Published on: 2026-09-18
Source: People’s Republic of China — Translation
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Hohhot, September 18 /Xinhua/ — The connection between bread and the city of Erguna /Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia, Northern China/ is a unique phenomenon in all of China. This small border town on the China-Russia border, with a population of less than 70,000, has more than 40 bread baking workshops, which is why Erguna is also called “the birthplace of bread in China.”
Moreover, here is the only museum in China whose main thematic element is bread. Entering the Bread Culture Museum, one can feel how the very ceremony of offering bread with salt immerses you in an atmosphere filled with the vivid color of Russian national culture.
The city was named after the border river Argun between China and Russia, on which it stands.
Museum guide Yan Tianjun explains: “In the perception of Russian people, bread symbolizes abundance and harvest, and salt represents pure friendship and has the property of protecting against evil forces. Therefore, offering guests bread with salt is the most sacred custom of the Russians.”
Upon entering the museum, one is struck by the photographs hung on the walls, capturing the various forms of bread and its presence on the tables of local representatives of Russian ethnicity during the celebration of various festivities. Additionally, through glass in the Bread Culture Museum, visitors can observe the production line and see huge loaves being made one after another. Interested tourists can also try baking bread with their own hands.
The CEO of the food production company “Lilia,” which owns the Bread Culture Museum, Han Yunsheng, said that there are only three museums dedicated to bread worldwide, located in Munich /Germany/, Saint Petersburg /Russia/, and in Ergun, China. Since its opening in 2017, the museum has welcomed over 50,000 visitors.
On the other side of the river are Russian yeast made from hops. For traditional Russian bread, hops are boiled for ten hours to obtain a sourdough, thanks to which the dough gains a fresh vegetal aroma.
On this shore are people from Shandong province who moved to the Northeast of the country for work. They brought with them the skill of kneading and shaping dough, as well as the technique of multiple proofing, which merged with the Russian dough maturation technology, making the bread softer and life more settled.
The baking technologies of the Chinese and Russians brought people together into large families where different cultures blended. In these families, fusion is not an abstract word: it means dumplings and borscht side by side on one dining table, as well as important holidays marked on the calendar like Chun Jie and Easter. That piece of dough, once brought across the border river, has today given rise to more than 40 bakeries and over 300 food industry enterprises throughout the city.
“Popularizing bread culture is not the task of a single company, but of all residents of Ergun,” shared Han Yunsheng. In 2025, the Bread Industry Development Office was established in the city of Ergun, tasked with regulating and guiding the activities of relevant enterprises to enhance the reputation of the “birthplace of bread in China.” -0-
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