Luoyang's Culture Is Profoundly Rich: Having a Meal at Laoluoyang, I Discovered a Museum Inside the Restaurant

Last month, I (Yu Fan) was invited to Baiyun Mountain in Luoyang, Henan for an autumn gathering activity. After the event, having some free time, I decided to stay a few days in Luoyang to fully experience this historic ancient capital of thirteen dynasties. During this time, Tianjian Dage, a local self-media influencer in Luoyang, warmly hosted me. Accompanied by him, we visited the Oriental Cultural and Creative Park, Guangzhou Market Pedestrian Street, Hall of Heaven and Bright Hall, Longmen Grottoes, Guanlin Temple, and other scenic spots, and also tasted many Luoyang specialty dishes.

Luoyang is truly an ancient city with a long history. As one of the cradles of Chinese civilization, every day and every place made me feel its profoundness, and even every dish was steeped in culture. For instance, one day Tianjian Dage took me to taste Luoyang's local specialty, the Peony Banquet. The dishes themselves and the stories behind them left a deep impression on me. Moreover, this restaurant named Laoluoyang was no ordinary establishment—both its interior decoration and its dishes exuded a distinct elegance.

In addition, what surprised me was that this restaurant also housed its own Food Culture Museum, whose collection was not only rich but included many artifacts from before the Han Dynasty, many of which were fine pieces.

As I learned, although the Luoyang Laoluoyang Food Museum is located inside a restaurant, it is not just a decorative display of a few fake artifacts. It is a formal specialized museum approved by the Henan Provincial Cultural Relics Administration. It covers an exhibition area of more than 560 square meters, houses nearly 1,000 collected items, and displays over 300 pieces. All of these were accumulated and collected over time by the restaurant owner, who carefully selected them through multiple rounds of sourcing, focusing on key pieces, discarding the rough, and categorizing them.

Thanks to Tianjian Dage's connections, the restaurant manager gave us a detailed explanation of the museum. She said the collection spans from the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties through the Republic of China era and even the Cultural Revolution period. Its long historical span, large number of exhibited items, and spacious exhibition area make it one of the largest museums of its kind in Henan.

The museum is divided into five exhibition areas: outdoor, first floor, second floor, third floor, and fourth floor. The exhibits are categorized into ten major types: stoneware, bronze, pottery, porcelain, jade, silver, iron, wood, lacquer, and bamboo.

All these exhibits are related to China's five-thousand-year food culture, essentially covering the tools, cookware, and containers used by ancient people in their diet. Through these exquisite, diverse, and timeworn artifacts, we not only travel through time and glimpse the wisdom of ancient people in their culinary life but also feel the long history and profound breadth of Chinese culinary civilization. Below, let's take a look at some of the artifacts I (Yu Fan) photographed casually.

This is a Yuan Dynasty Jun ware porcelain plate. Jun ware is one of the five famous kilns of the Song Dynasty, renowned for its characteristics of "preciousness, uniqueness, wonder, subtlety, and peerlessness" and its distinctive kiln transmutation art, often hailed as the foremost among China's five famous porcelains.

This is a Ming Dynasty sea-salvaged jar, as the name implies—a Ming Dynasty pottery jar salvaged from the sea.

This is a Western Han Dynasty roasting stove. Even back then, people knew how to use stoves to grill meat, and they made them so well—truly remarkable.

This is a Han Dynasty bronze ear cup, a drinking vessel used by ancient people, popular during the Spring and Autumn period, the Warring States period, and the Han dynasties.

This is a Ming Dynasty jade pot, presumably for holding wine, though its exact purpose is unknown.

This is an Eastern Zhou gray pottery li (tripod). Does anyone know what it was used for?

A food container (shihe): round ones are called "luo" (basket), square ones are called "he" (box). They originated in the Eastern Han, flourished in the late Tang, and peaked in the Ming and Qing. In olden times, they were used by officials, gentry, and scholars when visiting friends, attending betrothal or birthday celebrations, or enjoying drinks with close companions during spring outings. These portable food containers were made of wood, bamboo, enamel, lacquer, and other materials. Exquisitely crafted food containers could be completely leak-proof and exuded an elegant and dignified aura, both beautiful and practical. The one pictured above is a Qing Dynasty painted four-layer wooden food container, classified as a Grade Three national cultural relic.

A dou is the most commonly used container for measuring grain throughout history. There were private dou, official dou, market dou, merchant dou, guild dou, official hu (a larger measure), official sheng, etc. One dou equals ten sheng, and ten dou equal one shi (dan). As a measuring tool, the dou was widely used across dynasties. Due to differences in dynasties and regions, the size of the dou varied, so later the court standardized the official dou.

This is an official dou made by the court from the Qing Dynasty, a Grade Three national cultural relic. In folk grain trade, the size of this dou served as a standard to prevent fraud.

A garlic mortar (suan jiu), also known as a pounding mortar or garlic bowl, is a utensil widely used by people to pound garlic, chili, and other seasonings. They are mostly made of hard stone, with various shapes and craftsmanship—either line-carved, round-carved, or relief-carved, mostly round, but sometimes square, drum-shaped, sheng-shaped, or palace lantern-shaped.

This is a Yuan Dynasty double-monkey ear lotus-petal stone mortar, a Grade Three national cultural relic. These exquisite carvings demonstrate the skilled and masterful carving techniques and extensive dietary knowledge of ancient artisans.

These are two Ming Dynasty Cizhou kiln wine jars. Although both jugs have imperfections, they are considered fine examples of ancient porcelain and are quite valuable. In the museum, we also saw many photos of Mr. Wang Tianxi, the curator of the Laoluoyang Food Museum, posing with directors of famous museums such as the Palace Museum, the National Museum of China, and the Henan Museum. This shows that not only is the Laoluoyang restaurant extraordinary, but its owner is likewise remarkable—a cultured individual who loves traditional culture, enjoys collecting artifacts, and frequently interacts with major museums across the country. It is precisely because Luoyang has countless cultured people like Wang Tianxi that it displays the profound heritage and uniqueness befitting an ancient capital of thirteen dynasties.