Monday, December 13, 2010

The origin of GOU BU LI stuffed buns (狗不理包子)

The origin of Gou Bu Li steamed buns with stuffing (狗不理包子)
In China, there are 2 types of buns. Buns without stuffing are called Mantou (馒头),while buns with stuffing, like meat, bean paste etc are called Baozi (包子)。 There is a meat stuffed buns called Gou Bu Li Baozi, which literally means “dog doesn’t care BAOZI”
Why are these stuffed buns have such funny names? There was a story behind it. Many years ago, in Beijing, there was an orphan called Xiao Gou Zi (小狗子) working in a restaurant selling stuffed buns. Xiao Gou Zi was very hard working and could bake delicious stuffed buns and his boss liked him very much. The restaurant became famous and many people lined up early in the morning to buy the stuffed buns. Business was so good that Xiao Gou Zi had no time to attend to some customers, who shouted “:Xiao Gou Zi, why don’t you care about us? We have been waiting for a long time”
Xiao Gou Zi literally means little dog. Some less educated Chinese use the name of animals like cow (A Niu), dog (A Gou) etc to call their children. Gradually, Xiao Gou Zi’s stuffed buns became famous and people called his buns as GOU BU LI BAO ZI. The poor orphan had good business and later became a successful businessman.

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BORN IN IPOH,I STUDIED IN SAM TET SECONDARY SCHOOL, IPOH AND LANGUAGE CENTRE, UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA, MAJORING IN TRANSLATION (ON JPA SCHOLARSHIP). I SERVED THE MALAYSIAN GOVERNMENT SINCE 1970 AND HAD MY OPTIONAL RETIREMENT IN 1997. AFTER THAT, I WORKED AS EXECUTIVE SECRETARY IN VARIOUS NGOs IN KL & KLANG VIZ TRADE & CULTURAL ASSOCIATIONS