1920s Brass Chinese Street Food Noodle Cart. Hexagon-shaped object used by street vendors to serve noodles, dumplings, and other savory morsels. In beautiful shape, with wood base to rest on. The cart has two main doors that open to the base where hot coals would keep the food warm. The top of the cart is open, used to hold toppings and condiments. Five sides of the cart have framed glass. There are also two containers that have brass hooks to hang from the open top of cart to hold additional condiments and toppings, and an oil lamp with wick to allow for hawking wares at all hours of the night. 

Condition: Commensurate with age. 

Size: 21 x 16 3/4 x 29 in. 

#2826 . 

According to the writings of Zhiyan (602-668 AD), a Buddhist monk who lived during the Chinese Tang Dynasty, a series of exceptionally warm summers in the 650s led to the appearance of a unique industry in Chang’an (modern day Xi’an), as xiǎofàn (translated as “peddlers” or “hawkers”) set up stalls along the streets to sell cold food to passersby. This novelty, at first confined to the capital, spread throughout China rapidly by the end of the Dynasty, and during subsequent eras similar tactics were adopted by lower class merchants and farmers close to cities in nearby countries like Korea, Siam, the Khmer Empire, and Japan. During the Qing Dynasty the street-side snack stalls gradually developed into street markets, engulfing whole neighborhoods and leading to communities that formed around them. In the late 19th Century these more stationary markets allowed for larger stoves, containers, and transportable items, leading to carts made of wood, stone, and even elaborately designed metals like bronze and brass. In the 1940s economic downturn and high unemployment rates created a massive boom of itinerant hawkers competing with each other. During the post-war period, the political stability and economic development of Hong Kong attracted immigrants from Mainland China, with an estimated 300,000 working as hawkers by 1949. Considered both “peasant food” by the imperial class and “must-see” locations for travelers, these communities continue to be an important and vibrant aspect of Asian life in every culture today, with impacts far beyond in areas rich with immigrants, like the various Chinatowns in America.

Commensurate with age.