Knife-Shaved Noodles 刀削面
Knife-Shaved Noodles is featured among the local specialties of Heilongjiang.
Knife-Shaved Noodles (刀削面) in Jixi (鸡西), Heilongjiang, are wide hand-shaved noodles served in a fiery "spicy soup" (辣汤, la tang). The Jixi city government lists the dish among the city's own foods, and a Heilongjiang Daily (黑龙江日报) feature on Jixi food, republished by the provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, sets it against the Korean-style cold noodles it calls the city's signature flavour.
How it is made
The dish itself belongs to Shanxi (山西) cuisine. Dough is kneaded repeatedly and shaped into a long block, then shaved with a purpose-made knife, traditionally a broad metal blade with upturned ends, strip by strip straight into a pot of boiling water. Each noodle comes out pointed at both ends and broad in the middle, like a willow leaf, with a triangular cross-section. The craft of dragon's-beard and knife-shaved noodles was added to the national intangible cultural heritage list in 2008, nominated by Shanxi Province.
Heilongjiang Daily calls the spicy soup the soul of the Jixi bowl. According to the Jixi city government, the soup is simmered from selected chillies, lean beef, majiao (麻椒), a numbing pepper, and other spices and herbs, more than ten ingredients in all.
Flavour and texture
The Jixi city government describes the noodle pieces as chewy and the soup as sharply hot and fire-red, with a distinctive herbal aroma. Heilongjiang Daily calls the hand-shaved noodles wide, thick and springy, with a rich spicy soup that clings to them.
How it is eaten
Heilongjiang Daily pairs the bowl with datoucai (大头菜) soaked in vinegar, which gives the meal a sour-hot, appetite-waking edge. An article on the Jixi city government portal writes that the hand-shaved noodles carry the memories of miners, and presents them alongside Korean-style cold noodles, Xingkai Lake (兴凯湖) white fish and Manchu suantangzi (酸汤子) as part of Jixi's local table.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-24. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.
Image credits & notes (1)
- Daoxiaomian: hand-shaved wide wheat noodles in a spicy broth with beef chunks, scallion and cilantro · 刀削面：宽面条配牛肉块、葱花与香菜的辣汤面Photo: N509FZ · CC BY-SA 4.0 · taken 2020-10-11Resized for the web; the photo itself has not been edited. Thumbnails may show a cropped view.
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