Welcome to the world of tofu. Photos: Courtesy of Wangzhihe

By Yin Yeping

For hundreds of years, Wangzhihe's stinky tofu has been a traditional part of Chinese food culture. Today, like Willy Wonka, it's opening the doors of its factory and revealing its secret ingredients to select groups of people at its new "tofu museum of science and technology."

Located inside the Beijing Ershang Wangzhihe Food Company in Haidian district, this approximately 400-square-meter museum will tell you everything you could ever want or need to know about Chinese tofu, from the raw ingredients to the fi nal, packaged product. There are exhibit halls devoted to tofu history alongside dioramas of traditional and modern tofu-making processes. It's a veritable Disneyland of tofu.

"Tofu has been popular with all age groups," said Wang Liying, the company's chief engineer. "In the old days, our stinky tofu was loved by the Dowager Empress Ci Xi."

Wangzhihe dates back to 1669, when Wang Zhihe came to Beijing to take the Ke Ju exam (an examination system in ancient times, through which o€ cials were examined and selected). After he failed the test, he remained in the city. To feed himself while concentrating on studying for the exam, Wang made tofu. To preserve the tofu that had not been sold in summer, Wang cut the seasoned leftovers into small cubes and put them in a big jar with ingredients like salt and peppers. Then he forgot about them. When Wang found the jars again in autumn, he opened them up and found that they smelled awful. Unwilling to waste all the jars, Wang took a taste to see just how bad it was and was surprised to fi nd that it was great. Wang put the "stinky tofu" up for sale and the business became a booming success. Now the company sells ordinary types of tofu alongside the famed stinky kind. At the last stage of the museum, you can get a close look at different dishes that use tofu as their primary ingredients. But however savory they look, these are all plastic models for display that you cannot taste.

In the traditional crafts zone there is a life-size reproduction of the 300-year-old Wangzhihe storefront. Nearby is a table full of colorful clay models of people making tofu. Some fi gures sift the soy beans, others grind the beans and still others are fermenting them in a big jar.

"Originally, there were 35 types of traditional steps for making tofu," Wang explained. "But here we simplifi ed them into 13."

In the modern zone, you can watch a video of the same processes carried out automatically by machines in each production department of the factory. You can also look at tofu under a microscope.

"Some people might believe that the white tofu is later dyed red," Wang said at the microscopes. "In fact, red tofu is made from red kojic rice with a natural red color."

For a science and technology museum, there is not much in the way of interactive activities. There's one game where you race your friends to answer questions about tofu production, and the first responder gets a prize. For the less competitive, you can do it yourself at the "wisdom tree," that grants small prizes if you can answer questions about tofu.

Liang Haitao, the deputy director of the o€ ce department of Wangzhihe, said the museum is only open to groups that book visits in advance. Also the museum currently does not have English illustrations for expat visitors.

"Only a small proportion of our products are sold internationally," Wang said. "Not much of our focus is on the international market."