Manchu Eight-Bowl Banquet 满族八大碗

Where it comes from

According to the county culture and tourism bureau, the eight bowls passed from ordinary Manchu homes into the Qing court during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (乾隆). The bureau cites a record of Manchu bannermen's rites, the Manzu Qiren Jili Kao (满族旗人祭礼考), which describes banquets laid with five tripods and eight dishes, commonly called the eight big bowls. Manchu communities in different areas cook their own versions from local ingredients, and in Benxi County the dish is served at the Xiaoshi Yizhuang (小市一庄) scenic area with local touches added.

China News Service reports that the Benxi Manchu Autonomous County eight bowls were among more than 30 heritage and local dishes offered for tasting when the 2026 Benxi heritage-in-scenic-areas event opened at Xiaoshi Yizhuang. Jiang Fan (江帆), a professor at Liaoning University, told Liaoning Daily's Beiguo site that the Manchu eight bowls sit beside Korean-style pounded rice cakes and Hui shaomai among Liaoning's ethnic food traditions.

How it is eaten

The county bureau says the eight bowls come in a coarse and a fine form, and between them use eight cooking methods: pa braising (扒), men braising (焖), cooking in soy paste (酱), braising (烧), stewing (炖), stir-frying (炒), steaming (蒸) and liu quick-frying in sauce (熘). The meal is usually laid out for guests, eight people to a table, with eight fine dishes and eight plain ones on it.