China News Service, Beihai, September 18 (Zhai Liqiang, Lin Jun) On the evening of September 17, Hepu Mooncake Town, Beihai, Guangxi, held a light-up ceremony. The park announced its official opening.
People strolling on the antique moon shadow bridge, experience the ancient traditional folk customs of lighting lotus lanterns to pray for blessings, admire the beauty of the moon shadow lake dotted by candlelight, and feel the unique charm of Hepu's thousand-year moon cake culture.
Landscape of Hepu Mooncake Town Photo by Zhai Liqiang
Hepu is the starting port of China's Han Dynasty Maritime Silk Road. Mooncake making has a long history. The great writer Su Dongpo in the Song Dynasty once wrote in Hepu, "Small cakes are like chewing the moon, and there are crisps and sweets in them." The birthplace of "small cakes" in the poem. , In Hepu, Guangxi.
After thousands of years, the craftsmanship of Hepu moon cakes has been improved day by day, and the products have a wide range of styles.
In particular, the Hepu Mooncake is unique in Guangdong and Guangxi, and its reputation spreads to Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries.
As a local specialty, "Hepu Mooncake" has been included in China's National Geographical Indication Product List.
Landscape of Hepu Mooncake Town Photo by Zhai Liqiang
In order to promote the agglomeration and development of local mooncake enterprises and industrial transformation and upgrading, Hepu County started the construction of a "mooncake town" in 2017, creating a characteristic industrial park with mooncake culture as the tipping point and experiential baking as the leading industry, integrating "industrial production and technology" R&D, creative design, product exhibition and sales, learning experience, culture and leisure, tourism and sightseeing" integrated industry, trade, tourism and leisure characteristic town.
The total investment of the project is 8.5 billion, and the total investment of 4.5 billion has been completed.
The first-phase infrastructure projects such as the Science and Technology R&D Building, Mooncake Cultural Exhibition Hall, Moon Shadow Lake, and Moon Rhyme Plaza have been completed.
Lighting lotus lanterns to pray for folk customs Photo by Lin Qibo
According to Wang Chuan, secretary of the Hepu County Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, after more than 4 years of intense construction, the core area of Hepu Mooncake Town has basically completed the first phase of infrastructure projects such as the science and technology research and development building, the mooncake cultural exhibition hall, the moon shadow lake, and the moon rhyme square. 26 food industry projects have been introduced, of which 23 have been under construction, 19 have been completed and put into production (8 companies have been approved), 4 are under construction, and 3 are under construction.
Mooncake tasting event Photo by Zhai Liqiang
In recent years, Hepu has promoted the construction of the mooncake town with the efforts of the whole county, and the construction has achieved fruitful results.
In 2018, the mooncake town was selected as the first batch of characteristic town cultivation list in Guangxi. In 2020, it was awarded the "Chinese Baking Town Hepu" by China National Light Industry Council and China Bakery and Sugar Products Industry Association. In 2021, it was approved as the first batch of 2021. National AAAA-level tourist attractions, autonomous region-level cultural industry demonstration parks, and are also listed as autonomous region-level primary and secondary school students' research and practice education bases.
Light the lotus lantern to pray for folk customs Photo by Zhai Liqiang
Wang Chuan said that with the official operation and innovative development of the mooncake town, it will be able to build it into a benchmark for characteristic towns in the whole region and even the whole country, and the famous brand of Hepu mooncake industry will become stronger and bigger.
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