Yangshi Zhushi Mahua is the original ancestral food of Yangshi family in Xichenzhai Village of Emei Ridge. Its appearance is clear inside and outside, colorful, salty and sweet, crisp and refreshing. It has been regarded as the top food for more than 200 years. It is widely popular and is the necessity for god and ancestor worship. The shape of "Zhushi (red persimmon)" is like cow teats, and its color is like cinnabar, so it is called "Zhushi (Cinnabar-color persimmon)". According to the legend, God Erlang threw fairy fruit into the earth to give birth to this fruit, which contains the spirit of heaven and earth. It can exorcise evil spirits and contain blessings, so "Zhushi" Mahua is favored by the public. There are songs to praise it: "Yangshi Mahua is very good; it shapes like rope and braid; a strip of Mahua divides heaven and earth; the colors inside and outside are different; the inside looks like Guan Yu's crescent moon blade, and the surface is like a golden dragon with a handle. The Zhushi fruit is mixed with flour. Kids can be ranked the second at the palace examination after eating it, and the old man can live a hundred years after having it.”
According to the records of Yang's family, when Yang Laowu was doing business in Taiping County, Fen City (now Xiangfen), a fellow villager fell ill and wanted to eat sweet Mahua. At that time, sugar was something that people could only think about but are not abe to eat. So he tried to bake "Zhushi" soft by taking sugar juice into the flour, trying twisting it to meet his demand. The appearance of the cooked flower is particularly beautiful. The inside is like the thick soil of Jieyuan and its surface is like the stars dropped into the wild. He made it successful. After eating "Zhushi”, its natural sweet is full of mouth, so the patient even get recovered and praised it and spread to other people. For a time the people of Taiping County scrambled to buy it. The business was very flourishing. From then on, the fame of Yangshi "Zhushi" Mahua was famous throughout the dynasty.When the G8 allied forces entered Beijing, Cixi fled westwardly and passed by thi place and she ate it with full of praise.
