Small family-run tofu workshops turned into demonstration zone in E China's Anhui

A woman is busy working on a production line to produce tofu in an industrial park in Bagongshan district, Huainan city, east China's Anhui Province. (People's Daily Online/Miao Zijian)

A village in east China's Anhui Province renowned for making tofu has built an industrial park in a bid to improve the product quality and production capacity of local family-run workshops that make bean products, turning small workshops into to a demonstration zone for bean production standards.

Thanks to this transformation, local farmers are now working on bright and clean modern production lines to produce tofu and other types of bean products.

Xiaying village, where the park was built, is located in Bagongshan district of Huainan city, Anhui Province. Bagongshan district is considered the birthplace of tofu, and Xiaying village has been designated by China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs as a demonstration village for the production of bean products.

More than 200 residents of Xiaying village, or 85 percent of the village's labor force, work in the bean product industry.

As the previous small-scale workshops run by local families lacked the ability to ensure production safety, comply with environmental regulations, and withstand market volatility, the village collective launched a company specializing in bean products, and built an industrial park specifically for the bean product industry.

The industrial park has had great appeal for local households with good skills, potential for development, and a relatively large business size, which has moved the local bean product industry toward large-scale development.