Wuchuan county in Hohhot is a revolutionary old district with profound historical heritage and is also nationally renowned as the "Hometown of Oats" in China.

Leveraging its unique plateau agriculture and animal husbandry resources, the county has cultivated oats as its leading industry, integrating intangible cultural heritage food culture with modern agricultural technology.

In recent years, Wuchuan has advanced the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage. The craft of making youmian (a kind of oat flour) cuisine has been recognized as an autonomous region-level intangible cultural heritage, with 36 representative inheritors at the autonomous region, municipal, and county levels.

The locality explores the value of traditional crafts by integrating ancient stone-mill techniques and handmade youmian production into rural cultural tourism, connecting projects such as pastoral sightseeing, culinary experiences, and rural study tours, thereby enriching rural tourism with distinctive farming culture.

The oat planting area in Wuchuan county. [Photo/Hohhot Convergence Media]

Wuchuan oats have also been certified as a National Geographical Indication product. The county currently maintains a stable oat planting area of 200,000 mu (13,333 hectares), with an annual average output of 30,000 metric tons and an annual output value of 1.2 billion yuan ($170 million) across the entire industry chain.

The oat industry has increased farmers' annual household income by more than 3,000 yuan, and the entire industry chain has created over 8,000 direct jobs, transforming ecological, agricultural, and intangible cultural heritage resources into development advantages.