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  “Master Chef” in Nei-Men Town The Producers of Delicacies and Happiness
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Hometown of “Zhong Po Shai”
Changes in Society and Economy
 The “Yi Zheng” (art-performing group) culture

Hometown of “Zhong Po Shai”

Nei-Men Town in Kaohsiung County of Taiwan used to be called Luo-Han-Men in the past. Since the inner area of Nei-Men Town was surrounded by groups of mountains, the ability to cultivate and produce crops was limited due to the mountainous environment. So, in order for people to survive in early days around fifty years ago, people allegedly went to Tainan to become apprentices to culinary art masters and learned to cook. Later, those people went back to their own hometown and became professionals in the business of “Ban Dou (Taiwanese for ‘Set the Table and Cater’)”. Since then, the profession of “Zhong Po Shai (Taiwanese for ‘Culinary Art Master [Great Chef]’)” started to spread around up to today. Nei-Men Town (Luo-Han-Men) is probably the town with the highest density for this profession. According to a study, there are around one hundred “Zhong Po Shai” performing the work of “Ban Dou” in this town. “Zhong Po Shai”s in Nei-Men Town have great culinary art skills and can be hired at a low rate. Therefore, they have good reputations in the Southern part of Taiwan; they would show their great talents and could be seen in many occasions such as weddings, funerals, celebrations for happiness, or any other celebrations.  We would like to present the theme by exploring the historic veins of which “Ban Do” culture and “Zhong Po Shai”s have formed in Nei-Men Town. In the meantime, we would like to experience the “Zhong Po Shai” job contents and their educational environment, etc. We greatly hope that the career of “Zhong Po Shai” can be passed on forever.

There is one poem in Chin Dynasty while the emperor Gan Long visited Taiwan, called, “Guo Luo Han Men Shan”

Luo Han Yun Jhong Sai    Tian Guan Di Yi Chong  
(Luo Han Mountain was the important forte and was the top one there)

Lin You Shen Jyu Hu      Tan Jing Yin Pan Long
(The trees were high and many and might have tigers inside,
The lakes were so deep and big and might have dragons inside.)

Ma Guan Lu Jian Dao      Tang Syu Jhu Wai Fong
(Carriages walked through the reeds and firework creaked outside the village)

Niao Ming Ya Hang Se     Tong Chu Cuei Wei Fong
(Birds sang all the way through the road till we were out of the mountain.)

 羅漢門
Read the poem and we could tell that Nei Men was so important in the past and it is also famous for the dead dry land, Marshal Jhu Yi Guei, folk costumes such as Song Jiang Jhen Battle Array, Taiwan taste- Zhong-Po-Shai as well as many legends.