The traditional processing technology of Yunpingyao beef was approved by the State Council in 2008 to be included in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. Pingyao beef is one of the essence of the profound and long-standing Chinese food culture, in the ancient Han Dynasty, there was a description of beef processing that "sells knives to buy calves, sell blades to buy cattle, and has a good edge", and the unique flavor and prestigious Pingyao beef has been exported to Asian countries as early as the Ming and Qing dynasties. According to historical records, at the end of the Qing Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi passed through Pingyao, and after enjoying Pingyao beef, she smelled its fragrance and lifted its spirit, tasted its taste and relieved its difficulties, so it was set as a tribute to the imperial palace. After the founding of New China, in 1956, at the National Food Exhibition, Pingyao beef was rated as "National Famous Product", and with the famous singer Guo Lanying's song "Exaggerated Local Products", Pingyao beef was more famous in China, and the fragrance drifted at home and abroad.
Pingyao Ancient City, the production area of Pingyao beef, is a national historical and cultural city, and a large number of cultivated cattle are raised and used locally, which provides conditions for the development of traditional beef processing techniques. Legend has it that when Princess Wencheng of the Tang Dynasty entered Tibet, she was accompanied by a Pingyao beef processing technician, which shows that Pingyao beef has reached a very high level at that time. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the rise of Jin merchants, Pingyao merchants operated in all directions, and his hometown of Pingyao became a distribution center for goods everywhere, so Pingyao beef also spread throughout the north and south of the river with the development of local commerce.
The accumulation of thousands of years of history has perfected the traditional processing technology of Pingyao beef. From the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic, Pingyao beef workshops such as "Xingshenglei", "Self-Reliance", "Yuanshengchang" and "Longshengwang" were well-known in Shanxi Province. Years have passed, and now Pingyao beef has been passed down to the seventh generation. Pingyao Beef Group Co., Ltd. was named "China Time-honored" enterprise by the Ministry of Commerce, and the brand and processing scale of Pingyao Beef have also been greatly improved and developed, and have become the leading industry in the regional economy.
Pingyao beef is not only an affordable and delicious food, but also contains the professionalism and integrity tradition of Jinshang, and has high cultural research value. However, the traditional craft of Pingyao beef is all handmade workshop craftsmanship, which is passed down by old technicians. At present, with the aging of technicians, the traditional craft has been discontinued, and the traditional processing technology of Pingyao beef has been on the verge of being lost. Rescuing and protecting this precious traditional food processing technique is a responsibility and obligation that contemporary people cannot avoid.