Chefs make noodles during the Beef Noodle Festival in Lanzhou, Northwest of China's Gansu province, on Aug 6. Noodles are an essential ingredient and staple in Chinese cuisine. Lanzhou is famous for the pulled noodles where the dough is repeatedly stretched and folded to produce thinner and thinner strands before being boiled with beef. While Shanxi province is known for making noodles by peeling thin strips of dough from a loaf directly into the boiling water. Gansu provincial government has implemented new measures, including a small credit loan and occupational accreditation, to improve the quality of Lanzhou noodle and standardize the noodle industry that can be traced back to 200 years ago. It is reported that now there are over 50,000 Lanzhou Beef Noodle restaurants in China, providing employment for one million people. The festival runs from Aug 6 to 26. (Xinhua)