A Taste of Soup Noodle in Luzhou

Serving as a Supporting Role—Guanyin Cultural Festival

Since 2002, Luzhou District Office holds "Guanyin Cultural Festival" on the evening before the 19th day of the ninth month in the Chinese Han calendar, the date when Guanyin became a nun. So far, the successful holding of five sessions of "Guanyin Cultural Festival" had presented the leniency of Guanyin through series of activities and fully promoted the religious beliefs, arts, and literature of Luzhou. This festival was the predecessor of the activities promoting Soup Noodle.

2002
Beginning from 2002, Luzhou District Office holds "Guanyin Cultural Festival" on the evening before the 19th day of the ninth month in the Chinese Han calendar, the date when Guanyin became a nun. Luzhou City Office, major temples of Luzhou like Yonglian Temple, and major temples of adjacent cities, counties, and townships held the festival jointly at the intersection of Changrong Road and Zhongyuan Road to combine Buddha tour and local characteristics and arrange various activities.
So far, the successful holding of five sessions of "Guanyin Cultural Festival" had presented the leniency of Guanyin through series of activities and fully promoted the religious beliefs, arts, and literature of Luzhou. This festival was the predecessor of the activities promoting Soup Noodle.

2003

"2003 Guanyin Cultural Festival" aimed to highlight the close relationship between Soup Noodle and Luzhou. It was held during the grand worship in Luzhou on the 18th day of the ninth month in the Chinese Han calendar. Several shop owners of Soup Noodle were invited to cook noodles on site to serve the public. Moreover, many interesting activities were held, such as Who Eats the Most, Who Can Make the Longest Noodle, Do You Know What are the Ingredients? Currently, the activities are in plan. Your interesting ideas are most welcomed.

2004
The 3rd Guanyin Cultural Festival had been prolonged from two days to three days, aiming to hold a local grant event which combined religion and folk-custom. A dozen of Luzhou Soup Noodle shops and traditional craft stalls were invited. Over 140 delicacies were served. Moreover, Yonglian Temple led a creative Buddha Tour to pray for peace.

2005
The 4th Guanyin Cultural Festival was more spectacular than ever. It had been held for 10 days. Certainly, "Soup Noodle" with local characteristics was a star. Six famous shop owners were invited to perform together. They used 50 kilos of oil noodles to cook a super bowl (diameter: 1 meter) of noodles which could serve 200 people. 1200 free bowls were distributed to the participants to enjoy the delicacy. It had pushed to the Soup Noodle activity to the climax!

2006

The 5th Guanyin Cultural Festival was held for four days, which spared no efforts to promote Soup Noodle via various activities. The sponsor cooperated with nine temples in Luzhou to issue Activity Learning Passwords and distributed them to each one of the students in Luzhou. On site, 700 more copies were prepared for kids from other regions. The holders could claim a pair of geta or a bowl of Soup Noodle for free after reading the introduction to temples in the passport and collected all the stamps of the five temples. This religious activity, with the creative ideas to combine local characteristics by Luzhou City Office, allowed the participants to worship Buddha while experiencing local culture.

The Supporting Role Became a Leading Actor

—Luzhou Soup Noodle Carnival

In line with the policy issued by Taipei County Government, "One County, One Feature", the original "Guanyin Cultural Festival" had been transformed into "Soup Noodle Carnival". Luzhou formally pushes Soup Noodle, a local delicacy, to the stage and designs different activities each year designed to attract more attention on Soup Noodle from locals and outsiders. Other local industries are combined to enrich people's impression of Luzhou.

1. Distribution of "A Thousand Bowls of Soup Noodle".
2. Half a day tour on "Cultural Tourism Train". Last stop at Soup Noodle shops to eat noodles.
3. Design of "Tourist Passport" to recognize Soup Noodle shops and claiming of "Soup Noodle Doll" by the stamps collected on the passport.

Distribution of "A Thousand Bowls of Soup Noodle"

The activity of "Worshipping Statues of Deities, Eating Soup Noodle".

1. "Tasting Soup Noodle"

1. "Collecting stamps to claim a bowl of  Soup Noodle for free"

1. "Collecting stamps to claim a bowl of  Soup Noodle for free"

Assisting the Grand Occasion Altogether

2015 "Luzhou Deity and  Soup Noodle Carnival" was held on November 7, 2015 in Lu Jiang Elementary School, Luzhou District, New Taipei City. Our team, thanks to our favorable geographical position, gathered early at the gate of our school. After our teachers reminded us the matters needing attention, we started our interviews.

We first interviewed Mr. Chun-Ta Lai, the Supervisor of Luzhou District. Mr. Lai deemed that Luzhou Deity Culture has been developed for a century and is a significant cultural asset of Luzhou. In order to deepen people's understanding of Deity Culture, we arranged activities related to Deity, including the exhibition, lectures, and interactive activities of Deity Culture, so as to convey the historical allusion and custom of Deity. This year, we promoted specially the journal to explore Deity and invited people to visit the temples of Luzhou District so as to explore the origin of Deity and the temples and experience the beauty of religion and humanism in Luzhou.

Mr. Lai went on to say, Soup Noodle, a representative and traditional snack of Luzhou has a long history. The density of the distribution of Soup Noodles shops ranks top in Taiwan. The soup of the noodle is one big feature. Soup Noodle has become the most representative snack in northern Taiwan. This year, we not only invited the four owners of old Soup Noodle shops to cook noodles on site and served them for free to the participants, but also combined Deity Culture with Soup Noodle so as to promote Deity Culture and traditional delicacies of Luzhou to the outside via relevant activities each year.

The group of interview appreciated Deity Tour and exhibition. Each statue was exquisite and lifelike. In addition, Luzhou boasts the most statues of Deity in Taiwan, thus it is known as "the hometown of Deity Culture".

Next, we interviewed Mr. Lian-fu Yang, an expert of Luzhou culture. He explained the origin and characteristics of Luzhou Deity in detail and the origin and history of Luzhou Soup Noodle and cooked a delicious bowl of Soup Noodle in person which was eaten up by our group of interview.

Lastly, we took a group photo with You-yi Hou, the Deputy Mayor of New Taipei City, Mr. Chun-Ta Lai, the Principal Chun-sheng Chen, and Mr. Hsin-Tsun Lin on the site of the activity to end our interviews.

"Luzhou Deity and Soup Noodle Carnival" not only promoted the traditional Deity Culture and Soup Noodle, a local delicacy, but also integrated other local characteristics of Luzhou to build and market the beauty of new Luzhou so as to bring about new and creative vitality to Luzhou and create a complete tourist and commercial district.

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http://www.culture.ntpc.gov.tw/pages/detail.aspx?Node=4232&Page=8890&WID=6635a4e8

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http://www.babyhome.com.tw/mboard/topic.php?style=lifereport&bid=2&sID=2015163

http://www.culture.ntpc.gov.tw/pages/detail.aspx?Node=3326&Page=5572&WID=6635a4e8

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http://www.culture.ntpc.gov.tw/pages/detail.aspx?Node=4232&Page=8890&WID=6635a4e8

-f0de-4957-aa3e-c3b15c6e6eadhttp://www.cna.com.tw/postwrite/Detail/181819.aspx#.Vr4mPfl97IU