Eat our pickles, Sichuan urges

Pickles of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. [China Daily]

The message was sent by officials in the southwestern province of Sichuan, which has launched an aggressive promotion of its pickles -- a spicy vegetable mixture -- in a bid to counterattack challenges posed by the growing popularity of kimchi among Chinese.

Its latest step was to introduce the pickles to the menus of top leaders including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao attending the three-day Central Economic Conference, which ended on Monday in Beijing's Jingxi Hotel.

"We are promoting the pickles to the hotels, to the military camps, to university canteens, and to more supermarkets and restaurants," said Ren Yongchang, director of the Sichuan Provincial Agriculture Department.

Kimchi is a common side dish made of vegetables with varied seasonings from South Korea. Even a large number of Sichuan natives have been attracted by it.

"I like Korean TV, which often mentions kimchi ... so I bought some in a supermarket, and I love it," said a woman surnamed Zhang, a native of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan.

The history of Sichuan pickles dates back to 1,500 years ago. Exports of Sichuan pickles reached $2.8 million last year, accounting for about 0.1 percent of the $2.4 billion exports of South Korea's kimchi.