Located in the Yangtze River Delta, facing the East China Sea, Shanghai is endowed with many advantages. During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) Shanghai became the largest commercial center in East China, with businessmen from all over China flocking in to promote their special native products.
As the chosen site for traveling merchants at that time, the Waibaidu Bridge area was always lined with vendors from different provinces, and a Mr. Shao from Ningbo was one of them.
He made a living there by selling fresh fish and home-made dried fish floss, as well as other native products of Ningbo. As a purveyor of typical Ningbo flavors, he soon became extremely popular among the Ningbo merchants living in the surrounding communities. Most of them settled down permanently, after seeing the flourishing business opportunities in Shanghai.
Shao's toil and moil was rather rewarding, and five years after his arrival, in 1852, he successfully launched his "Shao Wan Xing Delicacies Store" on Woosung Road with a food-processing workshop at another location.
As the store's Ningbo-flavored foods, such as "Crab in wine sauce", "Pomfret pickled with grains" and "Sea tongue cake" sold very well, the fame of the store soon spread, even as far as nearby Jiangsu Province.
Shao's industry over the following decade enabled him to further expand his business. With floating capital of 100,000 dollars, he moved his shop front to Park Lane, a thriving commercial area in the former British concession where the rent was three times higher.
To attract more high-profile customers, he set aside nearly 10,000 dollars for interior decoration. And Zhang Nancun, a famous calligrapher at that time, was invited to write a plaque with the words "Qian Shou Yi". The characters meant "Modesty Gains Benefits" in English.
Since the name "Shao Wan Xing" sounded more like "Shao Wan Sheng" in the heavy Ningbo accent, Shao decided to register the business formally as the "Shao Wan Sheng Delicacies Store".
Having bequeathed his beloved store to his son in the hope he would carry on the flourishing business, old Shao passed away. But unfortunately, his heir Shao Juexun was nothing but a coxcomb. Getting involved in speculative business, he became debt-ridden and in 1932 he had no choice but to sell the store to his neighbour, a Mr. Xu, for 150,000 dollars.
Thanks to Xu's wise business strategy, "Shao Wan Sheng" remained a prosperous business. The seasonal delicacies always sold like hot cakes. Blood clams which looked like shoe-shaped gold ingots, indicating a bumper harvest, were offered at New Year's Eve, and salty dishes such as "Shad prickled with grains" were made by local chefs during the summer.
When crabs matured in the autumn, customers could then buy "Crabs in Shaoxing Wine". Honored as a "Famous Chinese Brand" in 1997, the "Shao Wan Sheng Delicacies Store" at No. 414 Nanjing Donglu is now gearing up to serve a new generation of customers.
(Shanghai Star May 15, 2003)
