Meituan said it is planning to expand the lending project to other restaurants serving local specialty street foods such as Chongqing Xiaomian, a variety of noodle dishes originating from Chongqing.

美团表示，它正计划将贷款项目扩大到其他提供当地特色街头食品的餐厅，如重庆小面，一种源自重庆的面条。

Zhengzhou, Henan province-based instant noodle maker Baixiang Food Group has gone viral online as the company gained popularity among consumers recently for its better product quality, which is partly due to Baixiang's insistence on not cooperating with any outside suppliers, a move to avoid risks of compromising food safety.

总部位于河南省郑州市的方便面制造商百想食品集团最近因其更好的产品质量而在消费者中广受欢迎，这在一定程度上是因为百想坚持不与任何外部供应商合作，以避免损害食品安全的风险。

The traditional instant noodle sector could experience changes in patterns and it is facing multiple challenges with the emergence of various instant, self-heating meal options and the rapid growth of the food delivery sector, analysts said.

分析师表示，传统方便面行业可能会经历模式的变化，随着各种即食自热餐的出现和食品配送行业的快速增长，该行业面临着多重挑战。

During the annual gala of China Media Group on March 15, also the World Consumer Rights Day, it was revealed that compromised food safety practices related to pickled cabbage production exist among some noodle makers.

在3月15日，也就是世界消费者权益日，中国传媒集团的年度盛会上，有消息透露，一些面条制造商在酸菜生产方面存在食品安全问题。

Master Kong, owned by Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp－China's largest instant noodle maker－admitted that it had purchased the pickled cabbage in question to produce a kind of popular instant noodles.

中国最大的方便面生产商康师傅（开曼群岛）控股有限公司（Tingyi（Cayman Islands）Holding Corp）旗下的康师傅（Master Kong）承认，其购买上述酸菜是为了生产一种受欢迎的方便面。

In 2020, Master Kong, Uni-President China and Jinmailang, a domestic instant noodle maker, accounted for 46 percent, 15 percent and 11 percent of domestic market share, respectively.

2020年，康师傅、统一中国和国内方便面制造商今麦郎分别占据了46%、15%和11%的国内市场份额。

"The technological development of automated production has raised the overall strength of the instant noodle sector.

“自动化生产的技术发展提高了方便面行业的整体实力。

For instance, it has a buckwheat noodle product that targets people who aim to keep fit and lose weight, the company said.

例如，该公司说，它有一种荞麦面产品，针对的是那些以保持健康和减肥为目标的人。

"Some medium-sized instant noodle retailers such as Baixiang need to further upgrade their products and sales channels and achieve diversified development.

“像百想这样的一些中型方便面零售商需要进一步升级产品和销售渠道，实现多元化发展。

He pointed to the gradual shift in Tencent's investment strategy, which is leaning toward retail brands such as fast food play Hefu Noodle and coffee chain Tim Hortons.

他指出，腾讯的投资战略正在逐步转向快餐游戏和府面和咖啡连锁店蒂姆·霍顿等零售品牌。

Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC China, the fast-food chain unit of Yum China, rolled out its first ready-to-eat packaged foods including Luosi rice noodle and fried chicken rice meal starting this month to attract young consumers.

The recent introduction of ready-to-eat packaged food featuring Luosi rice noodle — an iconic dish in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, is a vivid reflection of their constant innovations in mixing with creative and trendy ideas generated locally.

Xu Weigang, chief executive officer of Gourmet Noodle House, said the adoption of self-help order system via smartphones can cut labor costs and save time for consumers.

At our training centers, employees learn not only Lanzhou noodle preparation but business management.

Later, Liang set up Lanzhou noodle stores.

If you crave a decent bowl of wonton noodle soup, go to a special eatery.

Haidilao is best known among mainland consumers for its high-quality service, including staging performances of tableside handmade noodle dances, offering free manicures, providing giant teddy bear partners for solo diners, and even hosting feline-themed parties for new cat owners.

Yet, Zhang somehow convinced himself that his future was inextricably intertwined with noodles, a decision based on his discovery of what he said is the ideal noodle recipe.

Beef and rice noodles, a spicy, salty and oil noodle made from rice, is one of the specialties in Changde, Hunan province, that has a history of 6,500 years and one that Zhang said he and fellow locals eat every day.

Now, he said, he has enough patience and confidence that he can envisage it taking him 10 years to build a rice noodle brand that is widely recognized.

Other products include "candles that remind you of sad memories" and "Ramen Noodle Condoms".

When Quincey was chief operating officer in early 2016, he saw sales in that country slump－hurt by a decline in sales to noodle shops and other restaurants.

Liuzhou, an industrial city in Guangxi and the birthplace of the pungent snail noodle, has built a neon-lit retro town that features shops where visitors can try on ethnic costumes and enjoy a dazzling array of folk culture activities after sunset.

Every morning, Han Jiafei, 26, gets up early to open his noodle shop in Wucheng county of Dezhou, Shandong province.

China also has seen a booming export of characteristic foods, such as river snail rice noodle, self-heating hot pot and spicy gluten, thanks to the convenience of cross-border logistics and payment, Jimu News reported.

At Malaysia's Sarawak Pavilion, Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, Sarawak's minister for tourism, creative industry and performing arts, introduced local specialities to visitors, including pastries, black pepper, tuak (a Sarawak wine), bird's nest and Laksa or a noodle dish with broth made of herbs, spices, and coconut milk.

In addition to traditional sesame fillings, there is also strawberry, sweet potato, rose, black truffle beef, rice noodle, lightly fried yellow beef and cheese ham.

For example, snack brands Luxihe Taosu and Dim Sum Bureau of Momo have featured guochao — a consumption trend wherein younger consumers prefer products with Chinese cultural elements — while traditional noodle restaurants like Wuyebanmian, or Wuye Noodles, and Chen Xiang Gui have upgraded their stores to better cater to youthful consumers.

With sales of the easy-to-make noodle dish starting to rise, a lot more cooperation between colleges and enterprises in producing and marketing the product is taking place in the region.

Nonetheless, the pungent-smelling rice noodle dish known as luosifen, which has its roots in the southern Chinese city of Liuzhou, has pleased palates all over the world.

As of this October, 40 noodle manufacturing enterprises in the city had obtained the export certification for foods," said Tang Jiwen, head of the Liuzhou Luosifen Association, adding that the prepackaged noodle dish has been exported to more than 20 countries and regions, including the United States, Canada, Australia and Malaysia.

The local government said it will ramp up efforts to further standardize luosifen production and help the noodle makers better understand prevailing international trade standards in order to expand exports.

As a local company that began to sell ready-made xiaomian seven years ago ahead of other competitors in the fledging market, Chongqing Kings Noodle Management Co Ltd has rolled out 17 kinds of the delicious noodles under its brand "Kings Noodle.

Master Kong of Tingyi Cayman Islands Holding Corp, China's largest instant noodle maker, admitted that it had purchased the pickled cabbage concerned to produce a kind of popular instant noodles.

As for noodle restaurants, innovative new types of noodle chains have emerged in recent years, attracting the attention of investors.

This year, noodle restaurants have been particularly attractive to investors, with nearly 1.31 billion yuan ($202 million) invested in several noodle restaurant enterprises as of early August, according to data from Aiqicha, a financial information service provided by Baidu.

There is perpetual demand for noodles from Chinese consumers, and many investors believe there is significant business growth potential for noodle restaurants and thus the sector is worthy of investment," said Zhu Danpeng, an independent food industry analyst.

Last year, China had nearly 3 million fast-food restaurants, and about 40 percent of the total were noodle restaurants, indicating Chinese consumers have strong demand for noodles, said the China Dining Industry Association.

In August, Lu Zhengyao, founder and former chairman of domestic coffee chain Luckin Coffee, officially launched his first noodle restaurant under the brand "Quxiaomian" in Chongqing and Beijing.

Industry analysts said Lu is likely to further develop the noodle restaurants in the same way as Luckin by expanding outlets rapidly nationwide.

So far, the noodle chain has received investments from investors such as Shenzhen Country Garden Venture Capital Co Ltd and Jiumaojiu Group, a catering firm, according to Tianyancha.

"The business operations of many categories of food have been quite saturated in the market, while the market still has room for the growth of noodles, instant noodles and luosifen rice noodles, as there is still a lack of large-scale leading noodle chain brands with robust reputations," he added.

In June, Chinese beef rice noodle company Baman announced its latest two rounds of fundraising.

Nanchang, Jiangxi province-based dry rice noodle brand Yangjishanye announced in February an investment of over 10 million yuan which it planned to be used in new product development.

"China's rice noodle consumption market is gaining ground.

In the internet-based era, with the favor of the capital market, rice noodle entrepreneurs take advantage of online channels and innovative marketing strategies, bringing an impact on traditional catering enterprises," said Wang Wuhua, a food analyst and a columnist at finance we-media platform Emcreative.

A report from People's Daily in 2020 said Liuzhou of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region sold bags of river snail rice noodle worth 11 billion yuan.

The sales revenue of supporting industries totaled 13 billion yuan, and that of brick-and-mortar river snail rice noodle stores was 11.8 billion yuan.

For a single brand alone, data from think tank Dolphin showed that in 2020, the sales revenue of celebrated rural video blogger Li Ziqi's personal brand surged 300 percent year-on-year to 1.6 billion yuan, among which 500 million yuan was generated from river snail rice noodle sales.

River snail rice noodles are just a subcategory of the rice noodle sector, which is growing into a 100-billion-yuan market.

"Apart from river snail rice noodles in Guangxi, rice noodles from provinces of Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Guangdong and Hainan, also won the hearts of diners with diversified flavors, contributing to great rice noodle consumption in the market," Wang said.

The provincial capital held the China Rice Noodle Industry Expo in June.

In 2020, rice noodle production in the province reached 1.4 million metric tons.

"In addition, due to COVID-19, people's consumption behavior shifted online, making rice noodle enterprises focus more on online channels.

Bo Wenxi, chief economist at Interpublic Group China, said: "China's rice noodle consumption market has a solid foundation and large scale.

The report has found that last year local FMCG continued to lead the country's Top 10 most popular brands, with dairy brands Yili and Mengniu atop the list, followed by instant noodle giant Master Kong in third.

In terms of growth rates, meat-based food brand Shuanghui, seasoning play Haday, snack giant PepsiCo, instant noodle giant Master Kong and oil and foodgrain brand Wilmar are the top five performers, posting the fastest gains in consumer numbers compared with their peers.

The company has launched a string of stylish and exquisite kitchen appliances such as sandwich makers, portable juice extractors, noodle makers and mini electric ovens in a bid to cater to the tastes of young Chinese consumers who have an increasing demand for the quality, function and appearance of products.

For instance, it collaborated with Line Friends, a global character brand featuring memorable characters which are originally created as stickers for a mobile messenger application Line, covering the categories of noodle makers, electric kettles, milk pans and soybean milk machines.

Ramen Talk, a Chinese noodle brand, has recently cooperated with a domestic meat manufacturer to launch a product featuring a plant-based meat sauce similar to Bolognese sauce in flavor.

Before the June 18 shopping festival in China, the tourist spot organized livestreaming promotions for nine time-honored brands such as jewelry maker Yayi Gold and noodle specialist Song He Lou.

"Other major instant noodle makers like Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp, which is more commonly known as "Kangshifu" in China, and Uni-President China Holdings Ltd, have gradually resumed production.

Uni-President said one instant noodle production line can make 10,000 to 12,000 packages daily.

Zhang Tianyi, founder and CEO of Baman, a Chinese beef and rice noodle company, said 90 percent of his restaurants have closed since Jan 24, the eve of the Lunar New Year, due to prevention and control measures against the virus.

He added the only meager income they currently get is from selling instant rice noodle products on e-commerce platforms.

Master Kong of the Tingyi Cayman Islands Holding Corp, China's largest instant noodle maker, has speeded up manufacturing to 4 million packets a day to produce sufficient instant noodles for those living in Hubei province, the center of the outbreak, said Ning Gang, head of Master Kong's factory in Tianjin.

Zhou, 32, who works for a technology company in Beijing and is planning to visit the Cup Noodle Museum in Yokohama, Japan, this month, said, "As a big fan, it will be a unique experience to select my favorite soup and toppings from many varieties, and make my own style cup noodles.

"Vincent Shao, business group director with consultancy Kantar Worldpanel, said China's instant noodle market has picked up in the past 12 months after sales dropped for three consecutive years.

China's instant noodle makers are back in the black after a three-year hiatus, with most companies reporting higher sales and net profit.

During the first six months of this year, instant noodle sales rose 7.5 percent year-on-year in the country, according to Nielsen Holdings Plc, a data analytics firm.

That follows the unexpected sales growth of 3.3 percent to 51.5 billion yuan ($7.25 billion) last year, said the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology, after the institute analyzed sales data from 22 of China's major instant noodle makers.

Take two major instant noodle makers, Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp, which is more commonly known as "Kangshifu" in China, and Uni-President China Holdings Ltd as examples.

Last year, Tingyi's ready-to-eat instant noodles, which consumers can eat without boiling and are priced lower than average, saw a 24 percent year-on-year drop in sales, while its high-end instant noodle product lines, which are considered to be more healthy and have innovative flavors, saw a 10.6 percent year-on-year increase in sales, media reports said.

Tingyi's instant noodle products had a 47.1 percent market share in China in 2018, according to Nielsen data.

Yang Shouzheng, general manager of Uni-President, said: "Instant noodle makers are expected to see another sales boom, thanks to growing demand from people aged between 15 and 35, who will account for a large share of China's population by 2020.

me in recent years, instant noodle brands' wide variety of flavors and use of healthy ingredients are attracting more consumers," Bai said.

Its sales in the instant noodle sector has seen a 2.8 percent year-on-year growth to 4.27 billion yuan.

Happy days are here again for Chinese instant noodle makers, as products with better taste, healthier recipes and more innovative cooking techniques are gaining in popularity.

"Tangdaren, a brand under Uni-President China Holdings Ltd, a major beverage and instant noodle maker in China, for example, has said that it would make its soups taste like those from a noodle restaurant.

Jinmailang, a domestic instant noodle maker, uses special freezing and steaming techniques to make its products more similar to freshly cooked dishes.

Though prices of such innovative instant noodles often double, they have started to become popular with white-collar workers in the first and second-tier cities, due to their advantages over noodle restaurants and takeout food in price and convenience, Zhang said.

The noodle sector, for instance, has seen the rapid growth of Kemen, a manufacturer that claims to import high-quality organic cereal from Kazakhstan and has priced their products at the top end of the segment.

Xinjiang-based Kemen Noodle Manufacturing Co Ltd's local branch, for instance, now imports cereals from overseas like Kazakhstan, as their cereals are better in quality and lower in price, compared with other cereal producersWei Yujun, deputy general manager of Xinjiang-based Keming, said the company is increasing its quality focus to cater to the higher demand from consumers.