Sugar museum thrives in Xingcun village
Each year, visitors are drawn to the Brown Sugar Workshop in Xingcun village, in Lishui. [Photo/WeChat account: zjlsly2014]
At Xingcun village in Zhangxi township – located in Songyang county, administered by Lishui city in East China's Zhejiang province – brown sugar has been a major industry for more than 100 years and the villagers there still follow the traditional methods to make it.
In 2016, the village established a rural museum – the Brown Sugar Workshop – to inherit and carry forward the handicraft and culture of making brown sugar.
Local officials said the Brown Sugar Workshop is a complete cultural and tourism facility that incorporates sugar processing, a hands-on experience for visitors to learn about the handicraft, as well as product exhibitions and sales.
Wielding a giant ladle, a villager makes sugar at the Brown Sugar Workshop. [Photo/WeChat account: zjlsly2014]
Every year from October to December, visitors can witness what goes into making the sugar – from planting the sugarcane to experiencing the refining process themselves.
The museum also serves as a public cultural place for Xingcun's locals.
It has staged a number of puppet performances, as well as sugar making experience and inheritance activities.