As to the question of genuine Guilin rice noodles, I don't how the people who want to learn the techniques of Guilin rice noodles understand. To learn the ideal original formula of brine which has passed from a thousand years ago, I think no one in the world can teach you. Even there is a formula, some raw materials had not existed for long. In the existing record of rice noodles history, Guilin noodles had begun in the early Qin Dynasty, and had been spread far and wide during the process of digging the Ling Canal and when Emperor Qin Shihuang united the south ridges. 

   I think everyone can understand any newly emergent things. In their initiating development stage all are development from singular to group such as the Beijing Roast Duck, Goubuli Bun, Xi'an Stuffed Meat and Steamed Bread with Mutton and other local delicacies with distinctive characteristics. At first, they also were a single shop and then spread to the whole country. But those with the best tastes shall be of the local shop of its original place. The same is also true with Guilin rice noodles.

Guilin rice noodles were the most prosperous in the Qing Dynasty. At that time, the fried rice noodles of Guilin ¡°Xuan Rong Zhai¡±, spiced rice noodles of ¡°Hui Xian Zai¡±, rice noodles in soup of ¡°Yi Rong Zhai¡±, all had unique skills and had attracted thousands of repeated customers. The three shops did not hinder each other in each other¡¯s business, but encouraged each other, each had special feats. If you sold noodles in soup, I would sell spiced noodles£»If you sold spiced noodles, I would sell fried noodles. It was fair competition and each of the shops used their brains to create new varieties. Therefore, until today, people like to talk about the story of "Three shops in open competitions"; The old shops which can still be remembered by people are not many. It is said by the older generation, in fact, Guilin rice noodles were only a convenient snack in the 1940s and 1950s or even earlier. Each shop was not large no matter whether the perspectives of production scale or sales operation. The population of Guilin at that time was also scarce. Many rice noodles were sold as shoulder pole rice noodles, the shops in strict sense like today were not many.

In the memory, the catering industry of Guilin was not so advanced even in the 1970s. After the Japanese had gone, the short prosperity of many old name-brand shops had not existed. After the liberation, many old name-brand shops had chosen operational methods of state-private joint ownership, and their business scope was very single. ¡°Tong Lai Guan¡±, ¡°Lao Xiang Qin¡±, and ¡°You Yi Xuan¡± almost all sold rice noodles in soup, with lean pork or streaky pork. Some even had no brines. So the sumptuous assortment of various subsidiary ingredients in the past can be hardly found. The old generation said, in the period of Culture Revolution, Guilin¡¯s rice noodle shops including the ¡°Wei Xiang Guan¡±, ¡°You Yi Xuan¡±, ¡°Lao Xiang Qin¡± were occupied by the red guards. Even eating a bowl of rice noodles must be under their command. Who had the mood to eat rice noodles? At that time, the masters preparing the brine all went home. The rice noodles of that time were the most distasteful. After the reform and opening up, many old shops reopened, not in state-private joint ventures any more; they were privately-owned small enterprises. But still there were many old shops disappeared in the long river of history.

At present stage, Guilin¡¯s rice noodle shops with good reputation include ¡°Wei Xiang Guan¡±, ¡°You Yi Xuan¡±, ¡°Shi Ji¡±, ¡°Sheng Li¡±, ¡°Fu Xing¡±, ¡°Zhu Lin¡±, etc. Some of them are business handed down in the family. Some of them are new forces rising up in the 1980s. Their preparing methods and tastes are all different, each has its own strong points. And most of them mainly sell spiced noodles. The noodles sold by ¡°Shi Ji¡± and ¡°Sheng Li¡± are too greasy. If they make variations on the ingredients, they will really worth that good business section in the Cross Street. The taste of ¡°Zhu Lin¡± has too much clove. Is ¡°Fu Xing¡± originally the ¡°Wu Zai¡± rice noodles shop in Beimen? If yes, they are too unserious now. The ¡°Lu Kou¡± Rice Noodle shop in Ertang locates in an out-of-the-way place but it wins many customers. It can be seen that it had made a lot of efforts in preparing the brines. The noodles sold by Aunt Liu Rice Noodles shop in the Shuidongmen are pale in color. Is it what people called white brine in the past? No one knows. Nowadays, are there people who use brown sugar to color up the noodles? The catering condition of the 1980s can not be compared with that of present. At that time, from east to west and south to north, the restaurants and hotels were very few. The night scene in the Xijiekou and Cross Street were half of the night lives of Guilin. Seeing the busy ¡°Shi Ji¡± shop, one can not help thinking about the past. When talking about the past, the Red Nose in the Xijiekou must be mentioned. He was the leading person of the Guilin rice noodles trade at that time, and his position was incomparable. Lao Tang also was from a rice noodles clan. The ¡°Tang Gou Zai¡± rice noodles shop in fact referred to the broad knife rice noodles in Wuyuanguan at the Wenchang Bridge opened by his father. He also had achieved something in rice noodles trade. An old man of more than eighty years old as he was, he was like a bare feet immortal with a drooping jaw and a black Tang suit. When he passed away, people attending his funeral banquet in turns occupy the pavement before his door, which was near the No. 2 Middle School. The banquet had lasted for several days. Most people came for the brand of Red Nose. His popularity can be seen from it. 

Perhaps until now what you have read is all about the history of Guilin rice noodles. But it is this history that has shaped today's 1,600 rice noodles shops and the genuine Guilin rice noodles.    Think about how many rice noodle shops which still opened after the turmoil and depression, and  where the technology of the more than 1,600 rice noodles shop come. It is just as what we have talked about. Some have been passed down from old shops, some have inherited from the family , some are taught for that friends and relatives wanted to learn a skill to earn a living, and some are taught by masters to apprentice. This is how the 1600 rice noodles shops come. Each shop can be said to be genuine. Or you can also say that each shop is not genuine. After all, new tastes and varieties have been invented in the process of passing down the old brine techniques. This makes the thousand rice noodle shops of today. It is not easy to open a rice noodle shop and do business in Guilin. I think existence is a reason itself. 

I have cherished a deep respect to the founding fathers of Guilin rice noodles. If there have to be a name of genuine Guilin rice noodles shop. I think only they are eligible to open such a shop.