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Love Korean kimchi pickles? Why not try some Sichuan pickles with the same taste?

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. The conference, held at Beijing's Jingxi Hotel, ended Monday.

"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.

Sichuan province officials unveiled a five-year development plan for pickles in August, aimed at catching up with the Korean kimchi and realizing an output of more than 15 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) by 2012.

The agriculture department said the pickle output in the province has already increased by 20 percent over the past year.

Questions:

1. Why did Sichuan launch an aggressive promotion of its pickles?

2. What country is famous for kimchi?

3. How old is the history of Sichuan pickles?

Answers:

1. In a bid to counterattack challenges posed by the growing popularity of kimchi among Chinese.

2. South Korea.

3. 1,500 years.

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About the broadcaster:

Nancy Matos is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Nancy is a graduate of the Broadcast Journalism and Media program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Her journalism career in broadcast and print has taken her around the world from New York to Portugal and now Beijing. Nancy is happy to make the move to China and join the China Daily team.