Pingjiang's spicy wheat strips: a taste of childhood

Anyone who approaches Malawangzi's snack factory in Pingjiang county, Hunan province, is greeted by the mouth-watering, fiery aroma of pepper, peppercorn, cumin and cinnamon.

Malawangzi is known for producing latiao, spicy wheat strips that are popular with young people and children. The snack evokes sweet childhood memories for many Chinese people.

There are more than 600 latiao companies in China, and 90 percent of the founders of such companies are from Pingjiang.

Latiao is a 60 billion yuan ($8.37 billion) industry, a third of which resides in Pingjiang, home to 116 latiao enterprises. The sector offers employment to 102,000 people in the county, which has a population of about 1.1 million.

The snack is sold in some 160 countries, including Japan, South Korea and the United States.

In early July, news that operations at the Malawangzi factory had been suspended due to a flood became one of the most trending topics on social media platforms.

Twenty-six years ago, in 1998, another flood in Pingjiang led three people to invent the snack.

After the flood devastated the county's soybean farms, they opted to substitute the more affordable wheat flour for soybeans in creating a new snack inspired by the county's historical tradition of producing dried bean curds, which dates back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).