Daoist Chang Kong

Biodata

Background / History

Joining Clear Breeze Temple

Chang Kong had been asked to leave other Daoist temples because he could not perform the skills expected of a Daoist. His master described him as lacking spiritual aptitude and considered his strong appetite incompatible with the image of pure cultivation. These experiences left him dejected and doubtful of his own worth 2 13.

Yun Zhaozhao welcomed him as Clear Breeze Temple’s first proper Daoist and declared him its eldest senior brother. He arrived with a bamboo basket containing cookware and seasonings rather than spare clothes or bedding, then put the temple’s long-abandoned kitchen back into use 2.

Establishing the Temple’s Food Business

His cooking quickly became an attraction for paying visitors. Yun Zhaozhao arranged meals, promoted his food, and persuaded him to advertise the temple in embroidered robes in exchange for two extra servings of meat. They also began selling ginkgo cakes made with nuts gathered from the courtyard 4 5.

When sent into town to buy surveillance cameras, Chang Kong instead returned with Jingting. He reasoned that a person could protect his cured pork more effectively than a camera and had been impressed by the young Daoist’s ability to curse at people. Yun Zhaozhao allowed Jingting to stay and share his room 8.

At Clear Breeze Temple, Chang Kong began to see his cooking as a source of personal worth rather than an unsuitable pursuit for a Daoist. Alongside food preparation, he learned to make bamboo souvenirs and later crafted a wooden fish for Jingting 13 20.

Increasing Demand and Kitchen Expansion

Growing food and merchandise sales put considerable strain on Chang Kong. He initially opposed recruiting apprentices because teaching them would add to his workload before they became useful. He later accepted an arrangement with Zhang Gang: four days of help each month in exchange for instruction in one signature dish per month, for one year, without a formal apprenticeship ceremony 29 34.

Zhang Gang’s preparation work eventually made his visits feel like holidays to Chang Kong. Individual mushroom hot pots and fixed lunch hours also reduced the burden of cooking for increasing numbers of diners 45.

After the new temple complex opened, Chang Kong remained at the old dining hall and supplied two dishes daily to the new one. Reservations became necessary at the old hall. Yun Zhaozhao later considered moving him to the guesthouse to attract overnight visitors, but worried about leaving the temple cafeteria without him 102 167.

Factory Collaboration and Cooking Competition

For the temple’s collaboration with Wen Xu’s factory, Chang Kong developed several flavors of chicken feet, chicken wings, and duck necks within days. Martial Uncle Chuli served as a readily available taste tester and suggested adding hand-shredded chicken breast 119.

Chang Kong entered City A’s vegetarian cooking competition alongside Daoist Zhu. Their lifelike double-petaled lotus platter earned high marks in the opening round. They ultimately won first place with vegetarian dishes and beckoning-cat rice balls arranged into an early-summer landscape, receiving a trophy and prize money 139 140.

Furniture and Later Products

While continuing to prepare three meals a day at the old dining hall, Chang Kong made solid-wood furniture for Yun Zhaozhao and Wen Xu. With assistance from several temple residents, including two former carpenters, he completed dining tables, chairs, and a bedside cabinet in less than a month 153 155.

At Wen Xu’s housewarming meal, a drunken Chang Kong revealed that he had charged more than one hundred thousand yuan for a dining table he had made himself. Wen Xu ultimately took the revelation calmly, earning Chang Kong’s admiration for his temperament 159.

Chang Kong later worked with Yun Zhaozhao to launch Dao Enlightenment Tea and tea cakes. Growing demand led her to add two contract-processing factories 182.

Appearance

Chang Kong is fair-skinned, plump, and burly, with rounded hands and a prominent double chin. He generally wears Daoist robes 2 5 24.

• Weight: He states that he went from 65 kilograms to 100 kilograms while supposedly trying to lose weight 47.
• Robes: Yun Zhaozhao commissions a new gray set and has a set embroidered in red with the advertisement, “Come to Clear Breeze Temple. There’s delicious food!” 5.
• On-camera appearance: His build inspires the nickname “Chubby Daoist”; some viewers call him cute when his face finally appears on-screen 84.

Personality

Food is Chang Kong’s central passion, not merely his livelihood. He regards cooking as his life and believes that this devotion makes him difficult to surpass. Even elaborate preparations do not trouble him when they serve the food: his cold noodles begin with a handmade ice bowl, freshly prepared noodles, and individually cooked accompaniments 34 52.

His enthusiasm does not mean he accepts unlimited work. He refuses extra dishes when his arms are sore, becomes irritable when forced to cook on an empty stomach, and generally dislikes requests for specific dishes. Even Yun Zhaozhao usually eats whatever he chooses to prepare 5 8 81.

Chang Kong is blunt and dryly humorous, but not easily rattled by insults. When Da Mei criticizes him, he continues preparing food without reacting. Once he realizes that Zhang Gang genuinely wants to learn, he regrets his earlier severity and later teaches him without holding anything back 33 34 45.

He cares little for material comforts beyond his culinary interests. Nevertheless, he is pleased by new clothes and readily persuaded by extra meat. He also experiences mild social anxiety: private interactions are manageable, but facing a livestream camera makes him stiff and inhibited 2 5 24 100.

Abilities & Skills

Cooking and Menu Development

Chang Kong has been unusually good at cooking since childhood. His techniques appear ordinary, yet even simple dishes taste exceptionally good; he cannot explain the reason himself 4.

• Prepares both meat dishes and vegetarian banquets, including meals suited to visiting Daoists’ dietary restrictions 4 71.
• Recreates two dishes tasted during the temple’s Banyan City trip; the lemon duck becomes particularly popular 81.
• Develops seasonal and commercial foods, including Peach Blossom Faces, lotus leaf tea and congee, tea eggs, tea-scented pork, and tea-pairing pastries 28 34 127.
• Researches medicinal dishes using herbs grown in the temple grounds 34.

Knife Work and Food Presentation

His fine control supports both demanding knife techniques and elaborate edible decorations 11 25.

• Slices fish as thin as cicada wings and cuts tofu into fine, uniform threads 11 13.
• Makes chrysanthemum tofu by cutting soft tofu into fine strips without severing its base; he practices extensively before demonstrating it on livestream 25.
• Creates convincing cucumber “bamboo,” hollowed and filled with oil-braised shredded bamboo shoots, as well as chocolate flowerpots 11.
• Builds decorative landscapes from vegetables and rice balls, contributing to his competition victory with Daoist Zhu 140.

Pastry and Cake Making

Chang Kong applies meticulous decorative work to sweets, shaping early ginkgo cakes into hearts and carving peach-blossom petals into them 5.

• Makes sunflower seed crisps, plum blossom cakes, candied fruit, and seasonal pastries 16 20 56.
• Learns cake making from online tutorials and produces a castle-shaped anniversary cake from two cake layers and ordinary cream 56.
• Creates Peach Blossom Faces from peach-blossom petals, milk, and lotus-root starch, setting them in flower-shaped molds 28.

Seasonal Foraging and Preservation

He usually cooks and brews with ingredients that are in season, treating this as respect for nature and the Heavenly Dao 12.

• Gathers wild hawthorn and mushrooms from Clear Breeze Mountain 12 45.
• Plans around winter and spring bamboo shoots, preserving dried shoots for other seasons 6 37.
• Cures pork for smoking when the temple has no refrigerator and also prepares salted fish and dried mushrooms 6 31 45.
• Brews hawthorn wine with rock sugar and fermentation starter 12.

Carving, Carpentry, and Assembly

His culinary carving skills transfer readily to bamboo and wood. He learns new craft techniques through videos and practical experimentation 13 20.

• Carves temple scenery into bamboo-leaf bookmarks and inscriptions into bamboo brush holders 13.
• Makes Jingting’s wooden fish after watching instructional videos 20.
• Produces solid-wood tables, chairs, and a bedside cabinet with assistance from experienced carpenters 153 155.
• Assembles furniture that Wen Xu struggled with in less than ten minutes 156.

Calligraphy and Graphic Design

Chang Kong is regarded as Clear Breeze Temple’s strongest artist. His calligraphy decorates both merchandise and the temple itself 28 97 130.

• Writes the poetic inscription used on Peach Blossom Faces packaging 28 29.
• Provides the calligraphy above the new temple complex’s main gate 97.
• Designs a tea-picking girl from the three Chinese characters for “Clear Breeze Tea,” combining readable lettering with an illustration 130.

Daoist and Martial Limitations

• Cannot draw talismans, recite incantations, tell fortunes, or catch ghosts 2.
• Describes his cultivation as too shallow to preside over rituals, offering to cook a banquet instead 30.
• Cannot fight and is not a viable participant in the sparring matches with the visiting Embracing Bamboo Temple Daoists 72.

Equipment / Items

• Bamboo basket — Arrives at Clear Breeze Temple carrying cookware and seasonings in it; later uses a basket while gathering mushrooms 2 45.
• Cookware and seasonings — His initial possessions include pots, bowls, ladles, oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar 2.
• Toolbox — Brings it to Wen Xu’s home to assemble furniture 156.

Relationships

• Yun Zhaozhao — Temple master and business collaborator. She gives his skills a valued place at Clear Breeze Temple and turns his cooking and crafts into major sources of income 2 5 13 119.
• Jingting — Fellow resident and initial roommate, whom Chang Kong brings back as an alternative to surveillance cameras. Jingting adjusts his livestream framing to show Chang Kong’s hands without exposing his face 8 24.
• Zhang Gang — Culinary student and kitchen assistant, though not a formally initiated apprentice. Chang Kong teaches him generously, while Zhang Gang repays that trust with diligent preparation and cleaning work 34 45.
• Lin Banxia — Collaborator on mosquito-repellent bracelets, herbal sachets, and foot-soak packets. Chang Kong asks her to treat his sore arm, then retreats when she returns with acupuncture needles and a medical book 23 24 61.
• Wen Xu — Enthusiastic admirer of his cooking and partner in the co-branded food business. Chang Kong also makes and assembles furniture for him 109 119 153 156.
• Martial Uncle Chuli — Elder entrusted to his care. Regular good food and drink help settle Chuli into temple life; he later tastes Chang Kong’s experimental snack flavors 97 119.
• Daoist Zhu — Partner in the vegetarian cooking competition. Zhu handles the dishes’ flavors while Chang Kong contributes elaborate artistic presentation 139 140.
• Xu Fugui — Returning diner whose enthusiasm for Chang Kong’s cooking helps Yun Zhaozhao recruit retired volunteers for farm work 38 102.

Notable Quotes

“Nature is very generous. Look at all this flesh on me—it's all a gift from nature.” 6

“To him, good food is, at most, a way to make a living. To me, it's my life. How could someone so easily surpass me at something I love this much?” 34

“When I have money, I do. When I don't, I don't.”
—On whether he eats meat 4