Biangbiang noodles facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Biangbiang noodles

Type	Chinese noodles
Place of origin	China
Region or state	Shaanxi

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Biangbiang noodles
Traditional Chinese	𰻞𰻞麵 / 麵
Simplified Chinese	𰻝𰻝面 / 面
Hanyu Pinyin	biángbiáng miàn
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin biángbiáng miàn Bopomofo ㄅㄧㄤˊ   ㄅㄧㄤˊ   ㄇㄧㄢˋ Gwoyeu Romatzyh byangbyang miann Wade–Giles piang2-piang2-mien4 Yale Romanization byángbyáng myàn IPA [pi̯ǎŋ.pi̯ǎŋ.mi̯ɛ̂n]
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	油潑扯麵
Simplified Chinese	油泼扯面
Hanyu Pinyin	yóupō chěmiàn
Literal meaning	oil-splashed hand-pulled noodles
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin yóupō chěmiàn Bopomofo ㄧㄡˊ   ㄆㄛ ㄔㄜˇ   ㄇㄧㄢˋ Gwoyeu Romatzyh youpo cheemiann Wade–Giles yu2-pʻo1 chʻê3-mien4 Yale Romanization yóupwō chěmyàn IPA [i̯ǒu̯.pʰu̯ó ʈʂʰɤ̀.mi̯ɛ̂n]

Biangbiang noodles are a special type of Chinese noodle from Shaanxi province in China. People also call them youpo chemian, which means "oil-splashed hand-pulled noodles." These noodles are famous for being super thick and long, almost like a belt!

They are considered one of the "eight curiosities" of Shaanxi. What makes them even more unique is the incredibly complex Chinese character used to write biáng. This character is one of the most complicated in the world!

What are Biangbiang Noodles?

These noodles are thick and shaped like a belt. They are usually made by hand. For a long time, they were a secret dish mostly eaten in Xi'an. Workers there loved them because they were quick to make.

Recently, these noodles have become very popular across China. This is partly thanks to social media. People are fascinated by the super tricky character used to write biáng.

The word biáng itself sounds like the noodle dough hitting the table when it's being made. It's an onomatopoeic word, meaning it sounds like what it describes!

The Special Chinese Character for biáng

The traditional character for biáng

The traditional character in a Song font

The simplified character in a Song font

American singer and TV personality Slater Rhea writes and explains the biáng character on Xi'an TV.

There are many ways to write the character for biáng. The most common traditional version has 58 strokes! A stroke is a single line you draw when writing a character. This makes it one of the most complex Chinese characters still used today.

Even though it's used, you won't find this character in most modern dictionaries. It's that special! The character is made up of many smaller parts, like "speak," "tiny," "horse," "grow," "moon," "heart," "knife," "cave," and "walk."

Using the Character on Computers

For a long time, it was hard to type or show the biáng character on computers. But good news! Both the traditional and simplified versions were added to Unicode in March 2020. Unicode is a system that allows computers to show text from different languages.

Now, the traditional form is U+30EDE (𰻞) and the simplified form is U+30EDD (𰻝). Before this, people often used pictures of the character. Or they would use other Chinese words that sounded similar, like biāobiāomiàn or bīngbīng miàn. Sometimes, they just used the pinyin (the way Chinese words are written using the English alphabet).

How to Remember the Character (Mnemonics)

This animation shows how to write the traditional character for biáng using a special poem.

People in Shaanxi province have created fun poems to help remember how to write this super complex character. These poems are called mnemonics. They help you remember things by making them into a story or song.

Here's one popular poem:

Where Did the Character Come From?

A Xi'an biangbiang noodle restaurant.

No one is completely sure how the biáng character and the noodles got their start. One story says that a famous leader from the Qin dynasty, named Li Si, invented the character. But this is probably not true, because the character isn't in old dictionaries from his time.

Some people think the character was made up by a noodle shop owner. This would explain why it's so unique and not found in official records.

Another idea is that the word "biang" simply comes from the sound the noodles make. Imagine the chef pulling the dough and slapping it on the table – "biang biang biang!" This sound then became the name of the noodles.

There's also a fun legend about a student who didn't have money to pay for his noodles. So, he invented the complex character on the spot to impress the noodle shop owner and get out of paying!

Images for kids

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  Biángbiáng miàn in Traditional characters.

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  One variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  Another variant of the Biáng character.

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  The simplified Biáng character.