How did the annual Chinese New Year ritual of lou hei yee sang or prosperity toss of raw fish and salad come about?
Its roots go back to the dawn of Chinese civilisation. (But, we shall see that the custom of prosperity toss is a recent phenomenal and not from China 🤔 )
It is well documented that Chinese eat raw meat since at least 3000 years ago.
Raw meat dishes of finely julienned or sliced meat either of fauna or fish known as 膾 is described in the Zhou dynasty's (1045 BC - 256 BC) Book of Rites 禮記.
In the Analects written between 475 BC - 221 BC which recorded the teachings of Confucius (who died in 479 BC), the sage said:
食不厭精
膾不厭細
My interpretation: The sage advices us to seek superior quality food and for raw food, make sure it is finely / properly prepared.
(Because 2000 years ago and even today, eating bad raw food can be fatal.)
More about ancient Chinese eating raw fish here 👈
Since the Qin dynasty (221 BC - 206 BC), sliced raw fish became more popular and the term 鱠 emerged (with the 魚 radical).
By the Qing dynasty (1644 - 1912) however, the popularity of 鱠 had significantly declined due to concerns with fish borne parasites. (Confucius already warned about it 2000 years before.) Nevertheless, eating 鱠 remained popular and persisted in Guangdong province till this day.
Now you know who are most stubborn when it comes to food ways and culture 😂
The raw fish slices were eaten with peanut oil, vinegar, soy sauce, salt, julienned ginger, lime, scallion, etc., for flavour and to kill any parasite that might lurk in the raw fish.
People in Guangdong province, from Guangzhou city to Shantou city still eat raw fish in this way today.
When people migrated en masse from Guangdong to Southeast Asia in search of opportunities or simply to escape the terrible 100 years in China between the mid-1800s to mid-1900s, they brought the custom of eating raw fish along.
Raw fish was eaten in the same way like in Guangdong with oil, sauces and ginger until the turning point in 1960s Singapore.
At that time, Chinese New Year was traditionally a lull season for restaurants as people ate at home to celebrate the new year with family.
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| Masterchef Sin Leong (right) in 2013 |
Creative chefs Tham Yui Kai, Sin Leong, Lau Yoke Pui and Hooi Kok Wai brainstormed and together thought up a clever idea to bring people out of their homes into their restaurants during Chinese New Year.
In 1964, they launched a dish based on raw fish with a variety of ingredients which they carefully chose for their auspiciousness.
The dish was colourful and delicious with a mix of tangy, sweet, bitter, savoury and also spicy hot flavours.
It was named 七彩鱼生 Seven Colour Raw Fish.
Auspicious phrases were tagged to the chosen ingredients, e.g.
Raw fish • 年年有余
Carrot • 鸿运当头
Crispy crackers • 黄金满地
Lime juice • 大吉大利
Plum sauce • 甜甜蜜蜜
A savoury tangy sweet preserved plum sauce was specially concocted for the dish.
(I have an article explaining all the lou hei phrases 👈 )
To me, the master stroke was the ritual (which gave the dish the moniker "prosperity toss").
The prosperity toss complemented the dish with the ritual of cheering and shouting out the auspicious phrases while tossing the raw fish salad together with chopsticks.
Cheering and saying auspicious phrases together in unison bonds strangers and renews familial ties and friendships between people at the table. And, it was fun!
It was a brilliant idea!
The ritual 仪式感 of prosperity toss is a crucial part of lou hei yee sang.
According to the chefs who together created lou hei yee sang, the cheering was spontaneously created by customers tossing the salad. It was a fortuitous creation and wasn't pre-planned.
The lou hei yee sang ritual soon caught on and became a Chinese New Year custom. From Singapore, it spread to other parts of Malaysia. It was 1964, Singapore was briefly part of Malaysia from 1963 to 1965. Before that, Singapore and Peninsula Malaysia were part of British Malaya.
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| Sin Leong Restaurant advertisement promoting "Lucky Yee Sang" in 1979 |
Today lou hei yee sang has become a world wide Chinese community custom but it is still the most pervasive in Singapore and Malaysia.
From lull season, the lou hei yee sang turned the Chinese New Year to the busiest time in Chinese restaurants. It's a good example of how a good idea can turn everything around. Better ideas trump throwing money at challenges.
If you wish to join the lou hei yee sang fun, here is the complete list of auspicious phrases 👈
Here's a summary of the raw fish debate.
Who invented eating raw fish?
Raw fish is eaten in China going back to the Zhou dynasty (1045 BC - 256 BC), more than 3000 years ago. No argument here.
What is the difference between yee sang in Guangdong and in Singapore / Malaysia?
The Singapore lou hei yee sang is a Chinese New Year dish, whereas its Guangdong precursors from cities like Shantou, Foshan, Jiangmen, etc., yee sang is a less elaborate dish, sans all the lou hei ritual and is eaten all year round requiring no special occasion.
In Guangdong province, the ingredients have no special symbolic significance other than flavour, whereas the Singapore lou hei yee sang is all about auspiciousness and ritual.
In the Guangdong versions, raw fish is the main ingredient with oil, sauce and ginger, etc merely as condiments for flavour 调味. In the lou hei yee sang version, I always have a hard time finding any fish slices from the stack of shredded vegetables, like I am looking for a needle in a haystack 🤭
Eating raw fish at famous Bingsheng Taste Restaurant in Guangzhou 👈
Are there any other claims on the origin of yee sang?
There is another version that lou hei yee sang emerged in Seremban city in Negeri Sembilan state of Malaysia. According to this version, lou hei yee sang was invented by Loke Ching Fatt in the 1940s.
The Second World War just ended. Loke Ching Fatt's restaurant and catering business Loke Ching Kee faced the same challenge as other Chinese restaurants everywhere in British Malaya. Business was slow during Chinese New Year. Loke had to do something as he had a family of 6 children and many more mouths to feed.
So Loke created an elevated raw fish dish with thirty ingredients and a plum sauce. He called his creation Tenth Sense Raw Fish 十感鱼生.
During Chinese New Year, the dish was served on tables outside his Seremban restaurant. Customers tossed the ingredients while loudly reciting Chinese New Year well wishes and auspicious phrases.
In 2016, Loke Ching Fatt's grandchild Leng Wai Chan published a book "A Toss of Yee Sang" 捞起从鱼生说起 to chronicle Loke Ching Fatt's legacy.
In the book, there are anecdotes from contemporaries though no interview with Loke Ching Fatt (as he had passed on earlier), no documents nor artefacts.
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“.... my grandfather did indeed bring this culture to Seremban. Whether he was the first to introduce it in Malaysia, I’m not sure. But in Seremban, yes.”
What other food customs are related to Chinese New Year?
There is also the Teochew Seven Vegetables custom which is similar in concept but with different ingredients (no raw fish) and ritual from lou hei yee sang.
Enjoy your yee sang and fellowship!
Huat Ah!
What to say during Prosperity Toss 👈
Who is Tony Johor Kaki?
Tony Boey restaurant owner is uncle of our minister of transport. Anthony Loke. All over internet de.
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