Cooking up a cultural treat

With nimble fingers kneading, twisting and shaping the dough, chefs demonstrated the art with unparalleled skill, captivating the audience.

One of the highlights of the festival is the spectacle of pulling dough into 4,096 strips, called longxumian (dragon beard noodle). The technique of producing the hair-thin noodles has been included on the second list of national intangible cultural heritage in China.

Popular in the northern part of China for more than 300 years, dragon beard noodles have become a popular snack. It is said that during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), there was a royal chef who invented a very thin noodle, which pleased the emperor as it stimulated his appetite.