Taste the Magic Beijing Beverage that Drains the Heat Away

The unbearably hot Beijing summer is not a new thing. People have been sweating through June, July and August ever since the dynasties, because the geography around Beijing invariably makes the city into a simmering urban stew in the summer.

So it is not so surprising that overheating was historically a serious problem. The capital therefore developed several measures to cool down Beijing residents. The city stored massive blocks of ice in deep dungeon-like ice houses. The ice was harvested from the city lakes in winter and brought out for use in the summer. An entry in the Qing archives show how in 1732 the Yongzheng emperor ordered ice water distributed to the Beijing population from all city gates as an emergency measure. The emperors themselves would often simply leave Beijing when they could not stand it anymore and relocate the court to the summer palaces in the western mountains. 

However, most Beijing people did not have the means to leave, and many of them would simply jump into the many lakes and canals of the city to cool their bodies down, just like today. It was not just humans who suffered under the sun. The Ming archives describes how the Imperial elephants were brought out to shower in the moat on the sixth of the sixth lunar month, to cool down the gigantic beasts. In Beijing siheyuan courtyards shades were made, and Robert Swallow describes how the prostitutes of Bada Hutong, in the Dashilar area, would call upon their regular customers to chip in and share the cost of the matting.

However one measure that seems to have been universaly used by Beijing residents was to drink big amounts of Suanmeitang (酸梅汤). A drink based on plums that is believed to “qure” (去热) or drain the heat from your body. In fact Xinyuanzhai, a famous Suanmeitang brand that traces it history back to the Qianlong emperor, used to be located just next to our gallery. That is why we have decided to prepare this magic beverage for all visitors this Saturday. Come by to get a taste of how to deal with the heat in the Beijing way!