Founded in 1848, Zhejiang Province is a famous trademark, a time-honored brand in China, a well-known Hangzhou cuisine brand, with a superior geographical environment, and is known as "dining with delicious food and beautiful scenery".
Hangzhou Louwailou Restaurant is a well-known restaurant with a history of 160 years. It is located at the foot of the lonely mountain of the beautiful West Lake, and is adjacent to some of the most famous natural and cultural attractions in the West Lake scenery: Pinghu Qiuyue, Fanghe Pavilion, Agate Slope, Xiling Bridge, Su Xiaoxiao Tomb, Liuyi Spring, Sizhao Pavilion, Xiling Seal Society, Yu Tower, Qiu Jin Tomb, Zhongshan Park, Wenlan Pavilion, Zhejiang Museum, etc.
Louwailou was founded in 1848 A.D. (the 28th year of Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty). Its founder is called Hong Ruitang, a Luodi literati who came to Hangzhou from Shaoxing to make a living. He took three words from the poem of the Southern Song Dynasty poet Lin Sheng and named his small shop "Louwailou".
The original outer building was "just a bungalow" and was a humble lakeside shop. However, due to the fact that the owner of the shop is good at business and cooks good dishes based on fresh food from the lake, especially because he attaches great importance to interacting with the literati, the literati in Hangzhou and in Hangzhou take the drink outside the building as the first choice when visiting the lake. As a result, business flourished and fame grew.
In 1926, Hong Shunsen, the descendant of the Hong family, who had considerable financial resources, renovated and expanded the outer building of the building, and transformed the first floor and the bottom two floors into a "three-storey western-style building" with a roof platform, which was equipped with electric fans and telephones, and became a restaurant with a modern atmosphere in Hangzhou at that time, making its business more prosperous. During this period, the cultural celebrities who visited the Louwailou included Zhang Taiyan, Lu Xun, Yu Dafu, Yu Shaosong, Ma Yinchu, Zhu Kezhen, Cao Juren, Lou Shiyi, Liang Shiqiu, etc., as well as Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Lifu, Sun Ke, Zhang Jingjiang and other dignitaries.
In May 1949, Hangzhou was liberated, and Louwailou ushered in a new period of development, but by the second half of 1952, there were only 14 employees. In 1955, Louwailou's application for public-private partnership was approved, which changed the nature of this 100-old shop. After the public-private partnership, Louwailou has received strong support from the government and policies, and the work has been greatly improved in all aspects, especially in the restoration of the characteristics of famous dishes, and has made remarkable achievements. In 1956, the Provincial People's Government identified 36 famous dishes in Hangzhou, of which 10 were provided by Louwailou. These 10 famous dishes are: West Lake vinegar fish, pai noodles, called Huatong chicken, fried shrimp, dry-fried bell, tomato pot, ham and broad beans, fire heel fairy duck, fish head soup, West Lake Ulva soup.
In 1980, Louwailou was included in the pilot unit of Hangzhou system reform; Contracting was introduced in 1983; 1984 democratically elected manager; In September 1999, it was transformed from the ownership of the whole people into an industrial limited company with multiple investment entities jointly held by state-owned legal persons and employees of enterprises. This is a century-old store's institutional innovation.
Since the mid-90s of the last century, Hangzhou has accelerated the pace of renovation of the West Lake, giving the entire lake area a new look. The outer building of the building has also been renovated six times, respectively, to each restaurant, box and lobby façade to the next floor. After this renovation, the exterior building from the outside to the inside, from the overall layout to the detailed structure, better reflects the history of the West Lake, the cultural connotation of the region, so that people can enjoy the beautiful food here at the same time, but also can naturally feel the strong cultural atmosphere and atmosphere.
In this renovation, the outer building of the building invited Lu Guangzheng, a master of wood carving in Dongyang, to design and create a large-scale wall sculpture for them: "Dongpo Junhu Map". This frame wall carving has 50 square meters of pictures, 85 figures, and 5 scenes connected into one breath, which truly and vividly records and reflects the whole process of Su Dongpo leading the crowd to build the Su Causeway and the Six Bridges on the West Lake more than 900 years ago. This is a rare masterpiece in Dongyang wood carving, magnificent, exquisite, so that every guest who goes to the outside of the building, will have a bright eye, before feasting on the mouth, first feast on the eyes.
A brief review of the 160-year development process of Louwailou shows that the rise and fall of Louwailou is closely related to the rise and fall of Hangzhou and West Lake, and is closely related to the rise and fall of catering culture in Hangzhou and West Lake; The prosperity of Louwailou is based on the prosperity of Hangzhou and West Lake. Therefore, Louwailou must do its best for the more prosperity of Hangzhou and West Lake, and in the new years from 161 years, we must work harder, do more, and go to the next level!
