About This Site
This is an unofficial memorial and research website — an experiment in how we approach historical figures: letting a master craftsman worth remembering be seen by more people, without sacrificing honesty about the boundaries of fact in pursuit of a “perfect” story.
The Baiwei Songru Team
This site is maintained and managed by the following individuals.
Honest Boundary Declaration
1 · Limitations of Source Material
The content of this site primarily derives from the biographical manuscript “Songfeng Ruren” (used with the author’s permission), not from Chen Songru’s own first-hand writings, diaries, or independent interview records. Much of the material is the biographer’s third-person summary — second-hand retelling. Even quoted “first-person” remarks may have been literary polished or embellished.The biography itself shows clear tendencies toward idealization.
2 · Absence of Negative Assessment / Controversy Records
A thorough reading of all source materials found no third-party negative assessment of Chen Songru or any documented controversy. This is more likely due to his identity as a “technocrat-style” chef — he spent his entire career within the state banquet system of the establishment, and was rarely subject to public criticism. The “zero negatives” may simply reflect “zero attention” rather than “zero flaws.” The human complexity presented on this site comes primarily from reverse inference on a few details (his impatience about medical checkups, the lack of psychological struggle in his retirement decision, the glossed-over family costs), not from any direct negative record in the source materials.
3 · Inability to Reconstruct Real Responses to Modern Scenarios
Chen Songru lived from 1921 to 1993 — an era without social media marketing, influencer dining, chain-brand standardization, pre-prepared meal supply chains, or livestream commerce. Some of the inferences on the “Wisdom” page are reasonable extrapolations based on his known mental models, not empirically grounded historical facts.
4 · Specific Historical Discrepancies (Not Forced into Consistency)
His birth date had long been debated between 1920 (lunar calendar) and 1921 (Gregorian conversion). A third version, “1927,” emerged from an official 1987 Beijing Sichuan Restaurant document obtained in July 2026. In July 2026, the official biography/eulogy written by his workplace in the month of his death (January 1993) was also obtained, clearly recording “born December 7, 1921.” This was confirmed by the family as the correct date, and this site now uses it.1 The trial dinner date for the Sichuan Restaurant in 1959 has two versions: August 4 vs. August 28. The specific date of Deng Xiaoping’s 1982 banquet for Sihanouk has been confirmed by Chen Songru’s handwritten menu draft and the restaurant’s order slip (both dated November 5, 1982 — “Sihanouk’s 60th birthday” refers to this event). The Great Hall of the People New Year gathering date has been confirmed by a physical order slip as January 1, 1984. The “first to receive World Famous Chef title” should read “the only one in China that year” (consistent between independent sources and direct disciples). The claim that “Shi Zhengliang was Chen Songru’s disciple” has been disproven by family oral testimony and should not be cited as reliable.2 The number of improved dishes across his career varies across sources: 3000/1000/600/200 — reflecting different counting levels rather than factual conflict. Other discrepancies: the number of chefs for the second Beijing deployment in 1972-73 (“12” in his autobiography, “30+” in another account, Chen Tinglong’s 1988 article says “60+ in two waves”); the host of the 1965 Li Zongren homecoming banquet (Zhou Enlai vs. He Long & Luo Ruiqing); the number of apprenticeship masters (autobiography says “Zhou Guangting + Chen Changming” — two masters, while two older family documents mention only “Chen Changming”); internal contradictions in foreign guest lists (1987 official document lists “US Secretary of State Cyrus Vance,” but a family article a year later changes it to “George H.W. Bush” — contradictory within the same source system; “Bush” should still not be treated as verified fact); the background of North Korea’s “Chollima Medal” has two timelines 24 years apart — “1962” (after tasting his home-style minced pork with sea cucumber) and “1986” (third visit) — both from the fourth-round additions in July 2026, an unresolved discrepancy. A possible explanation, added August 2026: “A Sichuan Wind at the State Banquet” (2017) states that it was Chen Tinglong who “received the foreign heads of state Bush, Whitlam and others.” If so, the “George Bush” entry may be father and son conflated in retelling. A lead only, not a conclusion. The 1987 Singapore presentation also goes under two names: Chen Tinglong’s material calls it an “exhibition of choice state-banquet Sichuan dishes,” whereas the banner on site and the Singapore newspaper advertisements of the time read “Flavours of Sichuan · Selected State-Banquet Sichuan Cuisine.” This site follows the physical evidence.
5 · Internal Contradictions Within the Manuscript Itself
The book title evolved: physical verification confirms the first edition (December 1991, first printing) shows “Authentic Sichuan Cuisine: 160 Examples” (正宗川菜160例) on both cover and CIP data page. The electronic manuscript version used on this site has the title “Authentic Sichuan Cuisine: 160 Varieties” (正宗川菜160种), presumably a later reprint title change during its 17 consecutive reprints — which specific printing remains unverified. This site uniformly uses “160 Varieties” (consistent with the electronic version), noting the evolution; this does not deny the authenticity of the earlier “160 Examples” physical copy. Disciples’ names vary: “Xiao Jianming / Xiao Jianming” and “Luo Yuanyi / Luo Yuanyi” appear with different characters. Some event timelines show jumps. These are not errors introduced during compilation but limitations of the source material itself — honestly preserved without subjective harmonization.
6 · Positioning of the “Wisdom” Page
The mental models and decision heuristics on that page are analytical frameworks distilled from biographical materials by researchers, using criteria of “cross-context reproducibility, generative power, and exclusivity.” They are intended to help readers understand Chen Songru’s possible ways of thinking, not a verbatim compilation of his own words, and should certainly not be treated as tools representing his “actual positions.”
7 · On the Nature of Titles Such as “Master” or “Renowned Chef”
Terms such as “master” or “renowned chef” that appear in this site’s text and cited materials are historical, narrative honorifics drawn from biographical texts, media reports, or oral accounts, reflecting the social esteem and context of their time. They do not indicate that this site or any living person currently holds a formally issued, currently valid commendation certificate from any social organization. Under the “Measures for the Administration of Commendation Activities by Social Organizations” jointly issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Central Social Work Department (Min Fa [2026] No. 31, issued July 9, 2026, effective August 1, 2026, which supersedes the prior “Measures for the Administration of Commendation and Standard-Meeting Activities by Social Organizations”), social organizations must henceforth follow list-based management and strict approval procedures when conducting commendation activities. This site continues to monitor this area; where any statement touches on a currently valid qualification, readers should consult the issuing organization’s latest announcement rather than treat this site’s narrative text as a basis for certification.
Evidence Strength Rating Methodology
This site uses a unified evidence-strength labeling system on pages such as the timeline and lineage, helping readers assess the credibility of each piece of content:
Directly from Chen Songru’s autobiography or first-person eyewitness accounts (eldest son Chen Tinglong, direct disciple Liu Zihua, etc.).
Cross-verified against third-party media, industry association materials, or publication platforms unrelated to the Chen Songru family/disciple network.
Only found in the biographical manuscript itself, not yet corroborated by independent sources or first-hand materials — treat with caution.
Multiple accounts disagree, single source pending verification, or claims explicitly disproven by family oral testimony.
Primary Source Materials
Primary Sources
Chen Songru’s first-person autobiography; quoted biographical remarks from his teachings to disciples and conversations with leaders; “A Brief History of Beijing Sichuan Restaurant” (Beijing Sichuan Restaurant Xiaozhuan), handwritten by Chen Songru in December 1988 (originally published in Sichuan Cooking magazine issue #9, republished after editor “Erya” interviewed Tang Wen’an and contacted Chen Tinglong to obtain a manuscript copy); eldest son Chen Tinglong’s “A Brief Discussion of State Banquet Sichuan Cuisine”; direct disciple Liu Zihua’s “The Conferment of the ‘World Famous Chef’ Title,” “Sichuan Restaurant: Opened October 1, 1959 — A Gathering of Masters,” “Is Kung Pao Chicken Sichuan or Shandong Cuisine? Many Get It Wrong,” “Sichuan Cuisine Enters Beijing” series; physical scans of Sichuan Restaurant banquet order slip stubs. Newly obtained in July 2026: “The True Art of Chinese Sichuan Cuisine Masters: Chen Songru” Volume 1 (Sichuan Literature & Art Press, official publication; Chen Songru’s posthumous manuscripts / edited by Li Zuomin, compiled from 7 CVs in his manuscripts and his handwritten article “History of Sichuan Restaurant”) — currently the single highest-evidence-level source, containing his complete autobiography and a large number of original historical menu scans. Fourth round, July 2026, newly obtained: Chen Tinglong’s “My Father Chen Songru” (written circa 1988, confirmed published in the culinary magazine C·cuisine “Culture & Culinary Elite” column, p. 82) and the Beijing Sichuan Restaurant’s official June 1987 contribution “Sichuan Cuisine Master — Chen Songru” (the earliest known formal written biographical material, predating Chen Songru’s death by 6 years), which adds a wealth of previously unrecorded historical details about his early Chengdu network and the founding of Sichuan Restaurant, while also introducing several new points of divergence (see Honest Boundary point 4).
Secondary Sources
Full text of the biographical manuscript “Songfeng Ruren” (used with author’s permission); preface and table of contents of “Collected Posthumous Manuscripts of Chinese Sichuan Cuisine Masters: Chen Songru Volume”; second-hand accounts of evaluations of his skills by masters, peers, leaders, and foreign dignitaries; commemorative documentary subtitle text.
Tertiary Sources (Independent Sources)
Approximately 20+ independent reports from the China Cuisine Association’s “Master Memorial Hall,” the Sichuan Economic and Cultural Association’s “Sichuan Cuisine Brand Network,” Beijing Daily / Beijing Evening News system (jdnews.com), China Daily Sichuan, Sichuan Online, The Paper, Jiemian News, China News Service, Cankao Xiaoxi, Cover News, Cultural Tourism China, Mingrenwang, Baidu Baike’s Chen Songru entry, Sichuan Food Culture Network (scswhw.com), Sichuan Cooking magazine (scprok.com), People’s Daily “Renminhao,” Sohu’s “Recalling the Past: A Brief History of Beijing Sichuan Restaurant” (now confirmed as Chen Songru’s 1987 hand-written manuscript), as well as oral accounts from three independent third-party witnesses (Yang Xiaocheng, Wang Kaifa, Wang Gang) in the “Reading Sichuan Cuisine · Tasting Intangible Heritage” event series, and public information from the Ziyang Yanjiang District Government website regarding the municipal-level intangible cultural heritage recognition of Chen Songru’s culinary skills.
Physical Evidence
Physical photographs of the copyright pages (CIP data) of “Beijing Sichuan Restaurant Menu” and “Authentic Sichuan Cuisine: 160 Varieties,” directly verifying specific print runs (1—9,600 copies for the former, approximately 931,000 copies for the latter through the 16th printing in 2001), so the verified print runs do not support the widely circulated claim of “combined sales of nearly 5 million copies” (printings after 2001 have not yet been checked and remain to be established). Also: a physical photograph of the 1992 World Famous Chef Association award ceremony (his attire and group photo). Added in July 2026: Three physical documents — Chen Songru’s handwritten draft menu for “Sihanouk’s 60th Birthday Banquet,” the actual Sichuan Restaurant order slip, and an order slip stub (all dated November 5, 1982), as well as a physical order slip clearly dated “January 1, 1984” — confirming two previously long-disputed dates for historical events.
Research Methodology
Initial research was based on a single biographical manuscript of seven chapters, subsequently cross-verified with approximately 20 independent reports, physical evidence, and newly obtained primary materials. Core facts (the Beijing move and restaurant founding, first head chef, three visits to Zhongnanhai, the 1987 Singapore performance, publication information, etc.) have been confirmed by multiple independent sources. Remaining specific discrepancies are honestly listed above, without deletion or embellishment. “Recently compiled” does not mean “verified.” We have found that some recently compiled online documents simply reproduce numbers that do not match the physical evidence — a reminder that any new material must be checked item by item, not accepted as credible simply because it is new or lengthy. “Family materials” also require item-by-item verification. During the fourth round of research in July 2026, we discovered that the claim of “millions of copies sold” — which does not match the print runs verified on the copyright pages (printings after 2001 remain to be checked) — in fact appeared as early as Chen Tinglong’s own 1988 family memoir article. This shows that such errors sometimes originate closer to and earlier within the family narrative itself, and first-hand/near-first-hand status does not exempt materials from scrutiny.3
Glossary & Terminology
This site is originally written in Simplified Chinese. The other seven language editions are produced through AI-assisted, sentence-level translation guided by the terminology below and checked with an automated consistency tool (tools/check_terms.py) — stated plainly, an independent native-speaker review step has not yet been introduced. The table below lists the standardized renderings, across all eight editions, of the key people, organizations, publications, periodicals, dishes, and fixed phrasings used site-wide, for researchers to cite and check.
| 简体中文 | Rendering | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 百味松如 | Baiwei Songru | Site name |
| 陈松如 | Chen Songru | Person |
| 陈廷龙 | Chen Tinglong | Person |
| 崔庸健 | Choe Yong-gon | Person |
| 周玉琴 | Zhou Yuqin | Person |
| 北京四川饭店 | Beijing Sichuan Restaurant | Organization |
| 松风如饪 | Songfeng Ruren | Publication |
| 中国川菜大师技艺诠真 | Authentic Exposition of the Craft of a Chinese Sichuan Master | Publication |
| 南洋·星洲联合晚报 | Lianhe Wanbao | Periodical |
| 新明日报 | Shin Min Daily News | Periodical |
| 开水白菜 | Kaishui Baicai (cabbage in a clarified superior broth) | Dish |
| 家常绍子海参 | Home-Style Minced Pork Sea Cucumber | Dish |
| 网油灯笼鸡 | Oil-Net Lantern Chicken | Dish |
| 网油 | caul fat | Term |
| 国宴川菜奠基人之一 | one of the founders of state-banquet Sichuan cuisine | Phrasing |
| 以姓氏笔画为序 | ordered by the stroke count of the surname | Term |
Privacy & Data Policy
What information do we collect about you?
None. This is a fully static website with no backend server, no database, and no account system. The guestbook on the Community → page relies entirely on browser local storage (localStorage) — every message you write is saved only on your own device in your own browser, never sent to any server, and not even visible to the site operators.
Cookies & Visitor Analytics
This site does not use any third-party analytics code (such as Baidu Analytics or Google Analytics), does not use tracking cookies, does not collect device fingerprints, and does not carry out cross-site tracking or user profiling. One thing should be stated plainly: the site is hosted on Tencent Cloud object storage and CDN, and the host keeps standard access logs, as every website does. Those logs contain visitors’ IP addresses, the time of the request and the address requested. They are retained by the provider under its own policy; we use them only to see overall traffic, to learn which pages are read most, and to diagnose faults. They are not linked to any identity and are not passed to anyone else.
Sensitive Information
This site has no forms or features that request phone numbers, ID numbers, addresses, payment information, or other sensitive personal data. There is no mechanism for such information to be collected.
If You Switch Devices or Clear Browser Data
Guestbook content is stored in your browser’s local storage. If you switch devices, change browsers, or clear your browser data, your previously written messages will be lost and cannot be recovered — because those messages never left your device, and we have no backup to restore.
How to Cite This Site
If citing content from this site in academic writing, reporting, or research, one of the following formats is recommended.
GB/T 7714 (Chinese National Standard)
Chen, X. Baiwei Songru: A Digital Archive of Chen Songru [EB/OL]. (2026)[Cited date]. https://chensongru.com/.
APA (7th Edition)
Chen, X. (2026). Baiwei Songru: A digital archive of Chen Songru [Website]. Retrieved [access date], from https://chensongru.com/
MLA (9th Edition)
Chen, Xu. “Baiwei Songru: A Digital Archive of Chen Songru.” 2026, chensongru.com.
Citing a Single Item
Every item in the digital archive has its own catalog number and permanent link. For example, manuscript MS-001 can be cited as:
https://chensongru.com/archive-en.html#MS-001
Copyright & Usage Authorization
This site’s content falls into two categories with different rights statuses; we do not issue a blanket “open license” statement. The site’s original curatorial text, guided tours, and educational materials (including all content on the Educational Resources page) and the website code are licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike), and you are welcome to reprint, use for teaching, or create derivative works under its terms. However, original scans, photographs, and audiovisual materials of collection items are not covered by this license — most were provided by family members or are media-copyrighted works; please consult the “Usage Rights Note” near the top of the Digital Archive → page and each item’s own rights annotation. Do not assume open-license authorization by default.
Citing a specific version
This site uses semantic versioning; the current release is v1.5.0 (see the VERSION file in the repository). Each significant update is tagged and produces two snapshots: a .warc file (preserves HTTP headers, replayable in Wayback-style tools) and a .zip (unpack it and the complete site is there — open index.html in any browser, no player required).
Suggested academic citation:
Chen, X. (2026). Baiwei Songru: A digital archive of Chen Songru (v1.5.0) [Website]. Retrieved [date], from https://chensongru.com/
Persistent identifier (DOI): a core-content snapshot of the site has been deposited in the academic repository Zenodo, giving it a persistent identifier independent of this domain
This deposit contains only the site's code (HTML/CSS/JS/fonts, etc.), not manuscript scans, certificates, clippings, or video, which remain large media files viewable on this site and in the full archive.org deposit above; the file itself is not open for download — it exists to provide a citable, persistent identifier and metadata.
Stated plainly: for v1.5.0, the archive.org full-site deposit and the Zenodo core snapshot were built from the same code commit (e8907304), but their scope differs — archive.org holds all resources including manuscripts, certificates and video, while Zenodo holds the website code only. Zenodo also keeps a separate, earlier record for v1.1.1 
; it remains citable but is not this version. When precise traceability matters, please cite the specific source used (archive.org or Zenodo) rather than the version number alone.
Also, the .warc is synthesised from static source files and has not been validated by an independent WARC tool — for strict replay, rely on the .zip or on the Wayback deposit.
Metadata standards
This site does not invent its own scheme. Item records follow the field semantics of the public standards below, so that both researchers and machines can read them correctly:
· Dublin Core (DCMI Metadata Terms) — an item's name, date, medium, source and rights map to dc:title / dc:date / dc:format / dc:source / dc:rights.
· ISAD(G) (General International Standard Archival Description) — the classification carried by the number prefixes (MS manuscripts / PH photographs / CE certificates / NC clippings / BK books) corresponds to its fonds-series-item hierarchy.
· PREMIS (Preservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies) — the three fields “rights + source + evidence strength” correspond to its rights and provenance; the SHA-256 manifest corresponds to its fixity requirement.
Two caveats stated honestly, rather than a claim of full compliance: the date field is currently uneven in granularity (both “1980s” and “1987.8.4” occur), and the rights field has not been reduced to a fixed vocabulary — no controlled vocabulary has been defined yet. In addition, “evidence strength” is this site's own five-level annotation (first-hand account / first-hand corroboration / independent source / biographical retelling / disputed); it belongs to none of the standards above. Definitions are on this page, under How evidence strength is annotated.
Bulk Citation / Statistical Analysis
The catalog numbers, names, dates, specifications, ownership, sources, and evidence levels of the 72 items in the digital archive have been exported as a structured list:
assets/collection-registry.csv
This list is compiled and exported from the Digital Archive → page; the page content is always the authoritative version, and the page prevails in case of any discrepancy. It is suited to researchers who need bulk cross-checking or statistical analysis.
Long-Term Preservation & Web Archiving
Internet Archive Deposit
This site has been proactively deposited with the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. The first snapshot was captured on July 31, 2026, with further snapshots submitted periodically after major content updates; a comprehensive full-site batch deposit (every page listed in sitemap.xml, submitted individually) was completed on August 28, 2026. Historical snapshots can be browsed at:
web.archive.org/web/*/chensongru.com
In addition to page-by-page snapshots, each new version release also generates a complete site archive (including video), deposited as a separate item on archive.org. Current version:
archive.org/details/chensongru-com-v1.5.0
Should this site ever become unavailable, readers can still access its content through either type of archive above. For academic citation of a fixed version, we recommend including the corresponding Wayback snapshot link or version-item link alongside the standard citation.
Honest Boundary
These deposits were initiated by the site’s operator as self-service snapshots in a public web archive — they do not constitute a formal custodial agreement with any library or archival institution. Page-by-page Wayback snapshots cover the page version at the time of capture and the resources it directly references; whether large media files such as video are fully captured depends on the crawler’s actual behavior and is not guaranteed. The version items (e.g. v1.1.1), by contrast, are packaged and uploaded by the site itself and explicitly include all video files, without depending on a third-party crawler succeeding. The site’s source files are backed up in three layers: ① the local development working copy; ② the GitHub remote code repository, which retains the complete commit-by-commit version history; ③ the Tencent Cloud COS object storage and CDN cache that serve the production site. These three layers serve as off-site backups for one another, with layers ② and ③ synced on every push. Stated plainly: a full “rebuild the entire site from backup” restore drill has not yet been performed, and the long-term sustainability risk inherent to a personal project remains.
File Integrity Verification (Fixity)
A SHA-256 checksum manifest has been generated for all 251 files in the digital archive (125 original images and video posters, 117 thumbnails, 7 videos, 1 subtitle track and 1 IIIF manifest JSON — roughly 437 MiB total):
assets/fixity-manifest.csv
After downloading an original image or video from the collection, researchers can compute its SHA-256 hash themselves (Windows: certutil -hashfile filename SHA256; macOS/Linux: shasum -a 256 filename) and compare it against the manifest to confirm the downloaded file has not been tampered with or corrupted by storage-medium degradation (“bit rot”). This manifest is a static snapshot, regenerated after major content updates — it is not continuously and automatically monitored, which is beyond what a personal project can commit to.
Format Selection & Migration Principles
Image items are uniformly stored as JPEG, and video as MP4 (H.264) — both are widely recognized general-purpose formats with relatively low long-term readability risk, though not the lossless/archival formats (such as TIFF or FFV1) typically used by institutional-grade digital preservation standards. This is a deliberate trade-off between “fully following archival specifications” and “the storage cost a personal project can realistically bear,” stated plainly rather than glossed over. Should any format show clear signs of readability decline in the future (e.g., mainstream software dropping support), this site will in principle migrate the original scans to the then-current mainstream sustainable format, recording the migration date and process in the Changelog. After migration, the old checksum manifest will be retained alongside the new one rather than overwritten, preserving traceability.
BagIt Preservation Package
In addition to .warc/.zip, each version release is also packaged as a BagIt (RFC 8493) archival package — a digital preservation packaging standard widely used by libraries and archival institutions, and the same format underlying Zenodo and Internet Archive. The package contains all original files (data/ directory), a file-by-file SHA-256 checksum manifest (manifest-sha256.txt), and metadata (bag-info.txt). This package is not offered for public download on the site; its purpose is to be reused as-is when submitting to future academic repositories (such as China's ScienceDB), without repackaging separately for each one. Stated plainly: after generation it undergoes an internal consistency self-check (whether the hashes recorded in the manifest match the actual contents, and whether the files under data/ correspond one-to-one with what the manifest lists), On 11 September 2026, the v1.1.1 preservation package was independently validated using bagit-python (v1.9.0), the open-source tool maintained by the U.S. Library of Congress — recomputing the SHA-256 of every file against the manifest and checking the bag structure against RFC 8493 — and it passed. Each future version will still need its own validation run; passing once does not cover later versions.
Perma.cc Permanent Snapshots
Perma.cc is a permanent web-snapshot service created by Harvard Law School Library and widely adopted by university law libraries and courts. It serves as a second backup alongside the Wayback Machine, guarding against a single archival service failing or being blocked. The free tier is limited (10 links for life); all ten were used on 4 September 2026, covering the ten pages in the Simplified Chinese master edition with the highest concentration of citable evidence:
- About This Site — perma.cc/RAS3-NVSP
- Digital Archive — perma.cc/8XUW-HLFE
- Life Journey — perma.cc/768D-YGCN
- Master-Apprentice Lineage — perma.cc/A5YW-MAGR
- Thought & Wisdom — perma.cc/HC64-TWFL
- Craft & Legacy — perma.cc/85Z9-MDWW
- 1959: Sichuan Cuisine Comes to Beijing — perma.cc/GM9Y-YH9R
- 37 Pages: The Sichuan Cuisine He Wrote by Hand — perma.cc/YRG8-GKND
- 1991: What Was on His Mind — perma.cc/WDE2-QST7
- News Reports & Source Links — perma.cc/SN2S-AJJW
Stated plainly: coverage is currently limited to the Simplified Chinese master edition; the other seven language editions and the rest of the site are not covered. Each Perma snapshot captures the page as it stood at the moment of creation (4 September 2026) — later content updates are not reflected in it. For current content, refer to the live version of the site.
Sources
- Independent sourceThe Life of Comrade Chen Songru (the official biographical notice / eulogy written by his work unit in January 1993; scan provided by the family) states plainly that “Comrade Chen Songru was born on 7 December 1921 into a poor peasant family in Ziyang County, Sichuan Province.” The family confirms this as the correct date.↩
- Doubtful / disprovedSeveral published reports agree that Shi Zhengliang’s line of training runs through Wei Xingguo, Liu Yongjian (1961), Jiang Bochun (1964) and Tang Keming (1981–1985); none mentions Chen Songru or the Beijing Sichuan Restaurant, and his career record shows no employment or training there. This contradicts the account of discipleship given in the biography.↩
- Primary objectPhotograph of the copyright page of The Beijing Sichuan Restaurant Cookbook: first edition, first printing, January 1989, print run 1–9,600. Photograph of the copyright page of 160 Authentic Sichuan Dishes: first edition, sixteenth printing, June 2001, print run 900,001–931,000 (cumulative roughly 931,000). Both verified figures are an order of magnitude away from the claim circulating online that “the two books sold nearly five million copies”, so they do not support it; whether printings after 2001 raised the total further has yet to be checked.↩