Xuchang Soy Sauce Factory

As soon as I entered, I was struck by the vast array of soy sauce jars and bamboo hats. The jars were covered with white cloth and tied with ropes, while the bamboo hats kept out the rain but allowed for air to flow. Each jar contained both soy sauce and fermented broad bean paste.

Xuchang Sauce Factory, founded in the ninth year of Emperor Xianfeng's reign during the Qing Dynasty, is the oldest such factory in Wuzhen's recorded history and is still in operation. The factory specializes in traditional handmade products such as fermented broad bean paste, soy sauce, and pickles. The bamboo hats on the sauce jars are used to protect against rain, and a silk cotton netting covers the jar openings to prevent flies and other insects from entering, ensuring hygiene.

You can visit it when you visit Xizha.

One of the attractions we are looking for for company team building, haha.

I almost bought some doubanjiang as a souvenir on impulse...

I felt pretty good in Wuzhen, but I took a detour and passed this place twice. Haha

I went there at night, it would have been more stunning if I had gone during the day.

If it wasn't too heavy, I would have bought some soy sauce and noodle sauce.

I seem to have seen it before on A Bite of China. The sauce garden is even more cute after the snow. There is a sauce for sale at the door. It tastes delicious.

The bamboo hat lids on the sauce jars look like rice dumplings, hahahahaha, you can smell the aroma of the sauce

There are many sauce jars in the place where the sauce was dried in the past.

Even before seeing the sauce jars, I could smell the aroma. The courtyard was lined with neatly arranged grayish-blue sauce jars, and even a large bamboo hat couldn't block the aroma of the sauce.

The sauce duck noodles in Xuchang Sauce Garden are made with sauce brewed in the garden, and are 30 yuan a bowl. The front is where you eat, and the back is where the sauce is brewed, giving it a shop-in-front-back-factory feel.

Xuchang Sauce Factory, founded in the ninth year of Emperor Xianfeng's reign in the Qing Dynasty, is the oldest sauce factory in Wuzhen's recorded history and is still in production. The factory specializes in traditional handmade products such as fermented broad bean paste, soy sauce, and pickles. The bamboo hats on the sauce vats serve as a rainproof shield, and a silk cotton netting covers the jar openings to prevent flies and other insects from entering, ensuring hygiene. Xuchang Sauce Factory's sauce is made from soybeans and wheat flour. The sauce is made through a multi-step process: soaking, steaming, mixing, making koji, placing it in vats for sun exposure, bottling, and sterilization. The peak production season is summer, when the fermented mash undergoes the intense heat of the dog days of summer for approximately three to four months, allowing it to ferment naturally under the sun and in the night. Its complex production process and long production cycle make it highly prized.

Xuchang Sauce Garden is filled with large and small sauce jars exposed to the sun in the open air. There are also various locally brewed sauces for sale, which smell very fragrant.

When I went there, they had already stopped me. I met a grandfather working inside to prevent rain. The gate was open, so I sneaked in and took two photos. But maybe because I felt guilty, I heard that the sauces had to go through half a year of natural sun exposure and fermentation.

It seems that Xuchang Sauce Factory only displays the process of drying sauce, nothing else. The items sold on the counter are probably not made here.

I feel that Xizha has been developed and is not interesting anymore. It is not as good as Dongzha. Dongzha is still great.

Bee lovers who are interested in its certain characteristics can go and have a look.

I saw that there were really big jars of pickled soybean paste, but the range was not large.

I stood by and smelled the wonderful aroma of soybean paste. How could I not feel? My mouth almost watered. I couldn't help it, it was a reflex! So this is how soybean paste is made.

The place where soy sauce is dried is a free attraction.

Not far from the floating market is the Xuchang Sauce Factory. Founded in 1859, the ninth year of the Xianfeng Emperor's reign in the Qing Dynasty, it is the oldest such factory in Wuzhen's recorded history. With a shop in front and a workshop in the back, it specializes in fermenting fermented broad bean paste, soy sauce, and pickles. These sauces are made using traditional handcrafted methods, using high-quality soybeans, broad beans, and wheat. The fermented koji is made on bamboo scoops and then naturally sun-dried for six months.

Xuchang Sauce Garden is a century-old sauce garden located in Wuzhen, Tongxiang, Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province. When you enter the garden, you'll see a courtyard full of gray sauce vats, on which you can clearly see the words "Xuchang Sauce Garden" and "The Ninth Year of the Xianfeng Emperor."

Established in 1859, the ninth year of Emperor Xianfeng's reign in the Qing Dynasty, this is the oldest sauce factory in Wuzhen's recorded history. With a shop in front and a workshop in the back, it specializes in fermenting fermented broad bean paste, soy sauce, and pickles. These sauces are crafted using traditional handcrafted methods, using high-quality soybeans, broad beans, and wheat. Using bamboo koji, the fermented products are then sun-dried and fermented for six months, earning them a deep love from local residents.

Xuchang Sauce Factory is a century-old factory located in Wuzhen, Tongxiang, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province. Upon entering the factory, one is greeted by a courtyard filled with grayish-black sauce vats, on which one can clearly see the inscriptions "Xuchang Sauce Factory" and "The Ninth Year of the Xianfeng Emperor." On sunny days, the vats are stripped of their bamboo hats, letting them soak up the sun's aroma.

Xuchang Sauce Garden, with a shop in front and a workshop in the back, produces and sells its own products. Initially, it primarily sold fermented broad bean paste, soy sauce, and pickles. Its sauces were sold in the Jiaxing and Huzhou regions.

There are many sauce jars neatly arranged, which looks quite shocking.

The rows of sauce jars look very attractive, but I didn’t buy the sauce they sell, so I don’t know what it tastes like.

In the ninth year of Emperor Xianfeng’s reign in the Qing Dynasty (1859), Tao Xuchang, a native of Wuzhen, founded the Xuchang Sauce Factory, which was named after himself. It is also the earliest sauce factory in Wuzhen in recorded history, and it has a history of more than 150 years.

Xuchang Sauce Factory uses traditional handcrafted methods to make its sauces. With a shop in front and a workshop in the back, the factory produces and sells its own products. Its main products include Tao Xuchang brand broad bean paste, soy sauce, and pickles.

I only had a quick look and didn't explore it in depth, which I regret.

There are pickles for sale at the door. The specific varieties of pickles vary with the season. But they are delicious.

This is the first time I know how soy sauce is made. It looks quite traditional.

Located in the Xizha Scenic Area of Wuzhen, when you walk into the Xuchang Sauce Garden, you will be greeted by the lingering aroma of soy sauce and the grayish-black soy sauce vats that fill the yard. On the vats, you can clearly see the words "Xuchang Sauce Garden" and "The Ninth Year of Xianfeng"

The yard was neatly lined with large jars, each covered with a pointed lid. There was a vendor selling pickles at the entrance; I don't know how they tasted, but thinking back on it, the scene was quite spectacular.

The place where soy sauce is made, hahaha~ It has a strong smell of soy sauce, which I think is quite pleasant, it seems to be in Tongan.

The sauce jars are neatly arranged in the sauce garden, bearing traces of time.

It's right next to the Tong'an Inn. I stayed at the Tong'an Inn that night, and it seemed like a must-see on the way. The sauce farm is incredibly fragrant—it's truly fragrant year-round—with a rich, naturally fermented aroma and no additives. If you're lucky, you might catch a farmer opening the lid on their sauce. Usually, when it rains, the sauce is fermented directly, without the lid. There's also finished product from the sauce farm nearby, and the prices are reasonable for a scenic area, but I personally think they're still a bit pricey. A 240g bottle of soybean paste is 20 RMB. They also sell other large bottles and soy sauce.

In 1859, during the ninth year of Emperor Xianfeng's reign in the Qing Dynasty, Wuzhen native Tao Xuchang founded the Xuchang Sauce Factory, bearing his own name. This is the oldest recorded sauce factory in Wuzhen, boasting a history of over 150 years. Xuchang Sauce Factory's sauces are all made using traditional handcrafted methods. Every spring and autumn, the factory purchases high-quality soybeans and broad beans from neighboring towns and villages. After steaming them, they are spread on bamboo baskets, mixed with flour and koji, and then placed in a koji room for koji making. This process takes approximately 72 hours, followed by six months of natural sun-drying and fermentation. The sauce vats on the drying grounds of the Xuchang Sauce Factory exude a rich aroma, resulting in a unique and popular sauce.

Just took a look, nothing special, just passing by.

Xuchang Sauce Shop, where sauces and various pickles are made. The sauce jars on the drying yard look spectacular.

A very unique shopping spot with a drying area and crafting props, which is both educational and entertaining. I bought some soy sauce as a souvenir.

With the opening of Wuzhen Xizha Scenic Area, the century-old workshops located in the area have also ushered in a new spring of life.

The lingering aroma of soy sauce cannot fully describe the vicissitudes of its century-long history. When you walk into Xuchang Soy Sauce Garden, you will see the grayish-black soy sauce vats all over the yard.

On the body of the jar, we can clearly see the words "Xuchang Sauce Factory" and "The Ninth Year of Xianfeng".

If it is a sunny day, the big bamboo hats of the sauce jars are removed, allowing them to fully absorb the taste of the sunshine.

It's a pity that we came too far away, so we just took a commemorative photo in a hurry.

After visiting the workshop of the sauce factory, I found it very interesting. The workshop was very clean and tidy. The sauce factory's products were sold on the street. We bought two kinds of sauce duck heads, which tasted very good.

The pickles are really delicious. Now that I have finished eating them, I don’t know where to buy more.

Further east from Yichang Ironworks is Xuchang Sauce Factory, the oldest sauce factory in Wuzhen's recorded history. With a shop in front and a workshop in the back, Xuchang Sauce Factory produces and sells its own sauces. It's said that the sauces undergo six months of natural sun-drying and fermentation, which immediately reminds me of a soy sauce advertisement: "Sun-dried for 180 days, for a delicious, fresh taste."

This was the first time I saw this kind of sauce factory. After visiting it, I understood the production process and it smelled delicious!

It's a place where you can brew things. There are many vats at the door and you can buy sauce.

Xuchang Sauce Garden, located within the Xizha Scenic Area, specializes in fermenting broad bean paste, soy sauce, and pickles. It's a shop in front, with a workshop in the back. It was the first time I saw these large, grayish-brown sauce vats, neatly arranged in rows, each wearing a pointed bamboo hat. The rich aroma of the sauce wafted from the vats, and I suddenly felt hungry... Haha.

Xuchang Sauce Factory is behind the restaurant built in the Republic of China era. There is a trestle on the left. After passing Tong'an Bridge and along Xizha Street, you can also see the Caomu Bense Dyeing Factory and cross the Jingxing Bridge.

Xuchang Sauce Garden is divided into two parts: one part sells Wuzhen’s specialties of various sauces, and the other part is the workshop of the sauce garden.

It was already dark when we got there, and the temperature was low, so we just took a quick look at the entrance and took two photos. If it wasn't so dark and cold, I would definitely go in and take a closer look!

I visit Wuzhen every year for a relaxing break, and I've been there no fewer than five times. I've stayed at waterfront guesthouses twice, but the overall value wasn't great. The rest of the time, I've stayed at Zhaoming Shushe, a very affordable hotel that usually requires booking a month in advance. It's a quiet and elegant retreat nestled in the city. The Shusheng mutton stall in the alleyway is absolutely amazing—a must-try in autumn and winter. I've visited all of Wuzhen's attractions more than a dozen times, most recently with my 50D and 1740 lens. Feel free to ask me any questions.

Xuchang Sauce Garden is very beautiful and suitable for taking pictures. It has a great taste.

If you like the taste of the sauce, take some pickles back home~

Xuchang Sauce Garden, with its unique craftsmanship, looks very spectacular.

This is a soy sauce factory built during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty. With a shop in front and a workshop in the back, it produces and sells its own products. You can visit the production process in the backyard and take some special products home from the front desk.

When we arrived, the sauce factory was about to close and the smell of sauce hit our noses as soon as we walked in.

I bought some pickled mustard greens, they tasted pretty good and the price was okay too!

Follow the tour group ahead and listen to their explanations

A large sauce factory is located in the Xizha Scenic Area, right next to the water market.

When you enter the yard, you will see tanks and some crafting tools everywhere!

It's a sauce factory with a lot of empty jars.

I saw a lot of big jars of soy sauce, which was novel and interesting. The snack bar at the door was also good.

Wuzhen's handmade sauce is also a major feature. It is steamed, prepared, and then naturally sun-dried and fermented for half a year to produce a unique and rich sauce flavor.

On the drying yard of the sauce factory, there are sauce jars filled with sauce. The sauce jars emit a rich and subtle aroma of sauce, which makes people want to open the lid and taste it.

In fact, if you don’t pass by there, you won’t know that there is a soy sauce factory there. The big vats are placed there neatly.

Nothing good to see, just a piece of jar, not recommended

I don't like pickled food, so I just visited it. The big jars of soy sauce are very unique.

One of Wuzhen's main attractions, Xizha, is a great spot for photographing the local culture. The bamboo-woven lids of the sauce jars, filling the courtyard, create a striking visual impact. The best spot for photos is on the second floor. However, the miso smell is incredibly unpleasant.

There are many large vats of pickled vegetables inside, and local specialties can also be purchased here

Wuzhen's soy sauce is extremely fresh and fragrant. If you can pack it up, it would be a great gift or a side dish.

There are many big vats inside. It turns out that the advertisement is right. The sauce is made by drying it.

If you go there in winter, you will also find bacon, which makes it feel more lively.

It's quite interesting. I've never seen it before. There are jars of pickled things in the open air. There is a store over there that specializes in pickled foods. The taste is pretty good.

The yard full of pickle jars is particularly spectacular. The front hall is a shop selling pickles. Seeing this reminds me of the advertisement of drying soybeans for 180 days.

Rich pickle flavor, and lots of big jars of pickled vegetables!