After many stores changed their names, the ramen industry upgraded to branding and scale.
200,000 ramen chef becomes the "spokesperson" of the "Qinghai Ramen" brand
It is spread across more than 330 cities across the country, with more than 30,000 ramen shops open, employing 203,000 people, and annual revenue exceeding 20 billion yuan - this is the report card handed over by Qinghai Ramen. Since this year, "Lanzhou Ramen" stores in many places have been renamed "Qinghai Ramen", and 40 years of brand misalignment is being corrected. As of late August, about 1,000 ramen restaurants across the country have completed name changes.
Since the 1980s, ramen people, represented by farmers in Hualong Hui Autonomous County, Haidong City, Qinghai Province, have left the impoverished mountainous areas and gone south to Xiamen, Guangzhou and other cities, using the "Lanzhou Ramen" sign to start their own business. After decades of intensive cultivation, an industry with an annual output value of over 10 billion has been developed to enrich the people.
The name of the store has changed, but what remains unchanged is the quality of this bowl of ramen. The reputation of Qinghai ramen relies on the exquisite making skills of the ramen masters. Over the years, 200,000 ramen masters have refined their skills and inherited their ingenuity, becoming the "spokesmen" of the "Qinghai Ramen" brand.
"Qinghai ramen pays attention to one clear, two white, three red and four green. One clear means that the soup should be crystal clear, two white means that the noodles should be white and elastic, three red means that the spicy oil is ruddy and attractive, and four green refers to the bright green embellishment of coriander and garlic sprouts..." Recently, Qinghai Ramen master Han Yulong said in "Han Yulong Ramen Innovation Studio" introduced the characteristics of "Qinghai Ramen" to the participants of the first 2026 African Grassroots Officials Poverty Reduction Exchange Training Course from 9 countries including Angola and Congo (Brazzaville), and demonstrated the breadth and depth of China's local food culture with superb ramen making skills.
Grabbing more than 100 grams of dough, he quickly kneaded and stretched it in his hands. The noodles changed from thick to thin, turning into strands of "silver thread". After many processes and high-temperature cooking... In Han Yulong's hands, a bowl of Qinghai Ramen with "one clear, two white, three red, and four green" was completed.
Han Yulong was born in Hualong Hui Autonomous County in 1979. He has been engaged in the ramen industry for more than 30 years. He has delved into innovation and refined his skills in the practice of ramen operations in many places, and has become a top master in the ramen industry. He has mastered the industry's top skills of pulling out 1024 noodles from a ball of noodles and threading 46 ramen noodles at a time. Han Yulong's unique skill of "threading the needle in ramen noodles" has also been a display item in ramen skill competitions several times. He has won 8 provincial and above skills competition awards, including the gold medal in the ramen finished product project of the Second National Ramen Skills Competition, the gold medal in the first Qinghai Ramen King Competition, and the first prize in the Qinghai Provincial Ramen Skills Competition. He has successively won honors such as Qinghai Plateau Craftsman, National Rural Craftsman, National May Day Labor Medal, and National Model Worker.
Today, not only Han Yulong, but also more and more outstanding practitioners in the ramen industry have emerged in the ramen industry skills competitions held continuously by the Qinghai Trade Union.
In recent years, the Qinghai Trade Union has successively held ramen industry skills competitions in the province and in places such as the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, and Hainan Province where Qinghai ramen practitioners are relatively concentrated, creating the "Qing Zihao" ramen skills competition brand and vigorously cultivating a team of skilled and innovative high-quality technical talents.
"Holding the Ramen Competition is a review of Qinghai Ramen technology operations. It provides a platform for experience exchange for the standardized, branded and characteristic development of the Ramen industry, and helps enhance the cultural soft power and market competitiveness of the Ramen industry." said the relevant person in charge of the Qinghai Ramen Industry Association.
At the same time, the Qinghai Federation of Trade Unions coordinated with the Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security and other relevant departments to upgrade the Qinghai Province Ramen Industry Employees Vocational Skills Competition to a national industry skills competition. At present, two national ramen skills competitions covering 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country, attracting 320 contestants, have been successfully held, significantly enhancing the popularity and reputation of "Qinghai Ramen".
In addition, the Qinghai Labor Union has strengthened the formation of labor unions in the ramen industry, attracting more employees to labor union organizations from the source and output through "small three-level" labor unions in towns, streets, and villages (communities). Strengthen coordination and cooperation between labor unions in exporting and importing areas, strive to achieve one-time membership and dynamic transfer, ensure that the flow of members is not lost, and allow more ramen industry practitioners to enjoy the services of their "native family".
In Haidong City, the Haidong Federation of Trade Unions took the initiative to establish a special working group for the construction of the ramen industry workers in conjunction with the Haidong City Human Resources and Social Security, Commerce and other departments, established and improved the dynamic information database of ramen industry workers, and accurately grasped the distribution, skill levels and employment needs of the 27,700 ramen stores in 280 cities across the country. It provided strong data support for the realization of precise services and work decisions, forming a new "one game of chess" work pattern with top-down linkage and departmental collaboration.
Currently, Han Yulong, as the top master of skills in the Qinghai ramen industry, actively participates in the formulation of industry skill specifications and ramen standards. By serving as a judge for various levels of ramen skill competitions and conducting ramen skills training, Han Yulong promotes the standardized and professional development of "Qinghai ramen" skills and improves the technical level and operational standardization of the entire industry.
"In the future, I want to show and teach my skills to more people, and encourage more people to turn this bowl of noodles into a brand, follow the road of chain and scale, and let 'Qinghai Ramen' go out of China and go to the world!" Han Yulong said.
Reporter Xing Shengxiang
"Worker Daily" (September 11, 2026, Page 03)
