Banquet halls to home stoves

Today, "Lao Fan Gu" extends beyond short videos. The team develops ready-to-eat products, visits university campuses, and hosts livestreams demonstrating intricate regional dishes. Their audience's questions — about nutrition, relationships, daily life — have broadened the scope of what began as a cooking channel.

In 2022, Zheng passed away, marking a profound loss. However, the project continues, joined by other veteran chefs, including 75-year-old master chef Hou Yurui, a national judge and expert in Hunan cuisine. Known for his gentle demeanor and focus on health, Hou excels at explaining the underlying logic behind cooking techniques.

Alongside these seasoned masters, younger apprentices increasingly appear on camera, continuing the intergenerational relay of culinary knowledge. Sun remains at the center, steady as ever.

From a teenage apprentice to a master of state banquets, and now a mentor to millions of home cooks, his journey reflects a quiet arc of return. The techniques may be refined, the platforms modern, but the purpose is unchanged.

"In fact, banquet menus are quite simple, with many dishes using everyday ingredients," Zheng once said. "We hope people can learn them and re-create them at family gatherings, passing them down through generations."

That vision endures. In kitchens far from Beijing's hutong, in the glow of phone screens and the rhythm of home stoves, Sun and the "Lao Fan Gu" team continue to translate the grandeur of the banquet table into something intimate, repeatable and alive — one dish, one family, one generation at a time.