Goubuli, also sometimes transcribed as Go Believe (), is a brand of stuffed

baozi Baozi (), or simply bao, is a type of yeast-leavened filled bun in various Chinese cuisines. There are many variations in fillings (meat or vegetarian) and preparations, though the buns are most often steaming, steamed. They are a variation of ...

from

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Founded in 1858, it is one of China's longest established brands. Each Goubuli bun has eighteen wrinkles.

Etymology

There are many explanations for the name Goubuli. The oft-quoted one relates to a poor village boy nicknamed Gouzhai. At 14, he became an apprentice at a food store. Thereafter, he set up his own shop specialising in selling

steamed Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. This is often done with a food steamer, a kitchen appliance made specifically to cook food with steam, but food can also be steamed in a wok. In the American Southwest, steam pits used for cooking ha ...

, stuffed baozi. His supposedly very delicious baozi soon gained immense popularity in a short period of time. As a result, Gouzhai became too preoccupied with his business to converse with his customers; so they started to complain, "Gouzhai does not talk to people" (which loosely translates as ). In another similar story, there was a boy named Gao Guiyou who had a terrible attitude and could ignore people for days if he was angered. Thus, he was named by his mother Goubuli (his nickname "Gou" with "Buli" meaning "ignores"). At 14, Gou was sent by his father to Tianjin where he gained apprenticeship at a food shop and, after mastering his skills, set up his own shop named "Goubuli". Goubuli buns soon become popular with the Tianjin locals.

English translation

In 2008, in anticipation of the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

which were to be held in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, Goubuli decided to adopt an English name, "Go Believe", in hope of better

name recognition In politics, name recognition is the ability a voter has to identify a candidate's name due to a certain amount of previous exposure through various campaigning methods. It can be described as the awareness voters have about specific candidates r ...

by foreign guests. However, this was met with heavy criticism by Chinese netizens. , the Goubuli brand is owned by the Chinese

pharmaceutical Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...

company Tong Ren Tang.

Recognition

Goubuli buns were among the 396 food items awarded the "Famous Chinese Snack" title by the China Cuisine Association in 1997.

Gallery

File:Goubuli in Shanghai.jpg, Goubuli buns in Shanghai File:Tianjin lunch of Goubuli.jpg, A traditional Tianjin lunch of Goubuli Baozi File:Goubulibunscooking.JPG, Goubuli buns being cooked File:GoubulibunatDazhalan.JPG, Goubuli bun, ready to eat File:Goubuli in Shanghai 2.jpg, Goubuli buns

References

External links