Ham and Chicken Offal Rice Noodles is a traditional delicacy that the Bai people in Heqing must eat during the Qingming Festival, and it is also a famous dish served to honored guests. It uses carefully selected ingredients, is exquisitely prepared, and has a unique seasoning. The finished dish is fragrant, sweet and slightly spicy, with the rice noodles and glutinous cakes being smooth and fine without any grit, and the ham and chicken offal leaving a lingering aftertaste. “There are eighteen oddities in Yunnan, where flatcakes are called 'ěr' (with the 'rice' radical on the left…” Speaking of Yunnan’s 'ěr' (with the 'rice' radical on the left and the 'fast' radical on the right), it actually has long been documented. The "Rites of Zhou" recorded the consumption of 'ěr.' Some ancient texts describe the method of making 'ěr' as washing the rice clean, steaming it in a pot, then taking it out and mashing it into a cake shape. The method of making 'ěr' thousands of years ago is basically the same as the method used today, so Yunnan's 'ěr' is 'ancient' rather than 'odd.' The preparation of Ham and Chicken Offal Rice Noodles is largely the same as that of Kunming’s stir-fried 'ěr.' (Dali)
Fengyu inkstones from Eryuan are renowned far and wide. The Nine-Dragon Inkstone is housed in the Kunming World Expo Garden, and collectors range from central government leaders and foreign scholars to prominent Chinese literati. The stone is fine-grained and moisture-retentive, ideal for preserving ink. Each piece is meticulously hand-carved by artisans, making every inkstone a unique masterpiece—so rare that they are hard to come by. Fengyu inkstones have a crafting history spanning three hundred years…
A famous dish in the food culture of the Bai people in Eryuan. The main ingredient used is the local Yunnan specialty — sour papaya. When ripe, the sour papaya fruit is golden in color, fragrant, and extremely nutritious. It can be eaten raw but tastes sour and astringent. Eating it helps relax tendons and activate blood circulation, treat soreness in the waist and knees, dampness-related foot conditions, and prevent Japanese encephalitis…
Eryuan boasts picturesque landscapes and is dotted with hot springs, earning it the reputation of the "Hot Spring City." The chicken stewed in its hot spring water is truly exceptional. The hot springs here are rich in natural sulfur and mirabilite, and the chicken cooked in this mineral-rich water is not only delicious but also highly medicinal. Renowned far and wide for its tender and flavorful meat, the hot spring stewed chicken is fragrant and appetizing, absorbing...
This dish is delightfully spicy and sour, a classic Bai ethnic minority specialty. Commonly found on the dining tables of Bai families, the sourness of the papaya blends with its unique fruity aroma, slight sweetness, and spice, giving the spicy-sour fish an endlessly lingering aftertaste. Cooked in fresh flowing water, the fish is incredibly refreshing to eat. …
The Eight-Dish Feast served at Bai ethnic weddings and funerals is a concentrated representation of traditional Bai culinary culture. The dining table is an Eight-Immortals Table (a square marble carved table), typically seating eight people, with eight dishes served — commonly referred to as the "Eight Dishes." The Bai Eight-Dish Feast features a balanced mix of meat and vegetables, with rich flavors that are not greasy and vegetarian dishes that are not bland, offering rich nutrition. The dishes include fried, crispy...
The whole chicken is a traditional dish here, which has almost been lost in recent years. It’s considered a comprehensive tonic in folk medicine. Patients recovering from serious illness, women who have just given birth, or those who have undergone major surgery are all served a stewed whole chicken. The cooking method is similar to that of stewed meat — using an earthenware pot, covered with another bowl,…
The stewed meat we make here is quite special, and its uniqueness lies in the tools used for cooking it. When winter comes and the sky turns gloomy with a light drizzle, the whole family stays indoors, with nothing much to do. So what do we do? We stew some meat. It's a way to nourish the body—usually too busy to find the time, but now, with nothing else on our hands, it's the perfect moment for some hearty stewed meat. There’s nothing quite like it, so warm and full of family atmosphere. At such times, we take out an earthenware pot, clean it up, and prepare a cured pig’s leg. We roast it until it turns golden yellow and crispy. Of course, if you have dog meat or donkey meat, that would be even better. But if not, something more common like a pig’s leg will do just fine. We take out the less frequently used earthenware pot, dust it off, and get it ready. Then we chop up the pig’s leg and add in some choice tonic ingredients like Maguan Gui (a premium type of Angelica sinensis produced in Xishan, Heqing), Sutiao Ginseng, bamboo fungus, and cardamom. Once everything is in, it must be an experienced elder who adds the water—because you only get one chance to pour it in. Once the pot is sealed, it can't be opened again until it’s time to eat. Add too much water, and you might not finish it all, which would be wasteful and could also ruin the flavor. Add too little, and the contents might burn, which would be an even bigger loss.
The fresh pig liver has been air-dried to about half-dryness. By this time, the slaughtered pig has also been mostly cleaned up, so it’s time to prepare the liver. The housewife takes out the spicy Sichuan peppercorn powder produced in Dongshan, Heqing, which she prepared before slaughtering the New Year’s pig, along with the bright red chili powder from her own vegetable garden, the pure white pepper powder bought in advance,…
As the Heqing Basin enters the depths of winter in the tenth lunar month, the climate turns unusually cold under the influence of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Added to this is the sight of snowmelt gurgling cheerfully down from the mountain, the water crystal clear and sparkling as if it were freshly polished stainless steelware just out of a store, gleaming with new light. This is precisely the best time for the Bai people to...
Raw pig skin is a unique delicacy. In the Bai language, it’s also called “Heige.” During festivals and holidays, the Bai people always serve this very distinctive home-cooked dish—cold mixed raw pig skin—to their guests. There are generally two ways to eat raw pig skin and meat: one is to serve the raw skin and seasonings separately, eating them together as you go; the other is to mix the seasonings with the raw skin...
For the third time, I painstakingly glued the tail of that clay tile cat back on using water, preparing to do it a fourth time. Reflecting on the journey to find the Heqing tile cats, it really was quite an ordeal. Torrential rain, muddy and treacherous rural dirt roads, a battered Beijing Jeep crammed with six people and with wipers screeching incessantly, as if we were riding the waves...
Heqing County has a long history of handmade paper production, known for its high-quality products. Historical records indicate that during the Zhizheng era of the Yuan Dynasty (1341–1368 AD), paper production was widespread across the region. By the early years of the Republic of China, there were dozens of large-scale paper workshops, producing over 2,000 loads of white cotton paper and 3,000 loads of coarse paper per year…
As the name suggests, chicken pea refers to peas about the size of a chicken’s eye—some locals call them chicken-eye beans. They are flat and round, classified as a minor spring crop. These can only be grown in sandy, relatively infertile wastelands on barren slopes, making them a kind of “plant one gourd, harvest one ladle” green food, with yields of less than 100 jin per mu...
“Machang Angelica” gets its name from Machang Village in Caohai Town, Heqing County, where it is grown at high altitudes in a cool climate. Since being introduced from China’s northwestern Qinling Mountains in 1901, it has been cultivated for over 100 years. It now ranks the best among angelicas nationwide for its large size, plump flesh, and high volatile oil content. The largest fresh angelica head can weigh up to 550 grams, and when dried, about 200 grams. The heaviest whole fresh angelica weighs over 1,000 grams. Machang Angelica tastes sweet with a slight spice, has a fragrant aroma, and is warm in nature. It is known for its benefits such as enriching blood, activating blood circulation, moisturizing dryness and lubricating the intestines, breaking up blood stasis to generate new tissue, regulating menstruation and relieving pain, and treating headaches caused by blood deficiency. It is not only a commonly used gynecological remedy in traditional Chinese medicine but also a valuable ingredient for producing health foods and high-end cosmetics. “Machang Angelica” is popular not only in the domestic market but also highly favored overseas.
Whole Braised Chicken from Heqing is a specialty dish from Heqing County in Dali Prefecture, Yunnan Province. This whole chicken dish is a traditional folk food in Heqing and can also be regarded as a folk "all-healing tonic." It is commonly prepared for patients recovering from serious illnesses, women who have just given birth, or those who have undergone major surgery.
A common way of preparing pig liver among ethnic groups in northwestern Yunnan (such as the Bai, Yi, and Naxi peoples). The people of Heqing in Dali take it a step further by inflating fresh pig liver to its maximum using a inserted wheat stalk, then removing the stalk and steaming the inflated liver in a bamboo steamer. After cooling, the liver is sliced and mixed with cilantro, soy sauce, vinegar, chili, MSG, and salt to create a dish that is…
The Miao people living in the valley areas of Heqing County enjoy a variety of distinctive snacks, among which bamboo tube braised chicken offal stands out for its unique flavor. For this dish, an aged yellow bamboo tube is selected — one end is left with its node while the other is left open to serve as a “pot.” The cleaned chicken liver, gizzard, and other offal are chopped up and mixed with shiitake mushrooms, bamboo leaf vegetables, mint, mashed garlic, ground tsao-ko, …
Have you ever heard of raw sheepskin? Raw skin is a type of raw food here, such as thinly sliced raw pork, raw chicken, or dried raw beef. These are served with a dipping sauce made of vinegar, pepper powder, chili flakes... and eaten along with the blood-red meat—pretty similar to how Japanese or Cantonese people enjoy sashimi. The taste is actually...
Pig Liver Vinegar, like Blown Liver, is also a local specialty food. Since ancient times, there has been a saying in western Yunnan: “Lijiang flatbread, Heqing wine, and Jianshui women’s Pig Liver Vinegar.” This shows just how well-known Heqing’s Pig Liver Vinegar really is. This delicacy is also typically made around the Lunar New Year, when families slaughter their pigs for the festive season — making it the perfect time to prepare Pig Liver Vinegar...