Customers have been known to queue for hours to buy Wu Gencheng's scallion pancakes, reputed to be the best version of this famous local snack in Shanghai. But after 34 years manning his street snack stall, he was forced to shut up shop on Monday by officials who accused him of failing to take heed of locals' complaints over the smell and noise created by his business.
Wu, 59, can make and sell 300 pancakes at 5 yuan a pop every day from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., and each customer is limited to buying 10 of the delicacies, according to local reports on the stall's closure. Customers sometimes start lining up 2 or 3 a.m. for a taste of the pancakes, known in Mandarin as congyoubing.
Wu, who has been featured in foreign media including the BBC, Guardian and New York Times, was born with kyphosis, or abnormal convex curvature of the spine, and the condition has worsened as he has bent over to make pancakes every day since 1982.
Over the years, companies have tried to buy Wu's brand "A Da" and sell his pancakes in vacuum packs, but he has turned them all down, while looking for an apprentice to take over his business when he finally retires.
Market regulators in Huangpu district told the Shanghai Morning Post they had received complaints from local residents about the smell of Wu's cooking and the noise from his customers, and that they had asked him to introduce corrective measures on several occasions, with Wu failing to do so. As Wu qualifies for poverty alleviation schemes, the regulators said they are coordinating with local neighborhood authorities to help him apply for a business license and find a new store nearby. He was operating without a license, according to the regulators.
Hungry diners will be licking their lips in anticipation.
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