Hand-pulled noodles connect cultures across continents

LANZHOU — With swift, practiced hands, 42-year-old Peng Jingjing twists, stretches, and folds dough into slender strands before a dozen students at the I. E. S. Hotel Escuela in Madrid, bringing the art of hand-pulled noodles to life.

An associate professor at Lanzhou Resources and Environment Voc-Tech University in Northwest China's Gansu province, Peng has been teaching the art of lamian noodle-making for nearly two years. Earlier this year, she taught in Spain for the first time.

In China, the wide variety of noodles is among the finest expressions of its culinary heritage, with traditional lamian, or hand-pulled noodles, serving as a signature specialty of Lanzhou. The growth of the lamian noodle industry has provided locals with a pathway to poverty alleviation and economic prosperity.

The lamian noodle-making technique is recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage. For many years, however, the skill was passed down mainly through traditional master-apprentice relationships, without formal professional standards.

In recent years, as Chinese culture has gained increasing global appeal, noodles have attracted a growing international following. In response, Lanzhou has strengthened support for vocational training institutions, offering structured courses that cultivate skilled lamian makers. Today, opportunities to learn the art of hand-pulled noodles in Lanzhou are becoming increasingly professional and systematic.

Since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative, more lamian makers have sought new business opportunities outside China. By 2025, the total number of lamian noodle restaurants — both domestically and abroad — reached 71,000, according to the Gansu Provincial Department of Commerce.

To better support the overseas expansion of the lamian noodle industry, the Lanzhou university established a talent training base in Barcelona last year. The university also launched an international lamian beef noodle chef training program for local vocational students, benchmarked against the standards of the UK NARIC (the National Recognition Information Center for Britain).

As the university's first instructor dispatched to Spain, Peng began coordinating with the I. E. S. Hotel Escuela faculty months in advance. She also prepared Spanish-language teaching materials to ensure local students could fully engage with the program.

The three-day course in January combined both theoretical lessons and hands-on practice. At the end of the program, every student took a qualification test, with successful participants earning credit points officially recognized by their institution.

During the course, students were amazed by the transformation of dough into hair-thin noodles and intrigued by the use of traditional Chinese medicinal ingredients in the broth.

"Although we cannot speak each other's language, we communicated smoothly using translation tools,"Peng says, adding that the students told her how much they enjoyed the course and hoped she would teach them every day.

The training also attracted representatives from a local lamian noodle restaurant to engage with the program.

Months after the training, Peng continued to receive photos from her students in Spain, proudly showing the lamian noodles they made. Some even emailed her to ask how to incorporate noodle-making techniques into local Spanish dishes.

For Peng, the noodles are more than just food; they represent a gateway to Chinese culture.

"I believe that more overseas diners will fall in love with lamian and become interested in learning the skills," she says.