National Banquet Sichuan Cuisine Chen Songru Technique and Culture Study Expert Committee
Founded by Chen Songru’s eldest son Chen Tinglong under the auspices of the Sichuan Food Culture Research Association, dedicated to the study, preservation, and promotion of Chen-style Sichuan cuisine techniques. This page compiles its founding background, team composition, and recent activities. Sources that have not been independently verified are noted as such.
Founding Background & Ceremony
Date & Organizing Body
April 28, 2022 — The “National Banquet Sichuan Cuisine Chen Songru Technique and Culture Study Expert Committee” under the Sichuan Food Culture Research Association was officially established in Chengdu. Association President Yin Huaguo presented the committee plaque to Chen Tinglong; Vice President and Secretary-General Liu Yapeng read the Sichuan Food Research Association (2022) No. 10 document, appointing Chen Tinglong as Vice President of the Sichuan Food Culture Research Association and inaugural Chair of the Expert Committee.
The “Five Emphases” Vision
In his inaugural address, Chen Tinglong stated: “Our Chen-style master-disciple lineage has now found an institutional home — from now on we can grow and thrive under this organization.” The committee’s guiding principles are summarized as the “Five Emphases”: Emphasis on Integrity, Emphasis on Diligence, Emphasis on Dedication, Emphasis on Unity, and Emphasis on Results. The work plan includes publishing a book within one year, organizing activity evaluations, conducting vocational skills training, and developing ingredient supply chains, among other initiatives.
Committee Roster
The roster below is compiled from online sources and has not been independently verified — consult with caution.
Major Recent Activities
2nd World Sichuan Cuisine Conference: First Donation
Chen Tinglong donated 21 items of Chen Songru’s manuscripts and personal treasured items to the Ziyang Municipal Party Committee and Government, including two published works, the original banquet menu for Deng Xiaoping’s reception of King Norodom Sihanouk, group photos with central leadership, and over one hundred pages of handwritten notes. The manuscripts document approximately 30 recipes and proprietary formulas including Snowflake Chicken. An industry figure had once offered tens of thousands of yuan to acquire them but was politely declined.
Official Establishment of the Committee
The Sichuan Food Culture Research Association formally conferred the committee status, with Chen Tinglong serving as its inaugural Chair.
Xinjin District Partnership: “National Banquet Sichuan Cuisine Heritage R&D Base”
In partnership with the Chengdu Xinjin District Catering Association, the committee awarded “National Banquet Sichuan Cuisine Technique Researcher” certificates to eight Xinjin master chefs including Qin Gang. Chen Tinglong delivered a keynote on “Sichuan Cuisine Culture and the Food Industry,” highlighting Xinjin-born culinary luminaries such as “Sichuan Cuisine King” Wang Haiquan, “National Treasure-level Sichuan Cuisine Master” Huang Ziyun, and “Sichuan Cuisine Virtuoso” Luo Guorong.
“Reading Sichuan Cuisine · Tasting Intangible Heritage” Document Donation Event
Donated Chen Songru’s work manuscripts and precious historical materials from Beijing Sichuan Restaurant to the Sichuan Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center and the Sichuan Historical Society’s Sichuan Cuisine Oral History Committee. Leaders from the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee Propaganda Department and the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism attended and issued collection certificates. The event introduced independent third-party witnesses (Yang Xiaocheng, Wang Kaifa, Wang Gang) for the first time — see the Lineage → page for details.
Chen Tinglong’s Five Apprentice-Taking Ceremonies
Yue Qiangxin (Chengxin Restaurant, three-kowtow ceremony) → Zhou Qinglong, Tang Shiyin (May 9, 2022, Xinduhui Banquet Center; Xiao Jianming and Ziyang Catering Association Executive President Qin Zhaoming in attendance; Zhou Qinglong, b. 1983, learned from village chefs in his youth before founding a catering company; Tang Shiyin worked his way up from odd jobs and cold-dish preparation in Guangdong before earning a Level 1 Cold Cuisine Chef certification) → Chen Ming, Yi Dongxiao (c. 2023–2024, Ziyang Fangyuan Hotel) → Chen Jiajun, Wu Xinman, Shu Qiao (October 18, 2025, Chengdu Sichuan Cuisine Museum, with Chen Songru’s memorial tablet present for veneration) → Dai Qianbin, Yan Yinxia, Wang Ziqiang, Zhang Weidong (May 16, 2026, Chengdu Sichuan Cuisine Museum, Kitchen God Shrine). In nearly sixty years of practice, over one hundred disciples have sought him out to pay respects as master.
Master Zhang Chuyi’s Apprentice Ceremony · Three Generations Together
Chen Tinglong attended as one of Zhang Chuyi’s honored teachers, witnessing three generations of master and disciple together under one roof.
Documentary
During the research process, an approximately 9.4-minute memorial documentary about Chen Songru was obtained (with additional segments on Chen Tinglong’s current preservation work).
Documentary key points: Chen Songru’s birthplace specified as “Miaoshan Village, Laojun Town, Yanjiang District, Ziyang”1; his 1987 Singapore performance dates precisely recorded as “August 8–August 28”2; later-life honors include “Advanced Worker” and “Six-Good Employee”3; the 1992 award “Yellow Mandarin Jacket of the Culinary World” detail4; and subsequent segments on Chen Tinglong’s later work and new disciple Liu Bo (an aquaculture entrepreneur who “independently developed unmanned aquaculture vessels”), reflecting contemporary industry integration.
Committee-related News
On July 25, 2019, Chen Tinglong donated 21 items — Chen Songru’s manuscripts and personal effects — to the Ziyang Municipal Party Committee, predating the 2024 donation event.
Report on Chen Tinglong’s first formal apprenticeship ceremony (disciple Yue Qiangxin), witnessed by over 50 culinary professionals and 20+ Chen family proteges.
The committee, together with the “Junzi Zhu” brand, visited Xibei’s R&D center for southwestern China, exchanging views on Sichuan cuisine heritage and technical innovation; a non-professional media source, for reference only.
Confirms that Chen Tinglong currently serves as Chair of the “National Banquet Sichuan Cuisine Chen Songru Technique and Culture Study Expert Committee.”
Chen Tinglong donated Chen Songru’s working manuscripts and precious historical materials from Beijing Sichuan Restaurant to the Sichuan Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center and the Sichuan History Society’s Sichuan Cuisine Oral History Committee.
Coverage of a gathering of Sichuan cuisine masters to discuss the preservation of intangible cultural heritage.
A news clip of two minutes and three seconds, filmed in the conference hall of the Sichuan Institute of Socialism in Chengdu. Visible in the footage: the unveiling of the Sichuan Cuisine Culture Institute; a keynote by Yin Huaguo, president of the Sichuan Food Culture Research Society; the award of the title “Outstanding Figure of Sichuan Food Culture” to founding president Zhu Bingxuan; and the presentation of “Expert Adviser” certificates. Relevance: the Sichuan Food Culture Research Society is the parent body of the Chen Songru State-Banquet Sichuan Culture and Technique Committee. The date is fixed by the film’s own subtitles, which read “the Sichuan Cuisine Culture Institute, on the afternoon of 29 April 2024”; Youku itself gives no publication date. That is six days after Chen Tinglong’s donation of the manuscripts in Chengdu on 23 April 2024. Neither Chen Songru nor Chen Tinglong appears in the footage; the item is kept only as background on the body to which the committee belongs.
Chen Tinglong led the committee’s expert team to attend a special event on the integrated development of Xinjin District’s food industry, awarding a plaque to the Xinjin District Catering Association and honorary certificates to 8 outstanding Sichuan cuisine chefs; a non-professional media source, for reference only.
On 3 August 2024 the committee presented a “vice-chair member” plaque to Chengdu Jincheng Jiangxin Catering in Jintang; Chen Tinglong (written “Chen Yanlong” in the article) presented it as committee chair, with deputy secretary-general Feng Ji handing over the certificate. The piece also lists committee posts, recording Feng Ji and Zhou Qinglong as “third-generation inheritors”. Non-professional media source; for reference only.
Chen Tinglong took part in the honoring inspection in his capacity as vice-chairman of the Sichuan Provincial Food Culture Research Society. The article mentions Shi Yanping (the restaurant’s executive chef) and Jiang Lizhong (the restaurant’s director) as recipients, corroborating records on this site’s Lineage page — though the business name “Wang Popo Laoma Tihua” does not fully match the names seen in other sources; presented as-is, see the Lineage page for details.
Another body easily confused with these: the Sichuan Cuisine Oral History Committee of the Sichuan Historical Society, established in Chengdu on 17 November 2022. Its chairman is Chen Tingxiang, a professor at Sichuan University; its vice-chairman and secretary-general is Li Zuomin — the same man who edited the first volume of The True Art of a Chinese Sichuan Master: Chen Songru. Its oral-history project, “Travels in Search of Sichuan Cuisine,” began in March 2022 and runs to five strands, among them “Sichuan cuisine goes abroad” and “famous houses that have vanished”; more than a hundred interview transcripts, over half a million characters in all, are reported complete. The two recorded accounts by Zhou Shengping held on this site were published by this committee. It is not the same body as the Chen Songru Expert Committee described on this page, nor as the Chen Songru State-Banquet Sichuan Culture and Technique Committee.
For a full list of independent sources, see the News → page.
Sources
- Biographical accountCommemorative documentary on Chen Songru acquired in 2026 (approx. 9 min 24 s; burnt-in subtitles): “Master Chen Songru, from Miaoshan Village, Laojun Town, Yanjiang District, Ziyang City, Sichuan Province” — more precise than the “Laojun Town / Laojun Market” given previously, down to village level. No other source has yet been found to corroborate it.↩
- Biographical accountSubtitles of the same documentary: “From 8 to 28 August 1987, Chen Songru led eight disciples as a delegation of master chefs of state-banquet Sichuan cuisine”; “the demonstration ran twenty days and caused a stir in the Lion City.” The head count broadly matches the “eight” of Chen Songru’s autobiography (six from the Sichuan Restaurant plus two from the Xiangshan). See the exhibition 21 Days in Singapore.↩
- Biographical accountSubtitles of the same documentary: “repeatedly named an outstanding Party member, advanced worker and ‘six-good employee’.” These specific honours are not recorded elsewhere in our material, and no other source has yet been found to corroborate them.↩
- Biographical accountSubtitles of the same documentary: “In 1992 the World Master Chefs Association conferred on him the honorary title ‘World Master Chef’ for the cuisines of the East”; “they came to the Sichuan Restaurant to dress Chen Songru in the ‘yellow riding jacket of the cooking world’ — the robes of a World Master Chef.” This agrees with the account in Liu Zihua’s articles.↩