THE venerable, hand-crafted Qian Wanlong soy sauce brand turns 130 years old and is moving its antique vats and equipment to a new factory. Tan Weiyun takes a taste.

Red cooking or hongshao is the word for Shanghai cuisine. For centuries, the city's culinary culture has been stewed, simmered, sauteed and braised in soy sauce, a brownish-red condiment with a rich fragrance.

Behind these fermented soybeans is a famous old brand of "handmade" naturally fermented Shanghai soy sauce, Qian Wanlong. Qian was the owner in 1880 and wanlong means booming or prosperous.

And booming it still is.

The venerable brand is 130 years old and is moving its 400 antique fermenting urns to a new larger factory in Pudong New Area.

Stepping into the old, still-operating factory in Zhangjiang Town, Pudong, is like stepping back in time.

There are around 400 giant pottery fermenting urns, each over 100 years old.

Each produces around one ton of soy sauce, so total annual production of 400 tons is limited. But distribution is being expanded to Carrefour supermarkets and the Shanghai No. 1 Food Store on Nanjing Road.

A 500-mililitter bottle of Qian Wanlong soy source costs 12 yuan (US$1.76).

It's an open-air operation and the sauce ferments naturally under the woven-straw lids.

Surrounded by office buildings, this is the last and oldest spot in Zhangjiang Town, namely Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park, that hasn't been developed.

"My grandfather and my father used to work in the factory, making soy sauce for Qian Wanlong," says 52-year-old Wang Liangguan, who also has been making soy sauce for nearly 30 years.

"I'm the third generation, and my son is working here too," he says.

Much of today's soy sauce is artificially hydrolyzed, commercially produced and fermented under machine-controlled environments within only 20 days.

Qian Wanlong, however, makes soy sauce that is brewed from natural bacterial and fungal cultures in big vats for more than six months. In cold weather it takes 10 to 12 months.

The natural brewing process involves blending salted water, wheat, soybeans and a mold, then letting the culture ferment for months, then refining and bottling the sauce. No chemicals are added.

Qian Wanlong is believed to be one of the few companies in China and one of few in the world that still make soy sauce the traditional, old-fashioned way.

"I can feel my ancestors' presence and imagine a picture of them at work," says Wang as he runs his hand over a fermenting urn/vat that dates back to 1880 when the factory opened.

In fact, the way he makes Qian's soy sauce today hasn't changed since the days of his forefathers.

In 1880, a Pudong landlord Qian Ziyin opened the Qian Wanlong Soy Sauce Factory with an investment of 6,000 yinyuan (silver dollars), the old-time currency. At the time, an average worker earned 5-10 yinyuan a month.

Little did he know that this condiment workshop would not only survive but thrive and have a great impact on Shanghai's cooking history for more than a century.

What makes Qian's soy sauce famous are its "12 procedures." These include selecting prime soy beans, blending wheat, exposing beans to sunlight to get mold, and fermenting them in urns for as long as 10 months. Oil is also extracted in an old-fashioned compressing machine.

"Most of the urns date back to the 1880s and many have been repaired many times," says Wang.

When the soy sauce is produced, workers leave a little amount at the bottom of the urn, and this is brewed over and over again, like essence of soup stock or yogurt starter.

"The sauce is 130 years ago and its flavor is absolutely unique," Wang says with pride.

High standards are set for each step of production.

When selecting beans, the orders are to "look closely, remember, smell, touch and taste." The beans are soaked in water and then stewed in an earthen oven. Different seasons require different temperatures and soaking times.

Then comes growing the yeast or koji (the mold aspergillus oryzae) and related microorganisms. Wheat is added to the chopped, stewed soybeans and the mixture is poured into big shallow bamboo containers.

It stands for days and then green-and-yellow mold develops on the surface. The mold is removed and the mixture is poured into the huge urns containing salted water. The covers are woven of straw and they are removed in sunny weather. Every 10 days or so the works stir the mixture.

The procedure begins in spring and lasts until late autumn. The sauce is then stored and aged for a year or more to get mellow. The aged sauce is poured into bags filled with salted water, then a compressing machine extracts oil.

Traditional Chinese soy sauce is divided into several kinds:

? Shengchou (light or fresh sauce) is thin, non-viscous, opaque, and dark brown in color.

? Laochou (dark or old sauce) is darker and slightly thicker. It's aged longer and contains molasses for a distinctive consistency and flavor.

? Touchou (first source) is made from the first pressing of the soy mixture and is considered the best, like extra virgin olive oil.

"The moment you walk into the factory, the aroma hits you immediately," says Wang. "It comes from natural fermenting."

Today the factory displaces a carved and engraved wooden business license/plaque awarded by the imperial court of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Bearing gold characters, the board was the official permission certificate issued by the government.

The license was almost burned during the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976). An old worker hid it in a deserted workshop.

Due to its laborious hand-crafting and traditional recipe, Qian Wanlong's annual production is small and clearly cannot compete with big commercially produced soy sauce.

Qian Wanlong produces around 400 tons of soy sauce a year; each of the 400 fermenting urns contains a ton.

"Actually, that's quite a bit," says General Manager Zhang Huizhong who has been working at the factory for 25 years. He started as an apprentice when he was 17.

The Shanghai heydays for Qian Wanlong soy sauce were in the late 1970s when several outlets sold soy sauce in the city center.

"In those days annual production was no more than 50 tons and we couldn't meet market demand," says Zhang. "Because of the ancient laborious brewing techniques, it was hard to improve the output."

For decades, Qian Wanlong's main market has been overseas. It was the first exported soy sauce. Today two-thirds of its production is exported to Denmark, Norway, Australia, the United States and Japan.

"In recent years, we have been adjusting our strategy to give more attention to the domestic market," the general manager says. "This is also a good way to preserve this soy sauce tradition."

Last year, the Qian Wanlong soy sauce-making process was listed as one of China's Intangible Cultural Heritages -- the only one in the industry.

Now this time-honored soy sauce is available in the Shanghai No. 1 Food Store on Nanjing Road Pedestrian Mall and in Carrefour supermarkets. The general manager says it will be offered in more city food stores.

But times are changing, and so is Qian Wanlong.

The factory -- with all 400 century-old urns -- is moving to a new and larger factory in Gaodong Town in Pudong.

"The brewing method won't be changed. Everything remains the same," Zhang says.

The old factory will be renovated into a museum, displaying Qian Wanlong's history and every step of the brewing process.