Lanzhou, a city cradled by the Yellow River, is home to over 4 million people and more than 1,500 beef noodle restaurants. For many locals, a steaming bowl of these noodles marks the start of their day. For visitors, it is often the first flavorful encounter with the city.
Inside the Art & Lifestyle Store of the Gansu Provincial Museum, a playful green plush horse doll catches the eye. Wearing a white chef’s hat and apron, it carries a “flying swallow” on its shoulder while vigorously stretching a piece of white “hand-pulled noodles.” With a wide, cheerful grin, it looks utterly adorable. As introduced by Cui Youxin, head of the museum’s Cultural and Creative Center, this doll is the “Chef Ma” of beef noodles, inspired by the iconic “Galloping Horse Treading on a Flying Swallow.” The design vividly brings to life the dynamic process of making hand-pulled noodles. “It has been particularly popular during the Year of the Horse,” Cui added.
From the kitchen to the dining floor, and from a culinary staple to a full-fledged cultural IP, Lanzhou Beef Noodles are broadening their horizons. In Barcelona, Spain, Sun Zhengmou, an entrepreneur originally from Dandong, Liaoning Province, is making plans to open his second noodle restaurant there this May. To ensure authenticity and quality, he traveled specifically to Lanzhou to master the standardized techniques of noodle-pulling and broth-making, while also taking courses in nutritional balance and brand management.
The supply of ingredients for overseas outlets is supported by the Lanzhou Beef Noodles Industrial Park. In the production workshops of its member enterprises, semi-dried noodles, chili oil, dried radish, broth-ready beef, freeze-dried vegetables, and condensed broth move seamlessly along automated production lines.
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