dynasty–Barrel Planting Lichee
Legend has it that Emperor Yongzheng also loved litchi. In order to curry favor with the emperor, Man Bao, then governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, often sent local specialties to Yongzheng. In order to keep litchi fresh, he came up with a clever idea.
Manbao wrote a letter to Emperor Yongzheng, saying, “Litchi is produced in Fujian Province. Some small trees are planted in barrels. Many people have litchi in their homes, but its taste is no less than that of litchi produced by big trees. These small trees can easily reach Beijing by boat, and the officials who transport them don’t have to work too hard. ……in April, the barrel-planting litchi trees will be immediately shipped to Beijing by boat. A two-month trip in April and May,they can reach the capital by the beginning of June, when lychees are ripe for a taste .”
It was a brilliant idea. Instead of just giving lychees, he sent a tree planted in a barrel that had already produced lychees.
With our better life quality improvement and more convenience of e-business brought, cold chain logistics is playing a key role in our daily life. Now it is reachable to ship fresh fruit and seafood within two days in China.
