A newly established vinegar production workshop in Taiyuan,capital of north China's Shanxi Province,is attracting many tourists,local sources say.

At the workshop,built by Shanxi Mature Vinegar Group,visitors can watch the complete process of vinegar making and can sample vinegars in a variety of flavors.

A visit to the workshop is only part of a larger tourism program which concentrates on all aspects of the vinegar industry which is a specialty of Shanxi Province.Other activities include visits to China's first vinegar museum,based in a Taiyuan suburb and lectures on the history of vinegar.

Residents in Shanxi have used vinegar to flavour their food for thousands of years and the province is known throughout China as vinegar's birthplace.There are about 100 vinegar factories producing over 50brands of different vinegar products in the province.

(eastday.com March 18, 2002)