Dong Yong legend is a well-known love story between a goddess and a mortal. The Jade Emperor of Heaven has seven daughters, the youngest of whom is the ravishingly beautiful Seventh Fairy Maiden, who daringly flees down to the human world to help a poor farmer-Dong Yong, an honest and kind-hearted serf.
Researching and making the epic film Empire of Silver, which depicts a high-stakes tale of power and romance among the renowned Shanxi merchants in the late 19th century, was an eye-opening experience for first-time director Christina Yao in more ways than one.
As the saying goes, "China has the world's best flour-made food; and Shanxi is the home of China's flour-made food." Shanxi boasts more than a thousand kinds of flour-based food, and huamo is only one of the very many. The buns or mo, is simply a fancier hand-molded form of the familiar mantou.
