Hubei Jianli: Why does a rice producing county output 150000 pastries? Noodles | Breakfast | Daxian
At dawn, breakfast shop owner Yang Yanping began to mix noodles, prepare fillings, combine them into shape, and steam them in a pot. As the morning dew rises, customers queue up. Yang Yanping brings out Xiaolongbao, Shaomai, Mantou from the steamer... This is the busy morning scene of Yang Yanping, who has operated a breakfast shop in Chengdu for the past ten years. He, like over 100000 pastry chefs from his hometown in Hubei, relied on his diligent hands to make pastries and make a fortune.
Jianli City, Hubei Province is located in the Jianghan Plain in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. According to statistics from the Ground Pointer Association, there are currently over 150000 supervisors making pastries across the country. However, the local area is rich in rice and rarely grows wheat, and pasta is not a staple food for the masses. How could a major rice producing county produce so many high-quality rice products?
"Jianli, which is adjacent to the Yangtze River, has developed water transportation since ancient times." Ran Youwu, vice president of Jianli Market Pasteur Association, said that the workers from the wharf stopped here to have meals. In particular, Mantou, steamed stuffed buns and other pastries are easy to carry and eat for breakfast. Therefore, residents have mastered the craft of making various pastries and passed it on from generation to generation.
Jianli is adjacent to the Yangtze River and located in the Jianghan Plain.
Yang Junzheng, who is nearly 70 years old, was one of the first local pastry chefs to go out to work and has traveled to many places such as Wuhan and Hangzhou. He recalled that although Jianli had many rice fields and high yields, the per capita arable land area was small. With the idea of 'having skills is not afraid of not having enough to eat', everyone went out to explore one after another.
Being able to endure hardship and good at innovation are the common characteristics of Jianli pastry chefs. "When making noodles, you have to wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning to prepare and start making noodles. The working environment is' hot and humid ', and you won't be able to do it without hard work." Yang Junzheng said that in the early 1990s, many fellow villagers who went out to make noodles had "ten thousand yuan households". Thanks to the fusion of Hubei cuisine and taste, Jianli pastry masters are good at innovation. "For example, constantly improving the fermentation method, the noodles made have a soft outer skin, rich filling, and everyone can earn money and take root wherever they go.".
As the group of pastry chefs continues to expand, local government departments have begun to form associations to guide pastry chefs to collaborate with each other and create a labor service brand. In 2012, Duan Chao, a resident of Maoshi Town in Jianli, was recommended to work in a noodle enterprise in Guangdong after completing his studies at the Pastry Association. "Thanks to the influence and support from my hometown, I obtained the Chinese style noodle senior technician certificate, and the position was transferred from the store to the company's marketing department. My skills and income were constantly improving.".
Maoshi Town, which has the most concentrated output of pastries, has jointly organized pastry training and skill competitions with institutions such as the Fermented Noodle Branch of the China Grain and Oil Society, as well as the Maoshi Lao Noodle Food Culture Festival for many years, cultivating a number of specialty catering brands such as "Kubi", "Aishangli", and "Shide Fu". Maoshi Town has also been awarded the title of "Hometown of Chinese Pastry".
In May 2023, various types of noodles were exhibited at the Jianli Maoshilao Noodle and Food Culture Festival.
Up to now, there are more than 150000 pastry practitioners at Jianli, more than 50000 steamed bun shops and more than 20000 brand chain stores have been opened across the country, which has driven nearly 500000 people to find jobs nationwide. The annual average turnover of steamed buns, Mantou and other pastries can reach 30 billion yuan.
In recent years, the local government has encouraged talented individuals to return to their hometowns to start businesses and lead the upgrading of the noodle industry. Entering the production workshop of Jingzhou Zhushen Food Co., Ltd., a complete production process including filling, dough mixing, fermentation, steaming, quick freezing, and packaging is mainly completed by machine operation with only a small amount of manual assistance.
"After the production workshop of 5000 square meters in the first phase was put into operation in March this year, we developed Xiaolongbao, Shaomai, Mantou, pumpkin cake and other products and sold them all over the country, with sales of nearly 5 million yuan in more than three months." Yu Shuanghong, the head of Jingzhou Zhushen Food Co., Ltd., said that the intelligent pastry production model will gradually replace the traditional manual production, which will promote the pastry industry to become bigger and stronger, and provide more choices for people's tables.
In the production workshop of Jingzhou Zhushen Food Co., Ltd., staff are assisting machines in making roasted wheat. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Deng Nan
"Generation after generation of noodle makers have cultivated Jianli's' Hometown of Noodles' brand through hard work, sweat, and innovative skills." Vice Mayor of Jianli City, Liu Junjun, said that Jianli will continue to promote the construction of labor service brands, strengthen the cultivation of industrial chains, leverage the advantages of the noodle industry, lead rural revitalization, and promote regional economic development.
