Stories of China told through local foods

Editor's Note: Tasting China is a new series in China Daily. It will take you around the country to get a taste of authentic local dishes and learn the stories behind them.

Matt Mears, who has been teaching English in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region since 2017, helped a group experience the local cuisine of Ningxia's Lingwu city as a guest host with China Daily's Ningxia bureau.

Mears' first stop is with a black goat farmer. He had a look at how black goats are raised and had a taste of the mutton. Since it is packed with nutrients, the price of black goat meat is double that of ordinary mutton.

Many local farmers became rich by raising black goats, which have become a new focus for the local economy.

Then Mears tasted Ningxia's two kind of representative pastry — sanzi, or crisp fried dough twist, and youxiang, soft fried flour dough. The pastries are made during every major festival. Youxiang has become a symbol of unity, friendship and happiness.

Finally, Mears went to a cake store. The proprietor, Gui Hua, is well-known for the deep-fried cake.

From a street stall to a restaurant, Gui has supported her two children through college, and the family became financially secure.

Lingwu's Shuidonggou, one of the earliest Paleolithic cultural site excavations in China, is acclaimed as the birthplace of China's prehistoric archeology. It reveals human activity there as early as 30,000 years ago in the Upper Paleolithic period — also known as the late Stone Age. The dinosaur fossil site at Lingwu boasts well-preserved dinosaur fossils with concentrated distribution. The surrounding environment has not been damaged.