A taste of home carries a wealth of nostalgia. Chaoshan cuisine has long been popular at home and abroad for its meticulous preparation and high-quality ingredients. It is a quintessential expression of Chaoshan culture, helping to build a positive international image for the Chaoshan region and serving as a nostalgic culinary memory for Chaoshan people worldwide. In recent years, riding on the momentum of the RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) and the pre-cooked food trend, a host of characteristic Chaoshan food brands have expanded into the international market, allowing various Chaoshan-style foods to gain a “global appeal”.
A taste of home carries a wealth of nostalgia. Chaoshan cuisine has long been popular at home and abroad for its meticulous preparation and high-quality ingredients. It is a quintessential expression of Chaoshan culture, helping to build a positive international image for the Chaoshan region and serving as a nostalgic culinary memory for Chaoshan people worldwide. In recent years, riding on the momentum of the RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) and the pre-cooked food trend, a host of characteristic Chaoshan food brands have expanded into the international market, allowing various Chaoshan-style foods to gain a “global appeal”.
Behind the global popularity of Chaoshan flavors lies the active support of customs authorities. Shantou Customs has implemented a series of measures to stabilize and improve the quality of foreign trade, helping Chaoshan delicacies reach overseas dining tables and enabling the unique “Chaoshan taste” to connect the shared memories of Chaoshan people at home and abroad.
There is a saying among Chaoshan people regarding feasts: “No feast is complete without goose.” The lion-head goose raised in the Chaoshan region is known as the “King of Geese in the World”. Braised lion-head goose, a specialty dish, has become a symbol of Chaoshan culture. As a classic starter on Chaoshan-style menus everywhere, it is deeply loved by consumers at home and abroad.
In Shantou, the production of lion-head geese is mainly concentrated in Chenghai District. After decades of development, Chenghai District now holds a dominant position in China in terms of lion-head goose breeding volume, breeding stock of parent geese, and gosling output. It has become a local agricultural specialty brand, a key pillar industry, and an advantageous industry that drives farmers’ income growth through agricultural industrialization.
Leveraging these advantages and the continuous benefits brought by policies such as the RCEP, Shantou has issued the “Implementation Plan for Accelerating the Development of the Lion-Head Goose Industry”. It has adopted multiple measures to promote the high-quality development of the lion-head goose industry and plans to build a 10-billion-yuan-level livestock and poultry industrial cluster.
The development of pre-cooked lion-head goose products is a key part of this plan. In December last year, pre-cooked lion-head goose products from Chenghai, Shantou successfully made their first export, marking the start of their journey to enter the international market and “explore” the world.
Recently, the reporter visited the production workshop of Guangdong Xiwang Food Co., Ltd., where the aroma of braised meat filled the air, and plump, glossy braised lion-head geese were ready for processing. The company’s flagship brand, “Wu Zhi Braised Goose Pre-cooked Products”, focuses on Chaoshan-style braised goose, with braised goose liver and special braised goose meat enjoying high sales.
It is reported that standardization, regularization, and industrialization have accelerated the processing of braised lion-head goose products. Pre-cooked braised goose not only appears more frequently on domestic dining tables but also gains increasing popularity globally, thanks to the extensive network of overseas Chinese and closely connected international markets.
“Our pre-cooked braised goose products are very popular among overseas Chinese and foreign friends, and exports have become a regular part of our business,” said Yang Zhuoli, the foreign trade manager of the company. She noted that the regular export of Chenghai lion-head geese would not be possible without the full-range support of customs measures.
To achieve the zero-breakthrough in lion-head goose exports, Shantou Customs established a special working group to conduct early research and provide “one-on-one” services for enterprises, smoothing the entire export chain for lion-head geese. Meanwhile, the customs conducted in-depth policy promotions in enterprises, guiding them to complete the registration of supporting poultry farms and export food processing enterprises. Leveraging its professional technical advantages, the customs also provided enterprises with detailed information on the export procedures, requirements for braised lion-head geese, and the “access” standards for poultry delicacies in foreign countries. It offered precise guidance to help export enterprises of braised goose products establish corresponding quality systems, promoting the safe and high-quality export of Chenghai lion-head geese.
Relevant statistics show that since the first export, 12,000 kilograms of braised lion-head geese have been successfully exported after passing the inspection of Shantou Customs.
Beyond the characteristic braised lion-head goose products, the Chaoshan region boasts a long coastline, dense water networks, numerous mountains, abundant sunshine, and sufficient rainfall. This geographical advantage gives rise to a rich variety of regional specialty products, including aquatic products, agricultural products, traditional foods, and snacks, all with unique flavors that are equally popular in overseas markets. Haojiang District of Shantou, a coastal area where “30% of the economy relies on farming and 70% on fishing”, is a typical example.
Currently, relying on these resource endowments, Haojiang District of Shantou is seizing the opportunities presented by the RCEP and the pre-cooked food trend. With the goals of building an eastern Guangdong pre-cooked food raw material procurement center, striving to become Guangdong’s pre-cooked food international trading center, and developing a culturally rich Chaoshan pre-cooked food industrial cluster, the district is promoting farmer income growth, advancing rural revitalization, and striving to build Haojiang into a pioneer zone for the development of Chaoshan pre-cooked food. Its measures include developing the marine “blue granary”, building high-standard provincial-level modern agricultural industrial parks, innovating the “Cantonese Cuisine Chef + Chaoshan Cuisine” model, and promoting its “overseas Chinese” brand.
Since January this year, batches of pre-cooked aquatic products from Haojiang District have been exported to RCEP member countries. Data shows that in the first half of this year, the export volume of major aquatic product enterprises in Haojiang to RCEP countries reached 26.54 million yuan. Among them, Guanhai Aquatic Products, the leading entity in the Haojiang Aquatic Products Provincial Modern Agricultural Industrial Park, exports its aquatic products to 18 countries and regions, allowing more overseas Chinese to savor the flavors of Chaoshan.
How to ensure both the flavor of exported pre-cooked food and the food safety for consumers at home and abroad? The reporter learned from interviews that in addition to the research and development of fresh-keeping technologies for pre-cooked food by production enterprises, ensuring smooth import and export processes is also crucial.
In response, Shantou Customs launched the “Green Action for Agricultural and Food Product Customs Clearance”, establishing a “green channel” for the local inspection of imported and exported agricultural and food products. It implemented a “5+2” round-the-clock appointment system for inspection and customs clearance, combined with facilitation measures such as priority inspection and fast clearance, to fully ensure the safe and convenient customs clearance of agricultural and food products.
“Frozen beef balls have a shelf life of only 7 days. The customs ‘green channel’ ensures ‘zero delay’ and ‘zero detention’ throughout the process, maximizing the preservation of the product’s flavor,” said Zhang Chuanjie, manager of Chenghai Chaoshi Frozen Food Factory in Shantou.
It is reported that since the beginning of this year, Chenghai Customs has conducted 29 research visits to the Jinping Food Chamber of Commerce in Shantou and enterprises across Chaoshan. Focused on expanding the export of characteristic agricultural and food products such as aquatic products, braised lion-head geese, and beef balls, the customs has listened to the development needs of enterprises and solved 26 pressing issues for them.
As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, mooncakes, a traditional festive food, have entered their peak production and export season. In the Chaoshan region, freshly baked Chaoshan-style mooncakes, with their unique flavor, are adding to the festive atmosphere in streets and alleys.
Chaoshan-style mooncakes, also known as “lard cakes” (Lü Bing), have a history of over 300 years. They are an essential delicacy for many Chaoshan families when admiring the full moon and drinking tea during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and also one of the most delicious memories of their hometown for many Chaoshan people.
“Festivals make people miss their loved ones even more. I think Chaoshan’s lard cakes have a unique flavor that carries the taste of nostalgia. For Chaoshan people, lard cakes represent care for relatives and friends, as well as the inheritance of traditions,” said Mr. Chen, a local resident who was purchasing mooncakes during the reporter’s visit to the Longxing store of Xidi Renhe Bakery in Shantou. Mr. Chen noted that he had settled in Guangzhou but returns to Shantou every Mid-Autumn Festival to buy freshly baked Chaoshan-style mooncakes for his friends in Guangzhou.
Xidi Renhe Bakery is a century-old brand in Shantou. Every year before the Mid-Autumn Festival, its Chaoshan-style mooncakes are in short supply. Many orders need to be placed months in advance, and the offline stores are crowded with customers every day. “From the filling to the outer packaging film, all our products are handmade. We are committed to inheriting the century-old handmade craftsmanship,” said Ms. Deng, the person in charge of the Longxing store of Xidi Renhe Bakery. She explained that making a Chaoshan-style mooncake requires 49 processes in total, with the key step being the preparation of the crisp crust. Since the crisp crust is easy to crumble, it must be wrapped with a layer of film by skilled craftsmen to ensure the pure taste.
Over years of inheritance and development, Chaoshan-style mooncakes have become increasingly rich in cultural connotations. “In recent years, while adhering to the traditional craftsmanship of Chaoshan-style mooncakes, we have also launched a series of cultural theme products focusing on ‘overseas Chinese’ and ‘Chaoshan culture’. We have developed various product categories based on Chaoshan characteristics, covering flavors, packaging, and sales,” said Liu Weixiong, general manager of Guangdong Rongcheng Food Co., Ltd. “Among the numerous Chaoshan people, half live in China and half abroad. The ‘overseas Chinese’ element is a distinctive feature of Shantou. In recent years, we have been striving to create an overseas Chinese-themed product, using ‘lard cakes’ as a carrier to tell the stories of Chaoshan’s overseas Chinese.”
Recently, 670 boxes of Chaoshan-style mooncakes produced by Shantou Sunan Candy Factory Co., Ltd. were successfully exported to Singapore after passing the inspection and quarantine of Chenghai Customs (affiliated to Shantou Customs). This marks the first time that Shantou’s Chaoshan-style mooncakes have been exported to Singapore.
It is reported that the Chaoshan region is a well-known hometown of overseas Chinese. As the festival approaches, the demand for Chaoshan-style mooncakes in overseas markets is increasing. To ensure that Chaoshan-style mooncakes successfully reach overseas dining tables, Chenghai Customs has taken the initiative to provide proactive services. It has collected and organized risk information such as food laws and regulations, safety trends, and trade conditions in importing countries, and provided “one enterprise, one policy” guidance and support for mooncake export enterprises. It has also launched “online counseling for enterprises” to promptly address their questions and concerns. Meanwhile, the customs has strengthened source supervision and daily management, enhancing oversight of the entire process of enterprise operations, including the procurement of raw and auxiliary materials, the use of food additives, and the packaging and storage of finished products. These efforts aim to improve enterprises’ quality control capabilities and ensure compliance with the quarantine requirements of importing countries.
“With the support of customs in strengthening technical trade guidance and supervision services, our company has successfully exported Chaoshan-style mooncakes for the first time. We are very confident in expanding our orders in the future,” said Chen Yongming, the person in charge of Shantou Sunan Candy Factory Co., Ltd.
Source | Yangcheng Evening News · Yangcheng Pai
