Deng and his team [Photo/People's Daily Online]

Lanzhou is famous for its beef noodles. But what might come as a real surprise to the country is that people can now purchase beef noodles online.

One of the founders of "Niudafang", an online beef noodle shop is Deng Yubo, who was born in Lanzhou.

After he graduated from Lanzhou University with a doctoral degree in math in 2011, he went to Beijing to take up a post-doctoral position at a key university. A friend once told Deng that the beef noodles of Lanzhou were so delicious that he always ate them two bowls at a time.

The friend's anecdote triggered Deng's interest in beef noodles.