Some villagers have maintained the ancient method of making Manchu soybean paste in Jiutai District in Changchun City, Jilin province, an area that is also known as the "Hometown of Shaman Culture".

Shaman culture is a religious culture initiated by ancient nations in Northeast China and is later inherited by ethnics including Manchu people in modern times.

Liu Guoyan, a Changchun native who inherited skills for making traditional Manchu soybean paste, said "Manchu people used to have soybean paste at meals every day, and the habit has continued to current times."

Selecting high-quality beans is vital to make authentic soybean paste. [Photo/people.com.cn]

The Manchu soybean paste is made through complicated steps including selecting soybeans, steaming, making sauce bars, fermentation, and more. To make authentic paste, producers should change their production steps and volumes of various ingredients following solar terms.

"High quality soybeans can all be well-steamed at nearly the same time, which means the consistency can be controlled," Liu explained.

The well-steamed beans need to be cleaned and made into bars.

"In ancient times, when there were no special fermenting rooms, people used to wrap the sauce bars with brown paper and hang them in the room to prevent rats from eating them," Liu added.

Staff members mix fermented beans with salt water. [Photo/people.com.cn]

After fermentation, the pili on the sauce bar needs to be cleaned and the bars are sealed in salt water.

The last step to make soybean paste is to mix the fermented beans with salt water. People have to use long sticks to mix them twice every day.

Liu said industrialized production methods gradually replace the traditional production mode but he wishes he could use his own way to inherit the traditional brewing technique and keep the traditional culture.

Fermented soybeans should be well-mixed with salt water. [Photo/people.com.cn]