Fujian Guangbing

Light cake is one of Fuzhou's traditional specialty snacks. Fuzhou people like to eat light cake. In many alleys in Fuzhou, you can often see some small shops with round dough cakes the size of a cup mouth. They are about two centimeters thick. The dough is baked yellow and there are also many sesame seeds embedded on the surface. The middle of the cake is concave inward, forming a small pit. If you press it hard with your hand, it is quite hard. This is the light cake.

The name of Guangbing is related to the legend of Qi Jiguang entering Fujian to fight against the Japanese invaders. According to reports: During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, invaders invaded the coastal areas of Fujian. Qi Jiguang was ordered to lead the Qi family army into Fujian to resist the Japanese invaders. At that time, the Japanese epidemic was rampant and wars continued. People along the way competed to reward the three armies, but the Qi Family Army had strict military discipline and did not accept gifts. The people in Minqing County specially made a kind of cake with a hole in the middle, strung it with brine grass, and hung it around the necks of the Qi Family Army soldiers. Qi Jiguang deeply felt that the people loved the army, and seeing that the army also needed easy-to-carry dry food, he ordered the earth to accept the people's wishes. After the news reached Fuzhou, local people made a cake that was smaller than Minqing cake and more portable, and put it on string and gave it to Qi Jiajun. Qi Jiguang saw that this kind of cake was very practical in combat, so he ordered the leader army to make it according to the method. Later, in order to commemorate Qi Jiguang's resistance to the Japanese invaders, people called the small cake "light cake" and the big cake "East Conquest Cake". Light cakes are deeply loved by Fuzhou people. However, ancient literati liked to eat light cakes. When those who went to Beijing to take the exam passed through Fuzhou, they would buy many light cakes to use as dry food on the way. Over time, how many light cakes they ate became synonymous with measuring the degree of hard work they worked hard.