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The Star
05-05-2025
- General
- The Star
Why hand-pulled Chinese Muslim Lanzhou lamian beef noodles are pulling KL crowds
At the newly minted Mee Tarik Jalan Sultan in Bukit Jalil, Ma Yong Jie is hard at work. The China native is hunched over a mound of dough, his face contorted into a rictus of concentration. On a shiny countertop, he kneads the dough, then rolls it into a long log. When that's done, he cuts it in half, then hauls a piece up in the air and begins twirling it into twisted spirals, unearthing thick, ropey braids that kink and coil with each movement. Yong Jie repeats this motion seven times and then begins stretching the dough, pulling it longer and longer and using his fingers to separate the emerging strands before folding it in half until eventually it begins to resemble long strands of thin, pliable noodles. 'It's done,' he says, holding it up for a captive audience, mesmerised by this theatrical culinary showmanship that showcases strength, agility, dexterity and a level of skill that takes years to finesse and hone. Despite having done this for years, Yong Jie says each batch of noodles still requires attention to detail and precision and takes approximately five to six minutes to produce. 'I've been making Lanzhou lamian noodles for nearly 15 years. For newbies, it would probably take them about three years to learn how to make it well,' says Yong Jie, a Chinese Muslim who grew up in the Gansu province, which is in Lanzhou, China, the birthplace of the noodles. The art of making hand-pulled Lanzhou lamian noodles requires years to master. Yong Jie, for instance, has been doing it for 15 years now. — Mee Tarik Jalan Sultan For well over a century now, Lanzhou lamian noodles have been a huge draw in China, where they are considered one of the country's most popular fast foods. In recent years, the noodles' popularity has transcended its motherland and iterations of Lanzhou lamian beef noodles are now available in restaurants across global cities like New York and London. While Lanzhou lamian – or mee tarik – as it is better known locally – has been in Malaysia for about a decade, it is only in the past three years that the noodles have become a viral sensation, popularised by restaurants like Mee Tarik Jalan Sultan, which frequently commands large, swelling crowds. The history of Lanzhou lamian noodles The noodles have a debated history, with some believing the carbs have ancient origins that date back to the Tang Dynasty (618 to 907), while a more popular tale is that it arose in early 20th century China. Many people also call Lanzhou lamian noodles 'China's first noodle dish'. An article in The New York Times highlights how the noodles' rabid popularity can be attributed to a Hui Muslim man named Ma Baozi, who is said to have started selling a clear beef soup with the signature hand-pulled noodles way back in 1915. How Baozi himself learnt to make the noodles is unclear, but these days, he is largely acknowledged to be the godfather of Lanzhou lamian beef noodles. The meal eventually became a breakfast staple among the Hui Muslims in China and rose to national prominence when it was increasingly consumed across the country. In 2021, Lanzhou beef noodles was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage item in China. According to an article in China Daily, 800,000 bowls of the noodles are sold daily in China, with 2025 projections predicted to reach 900,000 bowls a day! Additionally, every year in China, an estimated 5,000 chefs are trained in the art of making the noodles, with over 60% – like Yong Jie – ending up working overseas. In Malaysia, the demand for mee tarik has been on a consistent ascent, in tandem with the growing local appetite for China-influenced culinary offerings like mala hotpot. Mee Tarik Jalan Sultan, for instance, started out as a small stall in KL's Jalan Sultan operated by a Chinese Muslim owner. It has since expanded to six outlets in the Klang Valley in areas like Taman Tun Dr Ismail, SS15 Subang and Bukit Jalil to cope with the soaring demand for the noodles. 'I think mee tarik became viral three or four years ago, just before the Covid-19 pandemic, when people were flocking to mee tarik outlets. Now it has passed the virality stage but it has become embedded in the culture of late-night dining. It's a popular option because it is popping up everywhere. 'With Mee Tarik Jalan Sultan, for instance, we are opening in different neighbourhoods so that people don't have to drive to the city for it. They can just go to a neighbourhood outlet. The dough is an important component of the noodles and is made up of water and flour. — Mee Tarik Jalan Sultan 'And I think there is a huge demand for Chinese Muslim food, especially in terms of late-night dining. There is a lack of late-night dining options in KL, aside from mamak outlets. So we are trying to provide Malaysians with an alternative option for supper,' says Ili Sulaiman, the brand manager of Mee Tarik Jalan Sultan. To encourage this late-night dining, the restaurant chain is open till 2am most days. Authenticity is also integral to ensuring an experience that mirrors what Lanzhou lamian noodles are about. Mee Tarik Jalan Sultan, for instance, only hires Chinese Muslim noodle sifus from China to make the famed Lanzhou lamian beef noodles. So what goes into a bowl of Lanzhou lamian beef noodles? The main highlight is of course the noodles, which are kneaded, twisted into spirals, hand-pulled and then manually split into strands that could be thick, thin or somewhere in between, depending on the restaurant and the maker. Every batch of noodles is made to order, which means when you see the sifu pulling and twisting the noodles, he's making it because someone has just placed an order. But the broth that laces the bowl is just as important too and cannot be understated. In fact, many purists believe that the experience of eating Lanzhou lamian beef noodles is divided equally between how good the noodles are and how good the broth is. Consequently, each bowl of Lanzhou lamian beef noodles has to have a few key components that are epitomised by five colours – clear, yellow, red, green and white. A bowl of Lanzhou lamian beef noodles should have five colours: clear, yellow, red, green and white. — Mee Tarik Jalan Sultan The clear aspect is the beef broth, which is traditionally derived from beef bones that have been brewed for hours to extract maximum flavour. This is complemented by the noodles, which are often shiny and slightly yellow. The white hue is achieved through the slices of white radish scattered in the bowl. Coriander, meanwhile, makes up the green component, while red is courtesy of the ubiquitous chilli oil so prominent in Chinese Muslim cuisine. Each restaurant or chef will then incorporate their own unique touch to the broth recipe, with many including spices like cinnamon, fennel and star anise in their soup base. The final product is delightful – the noodles are springy and firm to the touch and yet have a pliancy to them that renders them utterly addictive. This is complemented by the broth, which offers bovine undertones, herbaceous overtures and a lick of heat from the chilli oil in the configuration. It's a meal whose show-stopping quality is that every single component is made well – and with care. It's little wonder then that demand for the noodles has shot up so dramatically in Kuala Lumpur and beyond. 'Yes, that's why we're looking at going nationwide next year, because we see opportunities to penetrate the market in other states too,' agrees Ili. For Yong Jie though, there is an immense sense of accomplishment in being able to elevate his hometown dish in a different part of the world. 'The noodles are now world-famous and I am so happy and proud to be a part of this success story,' he says.
The Independent
06-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
China's conviction of 1,500 prisoners of conscience a ‘crime against humanity'
China arbitrarily detained thousands and convicted 1,545 'prisoners of conscience' in the last six years in what could constitute "crimes against humanity", a rights group alleged. The prisoners were jailed for "peacefully exercising or advocating for human rights", Chinese Human Rights Defenders said in a report on Wednesday. It said the punishment for the those detained ranged from an average of six years, increasing to seven for national security charges. 'They were sentenced and imprisoned on charges that stem from laws that aren't in conformity with the Chinese government's domestic and international human rights obligations,' the group, headquartered in Washington DC, said. 'Their cases proceeded through the full criminal justice system, with police, prosecutors, and courts arbitrarily depriving them of their liberty in violation of their human rights.' Activists from minority communities like Tibetans and Uyghurs were disproportionately targeted through wrongful detention, as were women, it claimed. From January 2019 to December 2024, the group said, Chinese courts gave sentences to 1,422 prisoners from the mainland and 123 from Hong Kong in violation of their human rights. While three 'prisoners of conscience' – Tashpolat Tiyip, Sattar Sawut, Yang Hengjun – were sentenced to death, 48 were sentenced to a decade or more in prison during this period. A Uyghur academic, Rahile Dawut, was sent to prison for life in September 2023 for 'endangering state security' along with Abdurazaq Sayim, the group claimed. The group said the scale of wrongful detention by Chinese authorities may constitute "crimes against humanity". The Chinese government under Xi Jinping is accused of persecuting minority Uyghurs and Hui Muslims in the past decade, including through a campaign of arbitrary detentions. Beijing routinely denies such allegations, and has previously called them the 'lie of the century'. The UN estimates that China has detained around a million minority Muslims, mostly Uyghurs, since a dramatic escalation in counterterrorism measures in 2017 and has also accused Beijing of committing "crimes against humanity". In Hong Kong, authorities introduced a draconian national security law to choke dissent in the wake of 2019 pro-democracy protests. The average prison sentence under the law was over 5 years, the report said. The report said more people were convicted of "subversion" and "inciting subversion" in Hong Kong than in mainland China. The UN previously described the offences of 'subversion' and 'inciting subversion' as 'broad and imprecise, making them prone to misapplication and misuse". The group claimed that some 700 older prisoners of conscience were women. 'Human rights experts and international experts have raised that people over the age of 60 should generally not be held in custody due to the effects on their physical and mental health,' Angeli Datt, a research consultant with the group, said. 'That two-thirds of them are women was really shocking to me.' She claimed that 'the impunity Chinese government officials enjoy at home emboldens them to commit abuses abroad'. The group said that the Chinese government's use of arbitrary detention to silence critics and punish rights defenders had expanded under president Xi. If the "alarming trend" of China committing "crimes against humanity" was left unchecked, the group stated in its report, the implications would be "dire for human rights law inside and outside the country".
New York Times
11-02-2025
- General
- New York Times
My Obsessive Quest for a Thrilling Beef Noodle Soup
A few months ago, I fell down a rabbit hole. Actually, it was a noodle hole. It all started with an Instagram photo: a bowl of steaming beef broth as clear as a polished window, with a tight coil of noodles, a crimson puddle of chile oil, thin shingles of beef and radish, and cilantro leaves peeking through the broth. The whole thing was so cartoonishly pristine it seemed ripped from an anime series. That image touched off an obsession in the way only an alluring picture of noodles you randomly scroll past on the internet can. I had never even tasted the dish — called Lanzhou lamian, or Lanzhou beef noodle soup — yet it had all the makings of my new favorite food. I went into research-paper mode, and learned that this wasn't just any regional dish. Several historians told me about Ma Baozi, a Hui Muslim from Lanzhou, a city in northwestern China, who in 1915 began selling a translucent beef soup with hand-pulled noodles; it proved a staple business for Hui Muslims, and later became hugely popular throughout the country as inexpensive, filling breakfast food. I watched mesmerizing videos of chefs pounding and stretching noodles by hand at a school in Lanzhou, where people travel from across the world to master the craft of noodle pulling. And then I ate 16 bowls of noodles. Lanzhou is not exactly a tourist destination, and its beef noodles are not as widely known outside China as dishes like mapo tofu or dan dan noodles. But in recent decades, the dish has begun to go the way of pad Thai. Local government officials in China have promoted it — subsidizing Lanzhou noodle restaurants and touting the city's noodle schools — to stimulate tourism and economic development, said Christopher St. Cavish, a food writer in Shanghai. Lanzhou noodle restaurants have opened over the past decade or two in cities like London, Sydney and New York, where there are several new shops. The soup's popularity grows even as Hui Muslims flee political oppression in China. Some have immigrated to Queens, finding refuge at shelters serving the dish. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
