Product Name: Chinese Softshell Turtle (Nanxi Giant Softshell) Place of Origin: Wenzhou Product Features: Fierce temperament, sharp teeth Product Description: This rare animal, once on the verge of extinction, can still be spotted in the Oujiang and Nanxi River areas. In the picturesque Nanxi River lives an ancient and rare reptile...
Product Name: Nanxi Vermicelli Noodles Place of Origin: Wenzhou Product Features: Translucent, smooth, and excellent in texture Product Introduction: Though Nanxi vermicelli noodles may look no different from ordinary noodles when cooked, their production process is anything but ordinary. After being made, the noodles must be sun-dried for several days. During this time, the white…
Product Name: Nanxi Bayberries Product Origin: Wenzhou Product Characteristics: Sweet and tart in perfect balance, with a distinctive flavor Product Introduction: In the “kingdom of fruits,” bayberries may not hold a prominent position, but they captivate the public with their unique charm. An ancient poem goes: “In May, bayberries fill the grove; at first glance, each seems worth a thousand coins. Their taste rivals the heavy grapes of the north, their color deeper than lychees from south of the river.” This shows how highly bayberries were valued in ancient times. Bayberries are sweet and tart in perfect balance, with a distinctive flavor. They are not only rich in nutrients but also have high medicinal value. According to modern medical analysis, bayberries contain abundant sugars, fruit acids, vitamin C, and many other components. They aid digestion, enhance nutrition, treat neuritis, and help prevent scurvy. Besides being eaten fresh, bayberries can also be processed into sugar-dried bayberries, canned bayberries, bayberry beverages, juices, preserves, and more. They are also one of the important raw materials for the food and brewing industries. The people of Yongjia County have a long-standing habit of soaking bayberries to make bayberry wine. This wine is mellow and fragrant; drinking it can help relieve summer heat, invigorate the stomach, refresh the mind, and sharpen thinking. The wood of the bayberry tree is reddish-brown and can be used to craft fine wooden utensils. The tree bark contains tannins, which can be used as a brown dye and as an astringent in traditional Chinese medicine, effective for treating diarrhea and stopping bleeding. The tree roots form root nodules that can produce their own fertilizer, thus improving woodland soil. As a result, it is referred to as a “fertilizer tree” in forestry.
Product Name: Renxi Wood Carvings Place of Origin: Wenzhou Product Features: The products are vivid and lifelike, with creative designs, novel shapes, exquisite carving, a blend of illusion and reality, and vitality in stillness. Product Description: Local pear wood is used instead of boxwood, overcoming the previous limitation of only being able to carve small pieces due to wood constraints...
The puppet heads of Taishun are carved from camphor wood or other fine-grained miscellaneous woods. Special puppet heads are equipped with mechanisms controlled by silk threads, enabling the movement of the eyes, nose, mouth, and tongue. The neck part of the puppet head is thicker at the top and thinner at the bottom, connected to the abdominal cage by two threads. The abdominal cage is woven from bamboo strips, slightly larger at the chest and hips, and slightly narrower at the waist. In the late 1950s, most of the makeup and coloring of puppet heads transitioned to using paint materials. Paint coloring is simpler than powder coloring and also provides better stage effects. To adapt to the lighting of modern stages, after years of practice, artisans specially formulated paints, making the makeup of the puppet heads even more lifelike. However, the art of powder-colored puppet heads remains significant as a unique form of art, as these can maintain their color for centuries and hold collectible value.
Taishun Stone Carving, officially known as Taishun Stone Freehand Carving and abbreviated as "Taishun Stone Carving," is an art form guided by the theories of Chinese painting (freehand style). It draws on traditional techniques and cultural essences from various categories of arts and crafts. Developed through continuous exploration, practice, and innovation over time, it is based on traditional jade and stone carving techniques while richly embodying the artistic essence of Chinese freehand painting.
Wooden Spinning Toys — TaiShun wooden spinning toys are an extension and development of the local puppet head carving tradition. In the 1980s, puppet head carving artisans, based on the technique of wood turning, created these toys by incorporating traditional puppet painting and decorative methods. Holding a “spinning knife,” they carve rotating wood into cylinders or spheres, then paint them or assemble them into various handicrafts...
Smoked rabbit from Taishun is a specialty dish from Taishun County in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province. The smoked rabbit from Taishun is made by specially smoking meat rabbits that are raised on green feed by mountain farmers. The rabbit has a golden-brown, appealing appearance, tender meat, and a distinctive smoky flavor without any gaminess. Taishun is a national-level ecological demonstration zone in Zhejiang and is known as the hometown of covered bridges and tea...
Place the dried bamboo shoots in a pot and simmer over low heat for 6–8 minutes, or soak them in warm water, then drain and pat dry. Add sliced meat and other seasonings of your choice, and stir-fry, braise, or boil as desired. The dried bamboo shoots are fragrant and crispy, and the meat is tender and delicious. They contain various amino acids and minerals essential for the human body, and also have the benefits of stimulating appetite and fighting cancer. …
Bilian Early Fragrant Pomelo is a specialty of Bilian Town, Yongjia County, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province. Yongjia Early Fragrant Pomelo features a well-shaped fruit that resembles a gourd in appearance, with an orange-yellow hue. The flesh is crisp and tender, sweet with minimal acidity, offering high nutritional value. It has the highest vitamin C content among fruits and is hailed as a "natural canned food." Early Fragrant Pomelo is the result of years of agricultural…
Yongjia persimmons are a specialty of Yongjia County in Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province. The persimmons from Donggao in Yongjia are juicy and sweet, with a unique flavor—neither hard on the teeth nor troublesome with pits. The dried persimmons made from them are dry but not hard, soft but not mushy, rich in white frost, and tender and oily on the palate, long enjoying a fine reputation in the Wenzhou market. The seedless persimmons of Donggao have a long cultivation history, dating back over 200…
At 63 years old, "Auntie Wang" is a model of women's entrepreneurship in our county. Ten years ago, drawing on her years of business and food-making experience, she creatively developed the uniquely flavored and specially prepared "Auntie Wang" wheat pancakes. These have since won multiple honors, including being named a Wenzhou Famous Snack and a Yongjia Famous Trademark…
Donggao Township in Yongjia County has long been known as the "hometown of persimmons." When golden autumn arrives and the persimmons ripen, the hillsides and slopes are covered with dense persimmon groves. The bright red fruits hang from the branches, glowing like flames or sunset clouds, adorned with golden hues that are truly intoxicating. Yongjia persimmons come in many varieties, including flat persimmons, bull’s-heart persimmons, steamed-cake persimmons, August Red, and Long-nipple persimmons, but the seedless Long-nipple persimmons of Donggao are the finest…
Yongjia rice field fish grow in paddy fields. They resemble carp in shape, surpass crucian carp in taste, have scales like Chinese mud carp, and display colors akin to goldfish. The practice of raising fish in rice paddies in Yongjia boasts a long history. According to local legends along the Nanxi River, ancestors in the region began using paddy fields for fish farming as early as the Three Kingdoms period under the Wu Kingdom, dating back over 1,700 years. Historical records also indicate that Yongjia...
The fragrant pomelo, called "xiangpao" by people in Yongjia, is a type of pomelo, also known as Wen Dan, Qigan, Luan, etc. It belongs to the Rutaceae family, the same as oranges, mandarins, and tangerines, and is a perennial evergreen fruit tree. The pomelo tree has a well-developed root system. Its fruits are well-shaped, bright orange-yellow in color, with crisp white flesh that is uniquely sweet and fragrant. The Bilian Fragrant Pomelo won the gold award at the second National Agricultural Expo in 1995...
Fragrant fish is a unique and precious freshwater fish found in the Nanxi River, typically measuring 15 to 20 centimeters in length, and weighing about two to three taels (approximately 100–150 grams) to half a jin (around 250 grams) per fish. The Nanxi River has long been famed for its abundance of fragrant fish. As early as the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty, fragrant fish were already being produced here. According to the Wanli-era Annals of Wenzhou Prefecture, the fragrant fish “is three to four inches long, delicious in taste…
Shagang is located in a vast sandy area in the middle reaches of the Nanxi River, to the northwest of Fenglin Town. The sandy land here includes villages such as Xinfang, Huolu, Zhaotan, Dong’anzhuang, and Xujiawan, collectively referred to as Shagang. Making rice noodles has been a traditional household sideline for over eight hundred years. Generation after generation of Shagang residents carried their self-produced...
Yongjia Early Fragrant Pomelo, also known as Yongjia Fragrant Tangerine, is a seedling variation of a local pomelo variety, selected by the Agriculture Bureau of Yongjia County, Zhejiang. Its main characteristics include: vigorous tree vigor, a round-topped canopy, thick branches and shoots, and uniform growth of inner canopy shoots; the fruit is pear-shaped, weighing 1000–1500 grams per piece, with a smooth surface and orange-yellow color; the flesh is milky white...
Soak wheat to sprout into malt, then dry and grind it into powder. Mix it with cold glutinous rice porridge in proportion, ferment for five to six hours, scoop it into a tofu frame lined with linen cloth to press out the syrup, then pour the syrup into a large iron pot and boil it over a firewood stove. When the sugar syrup begins to bubble vigorously, add prepared cooked soybeans, stir well, and scoop it into fried rice flour. Let it harden to form the candy. (…)
Wenzhou Colored Stone Inlay is a craft that combines stone carving and wood carving. In the eighth year of the Guangxu reign (1882), Pan A'ming, an experienced artisan from Yongjia, began inlaying pieces of Qingtian colored stone onto rosewood and mahogany. Over time, artisans continuously innovated, expanding beyond mirror hangings and small screen artworks to include couplets, hanging screens, floor-standing screens, and cabinets...