A Taste of Soup Noodle in Luzhou

      About a hundred years ago, two monks brought along a statue of Guanyin (a Buddhism Goddess) with them and went on a long journal by boat for mendicity. But the weather was extremely bad with a typhoon. Raging waves swept them to a port of Taipei. They got off the boat and ran into You Li, a businessman, who prayed for booming business by worshipping Guanyin. Surprisingly, his wish came true as he accidentally made a fortune. Thus, he believed that the statue of Guanyin had magic power and welcomed the statue from Mount Putuo to a temple in Luzhou which was current Yonglian temple.

It is said that during the period of Japanese occupation, the Taiwanese who were mobilized by Japanese to become their mercenaries would go to the temple to pray for safety and obtain an amulet (which is a symbol for safety). The soldiers with the amulets encountered many miracles in battlefield. After their safe return, they redeemed their vows to Guanyin and told their stories to their neighbors. Therefore, Yonglian Temple attracted many believers and visitors to burn incense and pray. Various small retails of vegetables, meat, and clothes had their stalls open outside the gate of the temple and gradually formed a fair.

       One day, the old gentleman pushed a cart to the gate of Yonglian Temple to begin selling noodles. He was Mr. Wu-chu Chou, the founder of Soup Noodle. His booth was quietly set under an old pine tree in a corner where often only himself watched tourists and believers coming and going and sighing over the difficulty of the business environment. Still a tough year!

"Extra! Extra!" a young man of local office announced to the public outside the temple that Japan was about to made war with China.

"Extra! Extra! Japan surrendered! The war is over!" The young man of local office shouted the good news at the top of his voice as if he wanted to let the world know it.  A long-lost smile spread over Mr. Chou's face. He cheered himself up, "If winter comes, can spring be far behind?"

"Excuse me. Do you accept an apprentice? I can help you sell noodles. Would you please teach me cooking skills?" A shy young man stood in front of Mr. Chou, begging him to accept him as his apprentice. Though happy, Mr. Chou replied, "Look. My noodle stall was on the verge of collapse. Are you sure you have to follow me?" The young man convinced Mr. Chou with his firm expression in his eyes. From that day on, the young man helped wash dishes, clean tables, and carry ingredients, and learned cooking skills earnestly. One year later, Mr. Chou noodle transferred his noodle stall to the young man, so the humble noodle stall had a new owner, Wan-pao Yang, a survival and Luzhou resident from the hails of bullets of the battlefield in South Asia, who was about to bring new vitality to Soup Noodle.

After Wan-pao Yang took over the noodle shop, he concentrated his attention to improve Soup Noodle. He believed that as long as he provided healthy and tasty ingredients, guests would come naturally. It was common at that time to add borax in noodles to increase their elasticity. Wan- pao Yang insisted that he would never add such harmful chemical to health. Instead he kneaded the dough by hand to enhance the taste of noodles. Besides, he cooked soup with fresh pork bones and streaky pork to replace MSG, so his soup exuded natural aroma. The rich yet not greasy taste was praised by many. Gradually, his noodle shop outside Yonglian Temple had customers in an endless stream. Many people even outside Luzhou came all the way to have a taste of his noodle. Customers gave it a title—Heshangzhou Soup Noodle (Heshangzhou was a former name of Luzhou.)

Ten years later, Wan-pao Yang accepted two disciples—Acheng and Atzu, who were young and diligent and soon mastered all the skills of their master. One day, Mr. Yang stood in his own shop with a satisfied smile while watching the steady stream of customers. The two disciples were diligently went back and forth serving the customers. He knew that it was time to hand over his business. In the evening, after closing the shop, he called his two disciples before him and told them that, "I want to hand over this shop to you! I am leaving." He continued, "But you need to promise me two things. First thing, every morning at 10 o'clock, please, both of you personally send a bowl of Soup Noodle to my house to let me taste; Second, please remember that we provide not only delicious noodles, but also  the milk of human kindness." Since then, Mr. Yang began to pursue another goal of his life—hardware business. 
Acheng and Atzu kept their promise to send a bowl of Soup Noodle to their master's at 10 o'clock every morning. Mr. Yang needed to confirm whether the soup of Soup Noodle was cooked with fresh pork bones step by step and whether there was no borax or MSG. He hoped that his disciples could bring healthy and delicious noodles to customers.

50 years later, the disciples of Acheng and Atzu sprang up their businesses here and there. Now there are about forty to fifty noodle shops in Luzhou with their own soup or characteristics. But all of them have the same feature that is no artificial flavors and the perseverance to offer the most healthy and delicious Soup Noodle to customers. In this way, Mr. Yang's spirit and faith were passed down through bowls of Soup Noodle.