Traditional breakfast carts to disappear from Yangpu
People want a hearty breakfast, often called the most important meal of the day. In fast-paced Shanghai, very few of us want to make it ourselves. We want to grab something on the way to the Metro, and we want to be sure we can grab the same again tomorrow.
Breakfast has become a big deal in a city obsessed with preserving intangible cultural heritage. Items such as youtiao (fried dough stick), dabing (flat bread), scallion and rice pancakes as well as cocoa and soybean milk are fast disappearing.
When the breakfast market on Antu Road in Yangpu District popped up in 2012 under a government-backed scheme to allow licensed vendors to sell breakfast from food carts for the convenience of citizens, the traditional Shanghai breakfast seemed saved. But the popular breakfast businesses on the downtown street are to be closed in March.
Yangpu urban management have decided that they want a tidier, unoccupied pavement. Pedestrians who just want their breakfast are of a different mind.
Unlike unlicensed street businesses, the vendors on 17 carts on the road have legal certificates and accept regular inspections to ensure the food safety. The carts are also free from oily smells and smoky air, and are widely popular among locals.
However, Changbai Subdistrict that helped to develop the prosperous market seven years ago has decided to wipe out all breakfast carts along the road by the end of March. The shutdown aims to raise the urban management standard, according to the subdistrict.
The decision has displeased almost everyone and has stirred wide lamentations, not only about the disappearance of the convenient market, but also for vanishing traditional local breakfasts.
A filling breakfast costs at most 10 yuan (US$1.50) from these carts.
The carts open as early as 3:30am and run through till about 9am every day, attracting many early workers such as cleaners, deliveryman, taxi drivers and security guards. Long lines appear in front of these carts around 7am, mostly workers, students and retirees.
"I've been buying breakfast here for years. Where will I find a similar place after its closure?" said Zhang Jiliang, a taxi driver who usually drinks a bottle of milk and eats a pancake in his cab in the early morning.
Deliveryman Qian from Gansu Province said he rarely cooked at home and always bought breakfast from a cart.
According to a survey, over 60 percent of China's urban dwellers have breakfast at home only three days a week and buy it on other days.
On the Internet, citizens bemoaned the demise of another traditional food market, and called upon each other to take the last chance to enjoy breakfast on the road and recall childhood memories.
Wu Dewen, 58, from neighboring Jiangsu Province, and his wife operate one of the most popular stalls, selling youtiao and dabing. They have been feeding the city for two decades and have seen both their son and daughter graduate from university through their labors.
"Since the business will be shut down, I've decided to retire and go back home," Wu said. "I may travel around or do some farm work to get accustomed to the idle life."
The couple start work at 4am every day. Wu prepares the dough the night before. He said the temperature of his stove reached 60 degrees Celsius in summer but hardly kept him warm in winter.
He Sujuan, 68, operates another popular cart. She sells both cocoa and fresh milk in glass bottles, rarely seen nowadays but common school-day memories to many.
"I've been delivering and selling milk for 20 years and never taken a day off, even at the Spring Festival," He told Shanghai Daily. "I will continue to deliver milk to about 100 old customers, though the cart will be closed."
He, who sleeps only three hours a day, plans to take her husband to travel around northeast China where she worked for nine years in the 1970s in response to a national call to support the countryside.
"For 20 years, my husband and I have got up 2am every day. We deserve happy times after such hard work," she said.
Some younger vendors have rented new sites to continue their business. Pan Guangfei sells Qiang pancake, a traditional fried bread that originated in the Qiang ethic group but is popular in Shanghai. She has rented a tiny store in a nearby wet market about 100 meters away.
Her neighbor Wang Wensuo sells at least 400 rice cakes each day from his cart. He has asked his wife to open a small eatery and will move there after the closure.
"We may only make the ends meet in future due to the far higher rent," Wang said. The nearby store will cost him 7,500 yuan a month, compared with only 300 yuan for the government-subsidized cart.
To satisfy residents, the subdistrict will help some vendors find suitable stores near Antu Road wet market, while other businesses will be encouraged to acquire licenses to sell breakfasts.
"The purpose is to let citizens have a safe breakfast while improving the environment of the community," an official with the district government said.
Changbai Subdistrict gathered breakfast vendors in Antu Road for better management in 2012. Other stores on the road followed suit and switched to breakfast businesses. The 800-meter street has been a famous breakfast market since then.
The eateries along the road will keep operating, but all the street carts on the pavement will be removed.