The sauce is thick and sticky.
丁国云酱料粘稠、厚重。
Workers have to stir it with a fixed schedule to ensure fermentation takes place evenly within the jar.
需要人力定时的上下翻动，酱缸内的发酵才会均匀。
And within the jar, the micro-organisms restrict one another.
在这些酱缸里微生物的世界，
One kind's loss is another's gain.
互相制约，此消彼长。
The jars have been through many repairs during the past several decades.
酱缸修修补补，用了几十年。
The direct exposure in the sun can greatly stimulate the vitality of yeasts.
阳光的暴晒能够激发菌的活力。
But rain might mess things up.
但是雨水可能会搞砸一切。

Time slips always in the repeated sound of the lids of the jars being moved away and put back.
酱缸的帽子，不时被拿下来，扣上去，仁昌酱园时间就在这反复的声响里流走。
The sauce of China started a trend in human being's history of fermentation.
中国的酱在人类的发酵史上独树一帜。
Several thousand years have passed and it has become a fundamental flavor on dining tables in China.
数千年间，它成就了中国人餐桌上味道的基础。
In North China, the meaning of sauce is more straightforward.
在中国的北方，酱的意味更加直接。
Only a little paste is left in the jar of Wang Yueying's.
王月英家的酱缸里，只剩下一层缸底。
Enough salt ensures that Wang Yueying the sauce won't get frozen in severe winter.
足够的盐度王月英让酱在严寒中也不容易结冻。
In chilly northeast China, for quite a long time, salt in the form of sauce has provided physical and psychological support for people.
在寒冷的东北，长久以来盐以酱的形式成为人们身体和心理的一种依靠。
Three months later, it'll be time to make new soybean paste.
再过三个月就是下新酱的时候了。
But the preparation work shall start now.
但是准备的工作却要从现在开始。
The cooked soybeans are smashed in the pot.
煮熟的黄豆在锅里直接被捣烂。
In northeast China, soybean is the only ingredient for making sauce.
在中国的东北地区人们做酱只用大豆这一种材料。
The monopoly is also a luxury.
这样的单一也是一种奢侈。
Heilongjiang Province boasts the most fertile black soil in China,
黑龙江，有中国最肥沃的黑土地-黑龙江，
The farming and harvest here is short and hasty.
依兰县-这里的耕种和收获急促而短暂。
But the place produces the best soybeans.
却能出产最好的大豆。