The plaque of "Quanjude" was carved on the lintel of the old wall. Despite more than a century of wind, frost, rain and snow, the three brick characters of "Quanjude" are still discernible. It is now displayed in the shop.
Yang Quanren (1822-189), whose real name is Shoushan, was the founder of Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant and was born in Yangjiazhai, Ji County, Hebei Province. When I first arrived in Beijing, I bought and sold raw chickens and ducks in Qianmen Meat Market Street. The business became more and more prosperous and I also had some savings. In 1864, there was a grocery store run by Shanxi people in the Hutong of Meat Market. After being introduced, Yang Quanren laid the foundation of the grocery store and opened a hanging stove shop himself. The shop name of this grocery store is Dejuquan, which means "gather all the goods with virtue and get money with virtue". Yang Quanren reversed the font size and changed it to Quanjude. The whole word implies his name, Jude, which means "Quanjude is rich in financial resources".
It is said that when Yang Quanren opened Quanjude, he hired a Feng Shui gentleman. Mr. Feng Shui said that the two small alleys next to the store were two sedan chair poles, and a building in the middle was equivalent to lifting a sedan chair, which was sure to succeed in his career. Legend belongs to legend, but under his painstaking efforts, Quanjude has really slowly developed from an ordinary oven shop to a veritable restaurant featuring hanging roast duck and all kinds of stir-fried dishes.