Longkou Fensichuantong Making Craftsmanship

01 · Historical Records

In 1860 the Zhaoyuan vermicelli produced by this technique began to be shipped abroad from Longkou, and it was first called "Longkou vermicelli"; the technique was therefore later called the traditional handmade production technique of Longkou vermicelli. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the share of local farming households engaged in producing Longkou vermicelli reached 60 per cent, and exports accounted for 70 per cent of Longkou's total export value.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The traditional Longkou vermicelli making technique is a traditional handicraft created and handed down over more than 300 years by the people of Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province: using mung beans as the raw material, it makes vermicelli through a dozen or more process steps including pressing the starch, drawing the noodles and drying them in the sun. It is chiefly distributed in the towns of Jinling, Zhangxing, Xinzhuang, Canzhuang, Linglong and Daqinjia in Zhaoyuan City and in some villages around the urban area. Longkou vermicelli is fine and even in strand, smooth and transparent, and supple in texture; its production technique sets very strict requirements on raw material, water quality, climate and environment. The traditional handmade production technique of Longkou vermicelli divides into three manual operations — pressing the starch, drawing the noodles and drying them — and consists of a dozen or more process steps such as scalding the beans, grinding the slurry, filtering, taking the starch, making the paste, drawing the starch batter, drawing the noodles, sorting the noodles and sun-drying them. The traditional handmade production technique of Longkou vermicelli has distinctive features. First, the craft is exquisite: the level of skill rests entirely on the experience of the "vermicelli master" and on sensory judgements of touch, sight and smell, and is achieved by practised handwork. Second, the raw material is of the highest quality: the external conditions most closely bound up with the production technique are chiefly water quality, climate and raw material. Every process step is carried out entirely by hand, using such methods as grinding, soaking, sun exposure and drying, and is closely related to natural conditions. At the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing, the people of Zhaoyuan creatively adopted the new technique of making vermicelli from mung beans. During the Xianfeng reign, this handicraft spread throughout the whole territory of Zhaoyuan.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The handmade craft of Longkou vermicelli is distributed in a belt along the towns of Jinling, Zhangxing, Xinzhuang, Canzhuang, Linglong and Daqinjia in Zhaoyuan City and the villages around the urban area; the starch-making season differs from village to village, and the number of drying yards and drying ropes determines that year's output. Guo Lantang is the sixth-generation inheritor of the Guo lineage; he began learning the craft from his father at the age of eighteen and introduced knowledge from the field of microbiology into the vermicelli workshop. Zhaoyuan vermicelli relies on touch, sight and smell to secure its fineness, evenness and suppleness.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Today Longkou vermicelli sells well throughout China and in more than 50 countries and regions worldwide. Because the traditional technique has always been transmitted orally from master to apprentice and grasped through one's own experience and intuition, with little documentation or theoretical guidance, the transmission of this technique also faces challenges. The traditional handmade production technique of Longkou vermicelli is an important part of traditional Chinese food culture. Handed down over several hundred years, it embodies the rich history and culture of the Jiaodong region and carries folk craft wisdom and outstanding creativity, and it has considerable economic, historical and social-cultural value. Guo Lantang (recorded in the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in September 1952, a native of Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province. Representative inheritor of the traditional Longkou vermicelli making technique, a project of the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. Sixth-generation inheritor of the Guo lineage of the traditional Longkou vermicelli making technique. At the age of eighteen he began learning the vermicelli-making technique from his father. While thoroughly mastering traditional techniques such as pressing the starch and drawing the noodles, he applied knowledge from the field of microbiology to vermicelli making. In 1985 he was engaged by the China National Food Industry Association as an expert of the national review committee for starch products — vermicelli, and in many years of research and practice in vermicelli production he has trained numerous inheritors of the traditional vermicelli making technique. Over the years he has published monographs such as Vermicelli Production Technology and Production Techniques and Formulae for Longkou Vermicelli, assisted the Ministry of Agriculture in drafting the Technical Specification for the Processing of Pollution-Free Food Vermicelli, and the research projects he undertook have won awards on several occasions.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

• Guo Lantang 05-2907

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Longkou Fensichuantong Making Craftsmanship (Zhaoyuan, Shandong) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Guo Lantang · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗