In early 2005 the newly established China Quanjude (Group) Co., Ltd. began a fresh round of overseas expansion. It is now a transnational catering group, with franchised restaurants in Germany, Myanmar, Oman, Japan and Hong Kong SAR.
It all started in 1864. A shop dealing in dried and fresh fruits called Dejuquan on Qianmen's Roushi Street went bankrupt. Yang Quanren, who made a living selling poultry, bought and renamed it Quanjude. He asked his calligraphically skilled friend to write these three characters on a shop sign, and employed a retired imperial chef at a handsome salary Over the 140 years or so since it opened, countless Chinese and foreign customers have dined at Quanjude, as testified by the numerous photos they have left as mementos of their visits. In 1933, German photographer Helen Morrison so enjoyed her Peking duck that she asked to see and photograph the roasting process, whereby ducks hung from hooks in the oven ceiling roast over burning wood. Since the founding of new China in 1949, the Quanjude Restaurant has been a main diplomatic venue. The late premier Zhou Enlai held Banquets for foreign guests at the Quanjude on 27 occasions, and closely followed its development.
During one feast for foreign friends hosted by Premier Zhou, a guest asked, "What does Quanjude mean?" Premier Zhou answered with a smile, "Quan means flawless perfection, ju means gathering without departing, and de means supreme virtue." The name Quanjude therefore conveys perfection, union, benevolence and virtue.
Chefs at Quanjude use every part of the ducks to create an "All Duck Banquet" in which wings, webs, hearts, livers and gizzards are served as hot and cold side dishes. On one of the occasions that Wang Guangying, vice-chair-man of the Standing Committee of the
National People's Congress, dined at the restaurant he joked that one item一duck eggs一were missing from the "All Duck Banquet”Quanjude chefs accordingly created a duck egg dish一Crystal Duck Treasure.
