"Old-school Girl's Shopping Route" Author: Hong Aizhu Publisher: Beijing Daily Press

【Editor's recommendation】

★ A phenomenal new work in Chinese literature, a "home dining history" of an old-fashioned girl. Retrace the local food and shopping routes that are intertwined by three generations, and trace the past times with mom. A haunting book of yearning, using food memories to keep the ones we love. ——After her mother passed away, Hong Aiju, who had watched her grandmother and mother take care of everyone's daily meals since she was a child, used her taste buds to reproduce the lost dishes and rebuild the connection with the past. Old food, old things, old shops, and old markets slowly unfold a map of local food and shopping in Taiwan, and there are also food reviews from Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. Using food to recall the past, the fireworks in the kitchen, the continuity of family emotions, and the customs and customs of old Taipei are all gathered in her warm words with appropriate shades. "The people, things, time, place, and things in memory should be eaten while they are hot to cure the blockage in the heart."

★ "When I met my mother, she was already a mother." Grandma, mother and me, the growth paths and life stories of three generations of women in the book are also the paths we have walked ourselves. "This book is dedicated to my mother, my grandmother, and all the girls who use their wisdom and energy in life." - Grandma and mother are both old-fashioned ladies who are demanding of themselves. Only when my mother is away from the heavy household labor will she be as light as a "girl". As an independent woman nurtured by an old-fashioned family, the author sympathizes with their difficulties and forbearance, and also inherits the lifestyle and experience nutrients they have passed on. Women in different eras have different living conditions, but old-fashioned girls always have the inextinguishable female power of self-esteem and self-reliance. "My generation emphasizes self-realization. We are uncertain about what to achieve, and we never have enough self. My mother is the opposite."

★ Old-fashioned is a way of survival. The "old-fashioned" life philosophy of the old-fashioned girl is a bit old-fashioned in an era where everyone is eager for the avant-garde and the new. "Old-fashioned" is not conservative, but education and human feelings, independence without publicity, a "can't rush" attitude towards life, and the survival wisdom of the predecessors. - Eat vigorously and live seriously. "Old-fashioned" is the nostalgia and long-lasting love for the past years. In an increasingly Westernized society, look back and dig into those traditional and unnoticed things and events, and feel the slowness of disappearing in the fast times.

★ The first book by Hong Aiju, the first prize winner of the "Taipei Literature Award", is a new voice in food writing that opens up all five senses. "Hong Aiju is not only good at writing about food, she is - good at writing." Shu Guozhi, Ma Shifang, and Cai Zhuer recommended it with prefaces, and Jian Ai, Zhan Hongzhi, Han Liangyi, Wang Shenghong, and Fu Yue'an sincerely recommended it. ——"It vaguely has the style of Shen Congwen and Hu Lancheng. It is a very good and touching book about Taiwanese family dinners. When the book is published, I will buy 10 or 20 copies to give to others! The first person I thought of giving it to was director Hou Hsiao-hsien." (Shu Guozhi) "It is indeed a masterpiece." (Jian Ai) "Aiju's style has an airy feel, and is so soft that it is almost soft, but the narrative is rigorous and the perspective is accurate. In modern terms, it is high in information content and powerful in experience. Between the soft lines, there are hidden killer moves. Those who understand it will know that it is all solid skills." (Cai Zhuer)

★ The Taiwanese drama of the same name is being filmed! The Taiwanese version was sold out within two weeks of publication, and the copyrights of many countries have been sold. It has won many literary awards: 2021 Taiwan Literature Golden Classic Award, 2021 Openbook Good Book Award·Chinese Creation of the Year, 2021 Kingstone Top Ten Influential Books of the Year, 2021 Books.com Annual Reading Report·Chinese Creation TOP1, etc. In addition, it won the "Most Anticipated Writer of the Year", "Newcomer of the Year" and "Most Wanted Selling by Bookstore Craftsmen" at the same time in the 2022 "Eslite Reading Craftsmen Awards", which is also the first time in the ten years since the establishment of the award that "one book won three awards".

★ The red cover with a strong Chinese style, the white and plump longevity peaches and the retro book name font are all designed by the author himself. There are many beautiful pictures taken by the author, and the binding is elegant, suitable for daily reading and travel.

【Content Introduction】

"When I met my mother, she was already a mother."

"Old-school Girl Shopping Route" is the first prose work by writer Hong Aizhu. After her mother passed away, she turned her lingering thoughts into crystal-clear words like pearl fossils, recording the rich diet and full daily life her mother gave her, from kitchen gadgets to the vegetable market, from porridge, flour, rice to tea and snacks from a foreign land. She recalled her time with her mother, superimposed her grandmother's footsteps, and added the shops she discovered in recent years to form an old-school shopping route. Old food, old things, old shops, and old markets are the corridors to return to time and the clues to pursue memory. Recalling the past through food, she expresses her feelings. The fireworks in the kitchen, the continuity of family emotions, and the customs and customs of old Taipei are all gathered in her words with appropriate shades.

Hong Aizhu's writing style is gentle, elegant, refined and interesting. She uses home-cooked meals as the main theme and the queen's grief as the foreshadowing, returning to the family's past and the times that seemed like a prosperous era, recreating the mindset and style of old-fashioned people, and also speaking frankly about the hardships of women's living conditions. Old-fashioned is a way of survival. In an era where everyone desires avant-garde and new trends, it's better to be a little old-fashioned.

There are many articles about family reminiscences, but I definitely don't want to write about my mother's illness, and this book is the same, and it will be the same in the future. I would rather use writing to recall all the good things we had, that is, from shopping to eating, most of the things in life. This book is actually about how the history of a family eating at a round table in northern Taiwan nourished an independent woman who grew up. I think everything that every mother passes on to her children is amazing, and there is no need to sing special praises. I would rather write about what kind of support and nourishment these experiences of the elders have given to our generation of girls.

【Celebrity Recommendation】

There are many articles about family reminiscences, but I definitely don't want to write about my mother's illness, and this book is the same, and it will be the same in the future. I would rather use writing to recall all the good things we had, that is, from shopping to eating, most of the things in life. This book is actually about how the history of a family eating at a round table in northern Taiwan nourished an independent woman who grew up. I think everything that every mother passes on to her children is amazing, and there is no need to sing special praises. I would rather write about what kind of support and nourishment these experiences of the elders have given to our generation of girls.

When people encounter misfortunes, they will want to rebuild order. The best way I have seen is to borrow inspiration from the older generation. So the old school is the way of survival for me. I know the reputation of the vendors I bought from my grandmother, and I know that the taste of my grandmother's handicrafts has not been broken. In a society where information is so excessive and fast, all this makes me feel at ease.

——Hong Ae-joo

Hong Aizhu's book is about eating, but it is also about family. It is about the aesthetics of food, but it is also about the periods and commas of life. It is about looking back at the customs of the world and home, but it is also about the process of cultivating one's mind and love for one's family. So although the title of the book is called Shopping Route, it is actually about the growth path of a girl. Hong Aizhu is not only good at writing about eating, she is - good at writing.

——Shu Guozhi (writer)

In order to find food for a seriously ill relative, I drew back the curtain of memory, recalling how my grandmother witnessed the prosperity of Taiping Town in her youth, and how she went back to Dadaocheng to buy food as a young woman. Based on this, I wrote about the expensive medicinal materials and rare food stores, old snacks, and flavored drinks that three generations of people traveled together, completing the shopping route and map. The text is light and interesting to read. At the end of the article, "In a trance, they let go, and I was the only one left on the long century-old street." This is attributed to the passage of time and the easy dissipation of prosperity, which makes readers sigh with envy. It is indeed a masterpiece.

——Jian Ying (writer)

The dead are gone, and youth cannot be revived. Therefore, reconstructing the taste of memory and recording it in detail has become a ritual to summon the soul. I want to exchange these stories of Hong Aizhu for a bowl of fish ball soup - in fact, how can these stories be exchanged easily? It is just an introduction. If I hadn't read Hong Aizhu's book of haunting longing based on Luzhou and Dadaocheng, where she was immersed since childhood, I probably wouldn't have remembered the bowl of fish ball soup in Guling Street.

However, after all, when I was young, I squinted my eyes to watch the sun in the 1970s, and held the cracked porcelain bowl with a shrimp painted on it that was not Qi Baishi's - but what haunted us and then disappeared were always other things.

——Ma Shifang (writer and broadcaster)

The details of cooking and trivial things that we used to take for granted are reconstructed through memories, showing Proustian moments, lingering and long. Aizhu's style has an airy feel, soft and lenient to the point of being almost fluffy, but with rigorous narrative and precise perspective. In modern terms, it is high in information content and powerful in experience. As a fellow cook, I read her writings about fried food, braised meat, steamed winter melon meat patties, and even home-cooked porridge and rice. I can see the subtle details and killer moves hidden between the gentle lines. Those who understand will know that they are all solid skills.

——Cai Zhuer (writer)

Full of local sense and sense of the times. I once said that if you want to understand the urban women of a certain era in Taiwan, how they were well-informed and how they viewed themselves, you must read Li Weijing. Now I will add Hong Aizhu.

——Yan Zeya (writer and publisher)

A mind that is well versed in the ways of the world, this is words but it is more than just words, it is background and also upbringing.

——Wang Shenghong (writer)

She is really old-fashioned, very polite, restrained, and precise in her choice of words. Every article I read is enjoyable.

——Fu Yuean (writer and publisher)

He does not like exaggeration, his writing is subtle and often has a lingering effect, so the more you read it, the better it becomes.

——Han Liangyi (writer)

Hong Aizhu, whose real name is Hong Yujun, was born in 1983 in Wugu, New Taipei City. She graduated from the School of Communication, University of the Arts London. She is a graphic designer and writes in her spare time to record the old days, home-cooked meals and people she has passed by. She has won the Taipei Literature Award, the Lin Rongsan Literature Award, and the Zhong Zhaozheng Literature Award.

After its publication, "Old-school Girl's Shopping Route" won many awards: Taiwan Literature Golden Classic Award, Openbook Good Book Award·Annual Chinese Creation, Kingstone Top Ten Influential Books of the Year, Books.com Annual Reading Report·Chinese Creation TOP1, etc. The copyright has been sold to many countries.