For many Hangzhoulocals,the Lotus Cake (in Chinese:荷花糕),a square cakethat used to be animportant supplementary food for infantsin Hangzhou, is deeply rooted intheirchildhood memories.

Inthe Changshan Old Street in Xiaoshan District, there is a store called Dingqing food factory, which specializes in Lotus cakes.Ding's Lotus Cakeis now one of theintangible cultural heritages.

Fu Liqing, the owner of the food factory, is the inheritor of Lotus Cake making.

Every morning before 7:00, she startsto wash rice, grindand sieveflour, pressmold befroe steaming and drying the cakes. In addition to the grinding machine, all other steps are done by handwith great care.

Good Lotus cakes will send out a pure glutinous rice flavor. The Lotus cakes used to be pure white, but now Fu adds various vegetables and grainsto make colorful cakes. These new types are popular among children.

Fu still keeps a century-old hand-carved wooden template, which was handed down from her father-in-law. The template is engraved with pomegranate, peach, lock and other patterns.

Fang,a citizen from Nanpian, Xiaoshan District, said she used to eat Lotus Cakes when she was a child, and now her son also eats them. “I have faith in this century-old shop, their cake is made of good materialwith masterly craft.”

In addition to making Lotus cakes suitable for children,Fu is trying to make various types of cakes suitable for the elderly.

Fu said she will continue to pass on the craft of making Lotus cakes to the next generation so that citizens may keep familiar with the taste of their hometown.