(Into the Chinese countryside) Guangxi's thousand-year-old ancient town "tip of the tongue" intangible cultural heritage "beach" ASEAN market

【ASEAN Special Line】(Into the Chinese countryside) Guangxi's thousand-year-old ancient town "tip of the tongue" intangible cultural heritage "grabbing the beach" ASEAN market

China News Service Wuzhou, December 12 (Xinhua) -- Guangxi's thousand-year-old ancient town "tipping the tongue" intangible cultural heritage "rushed" to the ASEAN market

Written by Zhang Guangquan

In the early morning of winter, the ancient town of Jingnan, located in the northwest of Cangwu County, Guangxi, "woke up" in a "bowl of rice noodles". The villagers get up early, boil water, add noodles, and wake up their appetite with a bowl of authentic Jingnan rice noodles to start the day.

Jingnan Town is the hometown of Jiaozhi Taishou and Hou Shixie of the Han Dynasty. Jingnan rice noodles are a special delicacy of Jingnan Town. In 2020, the Jingnan rice noodle making technique was included in the eighth batch of representative items of intangible cultural heritage of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Luo Nian is the inheritor of this intangible cultural heritage.

On May 2021, 5, workers at Guangxi Jingnan Rice Noodles Food Technology Co., Ltd. were drying Jingnan rice noodles. Photo by Liao Wei

"The traditional handicraft Jingnan rice pink is shiny, flexible and resistant to cooking, smooth and refreshing, and has a delicious taste." According to Luo Nian, Jingnan rice noodles are handmade from the newly harvested early rice and alpine spring water in the local area every year, and need to go through more than ten processes such as grinding, steaming, and drying. Because of its unique taste, high-quality raw materials and regional characteristics, the products are widely favored by consumers in the Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao and ASEAN markets.

Affected by modernization and urbanization, young people's interest in traditional handicrafts has plummeted, and the inheritance of Jingnan rice noodle making skills has once fallen into a "dilemma". In order to solve the dilemma, the local government has promoted the rejuvenation of Jingnan rice noodle making skills by improving the intangible cultural heritage protection system, cultivating inheritors, providing financial support, and carrying out experiential activities.

In recent years, Luo Nian has been committed to the inheritance and dissemination of rice noodle making skills in Jingnan, and has gone to various towns and villages in Cangwu County many times to teach skills, and recruited apprentices to train inheritors. With his efforts, more and more new forces have been absorbed into the Jingnan rice noodle production skills inheritance team.

On May 2021, 5, workers at Guangxi Jingnan Rice Noodles Food Technology Co., Ltd. were drying Jingnan rice noodles. Photo by Liao Wei

At present, the rice noodle production industry in Jingnan has become a traditional industry with local characteristics in Jingnan Town, with an annual output value of more than 1000 million yuan. Relying on the rice noodle industry, Jingnan Town has established a base of rice and mugwort leaves, and innovatively developed products such as snail Jingnan rice noodles, Liubao tea rice noodles, and mugwort leaf rice noodles.

In the early winter, walking into the production workshop of Guangxi Jingnan Rice Noodles Food Technology Co., Ltd., the author saw that the high-speed production line was running non-stop, and the workers were busy packing and packing rice flour products.

"Through logistics, these intangible cultural heritage delicacies on the 'tip of the tongue' are sent to China's large, medium and small cities and villages for sale, and also exported to ASEAN." Luo Qingyun, general manager of Guangxi Jingnan Rice Noodles Food Technology Co., Ltd., introduced that in order to improve production capacity, starting from 2022, the company will carry out technical transformation of the original production line and introduce 3 rice flour production lines. At present, the company's annual output of Jingnan rice noodles has exceeded 1000,<> tons.

In recent years, Jingnan rice noodles have "joined hands" with economic and trade platforms such as the China-ASEAN Expo (hereinafter referred to as the ASEAN Expo) to "circle fans" in ASEAN. Luo Qingyun introduced that with the help of the platform of the Expo, the company has successfully sold Jingnan rice noodles to ASEAN markets such as Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, and Malaysia, and attracted more and more ASEAN merchants. In the future, we hope to use the platform of the Expo to establish a more stable business relationship with ASEAN partners and expand the ASEAN market in a wider scope.

At the same time, with the development of cross-border e-commerce, Jingnan rice noodles are also exported to ASEAN through various online platforms. Luo Yanjing, a Thai cultural communication expert and Guangxi anchor, actively recommended Jingnan rice noodles on cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Tiktok to promote the international promotion of good things in the Thai market. Luo Yanjing said frankly that the sales performance of Jingnan rice noodles on the cross-border e-commerce platform is "eye-catching", and many Thai consumers have left positive comments, and while gaining repeat customers, word of mouth and reputation are also increasing day by day.

"Through the marketing and promotion of cross-border e-commerce, Jingnan rice noodles have successfully expanded the ASEAN market." Chen Yinyu, Secretary of the Party Committee of Jingnan Town, said that this has enhanced ASEAN consumers' understanding of the production process and culture of Jingnan rice noodles. In the future, it will also cooperate with local e-commerce companies in ASEAN to expand sales channels and increase the popularity and sales of Jingnan rice noodles in ASEAN.

"We will also take advantage of international exhibitions, investment and trade fairs and other activity platforms to continue to expand the brand awareness and influence of Jingnan rice noodles, and promote the export of Jingnan rice noodles to ASEAN." Chen Yinyu said that in the future, according to the needs of the ASEAN market, we will develop products suitable for local tastes, and take the opportunity to cooperate with local enterprises in ASEAN to promote Jingnan rice noodles "out of the circle" ASEAN. (ENDS)