Chinese and Western Fusion Factors in Hong Kong Culture from the Perspective of Tea Restaurants

: This article proves that different cultures of the East and the West have different influences on Hong Kong through a detailed introduction to various food flavors in Hong Kong. Hong Kong was colonized and ruled by the British for nearly a hundred years in the last century. Even though it has long since returned to the mainland, the British culture and Western food flavor of many years have been deeply embedded in the cultural flavor of Hong Kong. But on this basis, as a part of China for more than a thousand years, its cultural heritage and food flavor also contain a strong oriental flavor.


Introduction
Historically, Hong Kong was colonized by Britain in 1841 and returned to China in 1997. During this period, Hong Kong was mostly influenced by western culture. In addition, the port was free and open, and trade exchanges introduced local characteristics. Just as Liang Bingjun, a comparative writer and cultural researcher, said, "hybridity is indeed a feature of Hong Kong culture, and its contacts with the outside world are more than any Chinese city". Hong Kong has absorbed many elements through worldwide channels, forming an inclusive food culture in Hong Kong. One of the typical examples of the combination of Chinese and Western cultures is the ice room, which rose in the early 1950s and 1960s, and was gradually banned by the more modern tea restaurants with a richer variety of dishes. Today's tea restaurants have already become one of the representatives of Hong Kong's characteristic restaurants. They gradually rose in the 1980s when Hong Kong's economy took off, and still exist in every corner of Hong Kong today. We all know that the formation of a special food has different factors. Starting from the circulation of the region, it gradually adjusts and takes root. Through improvement, it caters to the public and evolves its own uniqueness. The food also has its own history behind it. In view of this, this paper will sort out the origin, inheritance, transformation and integration of tea restaurants, and try to explain how Hong Kong, as a representative international city, integrates Chinese and Western cultural factors.

The Background of the Tea Restaurant
The emergence of Tea restaurant dates back to the 1950s. More appropriately, it was more appropriately named Bing Shih, which was the predecessor of Cha Chaan Teng. The process of bing Shih being replaced by Cha Chaan Teng was closely related to the prosperous economy of Hong Kong at that time.
Although Hong Kong had just emerged from the chaos of World War II, it was reported in the article "The Development of Social Welfare in Hong Kong in the 1950s" :"In the frequent natural disasters, the nation's economic development under the background of stagnant, they promote the local welfare services, with the rapid development of the government from the construction of public housing for poor people live, reorganization and setting up social welfare relief services, provide meals for the destitute and other forms of services, greatly alleviate the difficulties and pressure" [1]. At the same time, due to the outbreak of the War to resist The United States and aid Korea, the United States imposed a blockade on China's material transport, and Hong Kong became the only Haikou that could be opened to the outside world at that time. Many local patriots carried materials under the heavy pressure from Britain and the United States and mainland currency in the article "Fok Yingdong: It is also mentioned in the contemporary "Jingwei", which helped the reform and opening up of the motherland, that this wealthy businessman from Hong Kong who was a civilian delivered tin gum and many medical instruments during the war and even the post-war business was severely oppressed by the UK and the US, providing extremely important material assistance to the army at that time [2]. Meanwhile, the arrival of a large number of wealthy businessmen from the mainland brought prosperous economic growth to Hong Kong. At the beginning of the 1950s, Hong Kong was no more than a small land that had just started to develop in the post-war years ."the ice room" in the folk mainly provides cheap imitation western food for ordinary people. Actually when Hong Kong was the British empire colonial rule in the hundred years' time, the social operation and folk culture has long been more or less influenced by western culture, but only senior restaurant will provide western-style food in Hong Kong, and the fee is very high, although many businessmen can enjoy, but this is many people can't afford it. Therefore, the appearance of bing Room provided cheap imitation western food for the local people. Most of them were small, offering coffee, iced drinks, and simple snacks such as toast sandwiches and pineapple buns, which naturally could not be compared with serious Western European food but did greatly satisfy the appetite of the still developing local people in the context of the time.
However, from the 1950s to the 1970s, Hong Kong actively developed manufacturing industry, textile, clothing, electronics and other labor-intensive industries grew rapidly. With the rapid development of Hong Kong's economy, the Western food provided by Bingshi could not meet people's needs, so more kinds of tea restaurants were born. According to Myth of the Century -Singapore and Hong Kong, China introduced in the article, 500 multinational companies in the world have set offices in Hong Kong. The entry of multinational banks has also brought many employment opportunities to local Hong Kong people [3]. With the further development of Hong Kong's economy and the substantial improvement of Hong Kong people's living standards, Ice rooms, which are small in size and do not even provide staple food, are not enough to satisfy their taste buds. Caterers expanded the menu to cater to a larger audience. "From English to Hong Kong --and its inheritance and transformation of diet tea restaurant" mentioned.They get rid of the western-style food box, boldly to join many Originally in the icehouse must find Chinese dishes and set meal, even break the cathedrals and porridge pavement file boundaries, well water into the river, put the porridge rice milk tea powder surface coffee under the same roof." Visible, cathedrals to provide cheap western-style diet full of ordinary people, but JianRong western-style and dim sum tea restaurant food, and tea restaurant itself also need to cater to customers, lower pricing, cost control, order dishes, change the ingredients, try to adjust the western-style food to the public consumption level, and the trend of western civil [4]. The evolution from ice room to cha chaan teng reflects the economic development of Hong Kong as an international metropolis and the changes in people's consumption level and habits, and also witnesses the integration of Hong Kong people's eating habits under the joint influence of western and local food cultures.

The Spread of British Culture
After more than 100 years of colonial rule by the British Empire, Hong Kong returned to the embrace of the motherland in 1997, but the cultural flavor from the West still exists in Hong Kong's food structure so clearly, among which the most representative characteristics are milk tea and egg tart.
If you walk in the streets of Hong Kong, there will be no shortage of tea restaurants everywhere with silky and unique Hong Kong-style milk tea. According to historical records, "milk tea was introduced to Britain in the 17th century, and then returned to Hong Kong, China from Britain. The Traditional Hong Kong-style milk tea originated from the old streets of Hong Kong in the early 20th century. When making milk tea, Hong Kong people improved the proportion of tea flavor and made milk tea more acceptable to Hong Kong people, which is also known as "Hong Kong-style milk tea". "Brewed with a variety of tea leaves, filtered with a fine cotton net, and then added with weak milk, at 2 or 3 in the afternoon when the most easy to sluggard and sleepy restaurant seats often have diners order such a cup of silk stockings milk tea.
If not, add a dish of egg tarts. Egg tarts originated from the British aristocracy, and gradually spread, and have been a common family dessert in Europe ever since. British colonization of Hong Kong began in earnest in the 1840s. But it was only 70 or 80 years ago when it came to Hong Kong. "But it was only 70 or 80 years ago when it was introduced to Hong Kong. Since the 1940s, egg tarts appeared in some cake shops in Hong Kong. Since the 1950s, egg tarts have entered most tea restaurants. At the beginning, the egg tarts were so big that one could satisfy your hunger." Originally popular in Portugal, Britain and other places of the egg tart taste is also more inclined to the taste of The European sweet greasy, and compared with the Portuguese tart as one of the signs of the Macao Special Administrative Region, the taste of the egg tart in Hong Kong is much lighter, compared to just more Oriental pursuit of light taste.
But in general, it's easier for Westerners visiting China to find a modicum of familiarity in Hong Kong than it is on the mainland, where food tastes are so different. After all, Hong Kong, as a way station for the docking of Chinese and Western cultures, is better suited to the very different appetites and habits of westerners, given that Chinese people have never needed afternoon tea since ancient times. Since then, the British afternoon tea culture has been transformed into a dining period in Hong Kong, which has a profound influence on the eating habits of Hong Kong people. Thanks to the tea restaurant, afternoon tea has evolved into diverse, freely designed food catering to the tastes of Hong Kong people.

Inheritance of Localization Factors
In the article "Reflections on the Impact of Hong Kong Diet on Average Life expectancy in Hong Kong" [5], there is a detailed introduction that "Hong Kong cuisine belongs to Cantonese cuisine and is famous for its exquisite production, rich variety, fine processing, exquisite seasoning and emphasis on freshness. From ancient times to the present, most Hong Kong families have taken Chinese food as a family dish. Speaking of this, we have to mention that wanton noodles, one of the famous dishes in Hong Kong, actually originated from Guangzhou in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. It was not until the 1950s that they were introduced to Hong Kong and became popular there. According to the report, "TVB's Masterpiece of the Year: Hong Kong-style Wonton Noodle,"Mai Huanchi a wonton noodle chef, fled to Hong Kong from Guangzhou with his family and all his assets in order to escape the war, and took his father and son with him to make wonton noodle. After Mai Huanchi's death, his three sons resumed their business and opened a storefront instead of peddling goods on the street like their father. Finally, wanton noodle shop was carried on by the eldest son, Mai Yizhi. It is worth mentioning that Joseph Ho, one of Mai's disciples, fled to Hong Kong with his master at that time and established his own shop "He Hongji Porridge Noodle Expert" in 1946, which also spread his reputation in Hong Kong with a bowl of authentic Wonton noodle. According to the diners' description, "He Hongji's Wontons are not big, but just one bite at a time. The whole wontons, together with the plump broth and the original meat, are in the mouth at the same time. The taste is solid and sharp, and the hot head of fresh shrimp is full of freshness." In addition to wonton noodles, hot congee and sausage noodles are also a highlight of the restaurant. There are many examples of craftsmanship spread to Hong Kong due to the continuous war in the mainland at that time, and many of them have become one of the major signboards of Hong Kong today.
In addition, "Reflections on the Impact of Hong Kong diet on Average Life expectancy in Hong Kong" also mentions Hong Kong people's love for traditional Chinese medicine and soup making. The article mentions that many families make nutritious soup at home or prepare commonly used Traditional Chinese medicine dishes. Such as wolfberry, angelica, lily and so on. There are also many Chinese herbal tonic stores, which are closely related to the daily life of local people. Hong Kong people have a long history of loving soup. "How to keep healthy and eat? Hong Kong people's food Culture from the Perspective of Hong Kong Food Festival "The article mentioned that" Hong Kong is hot and humid, just like Guangdong. Hong Kong people firmly believe that soup has the effect of clearing heat, eliminating fire, nourishing and nourishing skin. It is a tradition of Hong Kong people to take soup as diet therapy. In addition to Guangdong province, there is generally no habit of drinking old fire soup. Like the wonton noodles mentioned above, Lao Huo soup was also introduced to Hong Kong from Guangdong, and its cooking techniques and ingredients are almost identical to those in Guangdong, which are also very popular in Hong Kong.
It can be seen that the wonton noodles and hot dishes mainly based on Traditional Chinese medicine appear in Tea restaurant ， which is obviously the inheritance and dissemination of Chinese localization factors. The cooking techniques and ingredients are almost the same as cantonese cuisine. Hong Kong-style tea restaurant also represents the deep implication of Hong Kong popular cultural tradition, and has become an important symbol of Hong Kong people's recognition of local culture.

Conclusion
In general, with the colonization of Britain, Western food culture took shape in Hong Kong. In order to meet the needs of customers, restaurants reduced pricing, controlled costs, reordered dishes and changed ingredients, trying to adjust western food to the level that the public can consume, forming the trend of western food to the masses. It is in this atmosphere that cha chaan Teng emerges at the historic moment. No matter what the price and grade of ice room and western restaurant, they can flexibly operate, close to the public and match the pace of life of Hong Kong people, so they are widely popular. Whether milk tea and egg tarts, under the influence of western culture and traditions of old fire soup, wonton noodles and dim sum tea restaurant symbolizes the culture of Hong Kong to participate in the process of globalization, with the development of diet culture globalization trend and change, mass culture has gradually dim sum tea meal on behalf of Hong Kong traditional deep connotation, become the people of Hong Kong as an important symbol of cultural identity of Hong Kong.