Qingxu county in Taiyuan city launched a Vinegar Culture and Tourism Town project that will cost of 5.5 billion yuan ($772.2 million) to build on Sept 28.

Located at the intersection of Qingxu, Jiaocheng, Taigu and Qixian counties, the Vinegar Culture and Tourism Town site covers 8.27 square kilometers.

The project will focus on building five major clusters. These will comprise a vinegar culture industry cluster, as well as vinegar-themed leisure and health care, rural tourism, pastoral theme park and modern ecological agriculture clusters.

The project will be developed into a national demonstration zone for rural construction, featuring the vinegar industry.

Qingxu county is the birthplace of Shanxi vinegar, one of four top Chinese vinegar brands, and the largest vinegar production base in China. 

In recent years, the county has been developing mature vinegar as its strategic emerging pillar industry. It is an important path for the development of non-coal industries based on local resources and sound industrial foundations, officials said.

Through market guidance, policy support, investment, business environment optimization, the county has cultivated three famous Chinese vinegar trademarks: namely Donghu, Shuita and Zilin. It also has 47 leading provincial-level  trademarks and 45 vinegar companies.

To date, the county's annual output of vinegar has reached 700,000 tons, accounting for more than 80 percent of Shanxi province's total and 20 percent of the country's total.

Officials said that the county's annual industrial output value from the sector amounted to 6.5 billion yuan.