Wuzhong: Food Culture and Traditional Craftsmanship

Wuzhong combines culinary discoveries with a craft whose history dates back to the late Qing period. In the wider context of Wuzhong Shi, Guangyao Food Street and Qiangjia Old Vinegar Cultural Wellness Garden offer two different ways to explore: a wide selection of food and cultural activities, and the production and tasting of Shawo Old Vinegar.

Food Culture at Guangyao Food Street

In the wider context of Wuzhong Shi, Guangyao Food Street has 38 branded restaurants, 11 brands described as well-known Chinese snack or restaurant businesses, and more than 300 types of food. The street also has more than 90 specialty food shops and branded shops featuring intangible cultural heritage. These offerings represent different facets: restaurants and food types form the culinary focus, while the shops connect it with regional specialties and intangible cultural heritage. If you enjoy getting to know a place through its cuisine, you’ll find a clear thematic focus here that goes beyond choosing a single dish.

In the wider travel area, Guangyao Food Street in Litong District of Wuzhong Shi is a tourist leisure street featuring specialty food, cultural and tourism products, regional specialties, and exhibitions of intangible cultural heritage. In 2023, it was included in the first group of cultural and tourism consumption areas for night-time visits in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The inner street of Guangyao Food Street in the wider travel area is 500 metres long from east to west. In the wider travel area, Guangyao Food Street has held five editions of a festival of ethnic specialties and snacks.

Shawo Old Vinegar: Production and History

In the wider context of Wuzhong Shi, Qiangjia Old Vinegar Cultural Wellness Garden presents the history and development of local Shawo Old Vinegar as an industrial tourism destination. Visitors can take part in some stages of vinegar production and taste aged vinegar. This takes the theme from the production process to the finished product: you encounter vinegar not only as a food, but also as part of the local craft tradition.

The five traditional techniques for making Shawo Old Vinegar are boiling, fermenting, smoking, straining, and aging. They date back to the late Qing period and are designated as intangible cultural heritage. The five techniques make the multi-stage process tangible: they involve different steps, not a single recipe. For travellers interested in culture, the garden thus connects tasting with a historical perspective on production.

A Regional Perspective on Cultural Heritage

In the wider travel area, the ancient Shifosi Temple in Litong District houses two surviving stone Buddha figures. This historic attraction offers a different focus from the culinary destinations and vinegar-making craft. The travel area therefore brings together food and production-related themes alongside an example of preserved religious sculpture.

If you’re looking for a holiday rental in Wuzhong, first consider whether you’re mainly interested in food culture and traditional craftsmanship or would also like to include cultural heritage in the wider travel area.

Discover more destinations: Yinchuan, Guyuan, Zhongwei, Shizuishan.

View the overall travel guide: Ningxia.