The crucian carp, one of the "Three Flowers," also known as the Crucian Flower, is not your ordinary crucian carp—it’s the River Crucian Carp. Regular crucian carp are shuttle-shaped, at most slightly wider than a shuttle. The Crucian Flower, however, is oval-shaped, with a plump and very appealing body. Ordinary crucian carp have dull grayish-black scales that don’t catch the eye, but the Crucian Flower boasts silvery-white scales that are dazzlingly beautiful. A regular crucian carp weighing half a jin (about 250 grams) is already considered decent, and if it gets any bigger, it doesn’t taste as good. The Crucian Flower, on the other hand, can grow up to five jin (about 2.5 kilograms), and the bigger it is, the tastier it becomes. With its large size and fresh meat, the Crucian Flower can be prepared in clear soup, stewed soup, clear stew, steamed, pan-fried and braised, or red-cooked—no matter how you cook it, it’s delicious.
Brightly colored and highly nutritious, salmon caviar is made from salted eggs of mature salmon. A four-year-old female salmon can produce 3,500 to 5,000 eggs, each about the size of a soybean. These eggs are as vividly red and crystal-clear as red agate, rich in phosphates, calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin D. Every three eggs…
Renowned and highly valued, sturgeon caviar is made from the salted eggs of Siberian sturgeon and Kaluga sturgeon. The eggs are about the size of mung beans, uniformly dark green in color, hence earning the nicknames “green gem” and “black pearl.” With their extremely high nutritional value, they are not only popular in European and American markets but also sell well domestically. Despite being quite expensive...
The refreshingly icy "shavings" fish slices use main ingredients such as taimen, lenok, grass carp, or pike that are frozen in winter or through artificial refrigeration. The fish skin must be removed while the fish is still frozen, and the flesh is then sliced into thin pieces of 6x2 cm and 0.2 cm using a sharp knife—resembling the wood shavings produced when a carpenter planes a piece of wood. Locally...
These steamed salmon chunks offer a unique flavor that blends both freshwater and saltwater fish characteristics. The salmon is first split raw, salted, and air-dried into fish fillets, then cut into mahjong-tile-sized pieces and steamed in a container, or the whole salmon can be cleaned and steamed whole. The result is an exquisite taste that marries the essence of the sea and river, making it a wonderful gift for family and friends.…
An indispensable dish for festivals and honored guests, "Raw Fish Salad" is made by taking one type of freshly caught river fish—such as carp, trout, taimen, or lenok—draining its blood, deboning, and slicing the flesh into thin strips. The fish strips are then marinated briefly in high-quality rice vinegar. The resulting pale, firm fish shreds are mixed with shredded cucumber, blanched radish strips, mung bean sprouts, and more...
Salmon is a precious migratory economic fish species in the Heilongjiang and Ussuri rivers. They are born in rivers, grow up in the sea, and eventually return to rivers to spawn. Each salmon weighs around six to seven kilograms, with thick flesh and few bones. Salmon roe is even more valuable — about the size of soybeans, golden and translucent like pearls, making it a delicacy often served at state banquets. The...
A knotted handicraft made using locally produced linen or cotton fabric from Heilongjiang as the base material, embroidered with cotton thread. Traditional techniques such as drawn thread work, hollowed-out hand embroidery, and knotted patchwork are employed to create beautifully patterned items like bedspreads, pillowcases, embroidered garments, tablecloths, napkins, and various mats. In addition to motifs like flowers, birds, fish, and insects, there are also endless geometric patterns…
As the saying goes, "Those who live by the mountains live off the mountains, and those who live by the water live off the water." The Hezhe people, residing in the Sanjiang Plain of Northeast China, make their living by fishing. They wear clothing made from fish skin and fish is their staple food. Through long years of life experience, the Hezhe people have developed numerous methods for processing fish. Among these, the most noteworthy is the “Raw Fish Dish.” The Raw Fish Dish…
As a traditional type of cured meat product, air-dried sausage is favored by consumers for its unique flavor, distinctive characteristics, and rich nutrition. The “Lijia Air-Dried Sausage” produced by Lijia Food Co., Ltd. is meticulously developed based on the traditional flavors of Beijing, combined with the taste preferences of people from Northeast China. This product...
It feeds on benthic organisms, mainly aquatic insects and mollusks, but also consumes various small fish. The spotted steed accounts for about 1.5–4% of the annual catch and holds certain economic value.…
Roe deer are a prized game meat, and their hides are high-quality material for making mattresses. They have been listed as a provincially protected species. Roe deer meat is delicious and tender, making it one of the valuable types of “game meat,” and it is also a popular export product. Roe antlers and horns can be used in medicine—similar to deer velvet, but with slightly less efficacy. The lungs can detoxify and are mainly used to treat lung abscesses. The hide can be processed into leather and used for making fur clothing, while the leg...
Yellowfin bream feed on aquatic plants as well as aquatic insects, small fish, shrimp, and mollusks. They grow faster than Chinese bream, have rich fat content and delicious meat, but their population is relatively small. Measures should be taken to actively protect and conserve them.…
Taimen is one of the most ferocious freshwater fish, extremely voracious and feeds all year round. As a specialty fish of cold highland regions, taimen inhabit the upper reaches of rivers and mountainous waters, where a certain population still exists. From an ecological perspective in nature, all species are interdependent. Therefore, active measures should be taken to develop, utilize, and protect this resource, ensuring the sustainable growth of taimen populations...
Fuyuan sturgeon caviar is a specialty of Fuyuan County, Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province. The widely renowned sturgeon caviar is made from the salted eggs of kaluga sturgeon and Amur sturgeon. The sturgeon eggs are about the size of mung beans, uniformly dark green in color, hence earning the nicknames “green gem” and “black pearl.” Due to their extremely high nutritional value, they…
Herring is not only a large, precious, and specialty fish of Heilongjiang Province, but also one of China’s renowned freshwater delicacies. Its flesh is delicate, red in color, delicious in taste, extremely rich in fat, and of high nutritional value. Fushey County has been named the “Hometown of Chinese Large Herring.” Fusheiyu Large Herring is a product with geographical indication for agricultural produce. Fus…
Taimen is a unique cold-water fish species native to the Heilongjiang and Ussuri rivers, also one of the "Three Flowers and Five Larges," ranking as the first among the Five Larges, also known as Hucho taimen. This taimen is a large carnivorous cold-water salmonid, one of the rare cold-water fish species in the world. The taimen in Heilongjiang may not be as big as those in Xinjiang—the largest ones are only about a meter long, weighing fifty or sixty pounds,...
A Delicacy Among Fish: The Mandarin Fish from Qianshao Farm, Fuyuan County, Heilongjiang Province The mandarin fish, scientifically known as Siniperca chuatsi and commonly called the osmanthus fish by locals, is regarded as a fine delicacy among freshwater fish. Along with the Yellow River carp, the four-lobed perch of Songjiang, and the large soft-rayed fish of Xingkai Lake, it is celebrated as one of China’s “Four Famous Freshwater Fish.” Though not widely abundant, this species is distributed across many regions—found in nearly all rivers and lakes throughout China except the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Among these, those from the Songhua River are considered the finest. The mandarin fish is a typical carnivorous species; even newly hatched fry prey on other fish larvae. Adults primarily feed on small fish of relatively low economic value. Its body exhibits a vivid yellowish-green hue adorned with numerous irregular black spots or blotches, serving as camouflage. These fish often inhabit the lower layers of slow-moving waters rich in aquatic vegetation along riverbanks. At times, they lurk in mud burrows, waiting to ambush prey. Once a target is spotted, they silently approach, strike with precision, and attack swiftly. In Heilongjiang Province, mandarin fish typically reach sexual maturity at around three years of age, when they grow to about 25 cm in length. The breeding season occurs in June, during which time males can be seen pursuing females in calm waters. Females release eggs into the water, followed by males releasing sperm, allowing external fertilization. At water temperatures between 23°C and 25°C, the eggs hatch in just over 50 hours. A single female can produce between 60,000 to 80,000 eggs, with larger individuals yielding over 200,000. Steamed mandarin fish is a traditional and renowned dish in Heilongjiang, celebrated for its tender flesh and delicate, clear broth.
Crucian carp, one of the "Three Flowers," also known as crucian flower carp, is not your ordinary crucian carp—it's a river crucian. Regular crucian carp are shuttle-shaped, at most slightly wider than a shuttle. The crucian flower carp, however, is oval-shaped, with a plump and quite pleasing body. Regular crucian carp have dull grayish-black scales that don’t stand out, but the crucian flower carp boasts silvery-white scales that are dazzlingly beautiful. A regular crucian carp weighing half a jin...
Fuyuan County is located at the confluence of the Heilongjiang and Ussuri rivers in a triangular area where the sun rises earliest in China. Just across the river from Khabarovsk, the largest city in Russia’s Far East, it is an ideal location for developing premium and specialty fish species. As the main producing area of the famous “living fossil” sturgeon and kaluga, it has been honored by the state as the “Hometown of Chinese Sturgeon and Kaluga in Fuyuan.”