Lugu Mountain Black-Bone Chicken

Lugu Mountain Black-Bone Chicken

The Lugu Mountain Black-Bone Chicken is an agricultural product with geographical indication status.

　　The two geographical indication livestock products “Lugu Mountain Black-Bone Chicken” and “Lugu Mountain Black Pig,” applied for registration and protection by the Livestock Station of the Puge County Animal Husbandry Bureau in Sichuan, have obtained the "Agricultural Product Geographical Indication Registration Certificate of the Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China."

　　Puge, known as “Pujii” in the Yi language, means a meadow at the foot of a mountain pass. Puge County is a multi-ethnic minority-inhabited county where the Yi people are the main ethnic group, alongside Han, Hui, Miao, Buyi, and 13 other ethnic groups living together. Lugu Mountain, called “Anhaluo” in Yi, meaning “Five Hundred Li of Peaks,” earned its name from its towering main peak that pierces the clouds and resembles the coiffure of a beautiful woman. It is connected with Xichang’s Qionghai Lake and Mount Lu, forming a large-scale AAAA scenic tourism area characterized by the “wild, strange, steep, serene, perilous, and beautiful” features of Huangshan, Huashan, Zhangjiajie, West Lake, and Dianchi Lake, and themed around geology, forests, and lakes. In the Yi language, the Black-Bone Chicken is called “A’zhi Yelian.” The breeding of Lugu Mountain Black-Bone Chicken has a long history. According to Volume 6, Section 1, Page 157 of the Puge County Annals: “The main poultry raised in rural areas is chicken, with every household keeping them. All are local breeds with delicious meat, primarily free-range. The Black-Bone Chicken has high medicinal value…” The Puge County Animal Husbandry Annals state: “Every household raises chickens. The Black-Bone Chicken is dual-purpose for meat and eggs, with tender, flavorful meat, and the native Black Chicken has high medicinal value.” According to the Le’o Te’i (Origin of All Things), “After heaven and earth were created, six suns and seven moons appeared simultaneously in the sky, causing extreme heat on earth and pushing all life to the brink of extinction. The hero Zigu’aluo shot down five suns, leaving only one, but there was still alternating light and darkness for nine days. Emperor Luo’yi wished for eternal light and sought the help of the Sun Deity. The divine chicken ‘Dongzhi’ was sent to summon the sun and moon. To gain their trust, it transformed into the Morning Star and instructed its descendants to crow three times in the day, and three calls each time, to welcome the rising and bid farewell to the setting sun and moon, ensuring their regular movements...” This shows the close relationship between chickens and the production and daily life of the Yi people. The unique “chicken culture” is deeply integrated into the distinct Yi customs and complements the Yi’s fire culture and liquor culture. The Lugu Mountain Black-Bone Chicken of Puge is a rare indigenous breed carefully selected and naturally evolved over time by the Yi people living in the mountainous regions above the mid-altitude zones of Puge County under special climatic, geographical, and ecological conditions. It possesses the fundamental characteristics of black skin, black bones, black meat, and black internal organs. The meat is delicate, delicious, and highly nutritious, offering excellent medicinal, tonic, and health-preserving functions, along with great potential for selective breeding and development. It is a traditional auspicious dish used by the Yi people to welcome guests and as a tonic, while roosters are also used in traditional cockfighting performances during the Torch Festival, deeply embedded in all aspects of life. The breeding of Lugu Mountain Black-Bone Chicken blends with the captivating Yi customs and distinctive tourism culture. With the development of tourism in Lugu Mountain, Puge County, the Yi people emphasize freshness when consuming poultry and livestock meat, focusing on original flavors—meat is slaughtered and cooked on the spot without excessive seasonings. Traditional Yi dishes made with Lugu Mountain Black-Bone Chicken, such as “Spicy Braised Chicken Soup,” “Diced Chicken,” and “Potato and Pickled Vegetable Chicken,” along with “Diced Pork,” “Diced Lamb,” “Diced Beef,” and “Roast Suckling Pig,” have become signature dishes reflecting Yi flavors, loved by more and more people from various regions. Lugu Mountain Black-Bone Chicken and its eggs are also indispensable in traditional Yi religious activities such as worship, prayer, divination, exorcism, and healing. During the traditional Yi New Year, on the first morning, the family fire pit is lit, and the family first slaughters a red-feathered Black-Bone Rooster for ritual purposes to invite ancestral spirits before proceeding to slaughter the New Year pig household by household. The Yi people have a custom of observing the chicken’s head, legs, and tongue to predict fortune and luck when serving chicken to guests. In Yi Bimo (shaman) culture, traditional religious activities like worship, prayer, divination, exorcism, and healing all require the use of Lugu Mountain Black-Bone Chicken and eggs. “Chickens can ward off evil and serve as messengers communicating with deities” reflects how precious the Lugu Mountain Black-Bone Chicken breed is. For a long time, these chickens have mostly been raised in free-range, scattered household farming. Due to socioeconomic development and the growth of tourism, the unique qualities of Lugu Mountain Black-Bone Chicken have gained increasing recognition and affection, leading to significantly higher economic value and breeding benefits.

　　Geographical Scope

　　Puge County is located in the valley region of southwestern Sichuan, situated in the southern part of Liangshan Prefecture, the northern edge of the northern Yunnan Plateau, and the southeastern edge of the Tibet Plateau within the southern part of the Hengduan Mountains. It spans 46 kilometers from east to west and 68 kilometers from north to south, covering a total area of 1,918 square kilometers. The county administers 34 townships, 154 administrative villages, 4 neighborhood committees, and 733 villager groups, with a total population of 148,000. It is a multi-ethnic minority-inhabited county where the Yi people are the main ethnic group, alongside Han, Hui, Miao, Buyi, and 13 other ethnic groups. The Lugu Mountain Black-Bone Chicken of Puge is mainly distributed across 14 townships in mountainous regions at elevations of 1,800–2,500 meters within the drainage basins of the Zemu River and Xiluo River, including Hongmoyida, Mahong, Luogan, Yuwu, Zhulian, Caizi, Yedi, Tezi, Menggan, Ganditian, Luogou, Huilong, Li’an, and Wenping. The area stretches from Yedi Village in Yedi Township in the east, to Baoli Village in Daping Township in the south, to Ganhgou Village in Li’an Township in the west, and to Hongmo Village in Hongmoyida Township in the north. Its geographical coordinates are longitude 102°26′ to 102°46′ and latitude 27°13′ to 27°30′. The main production area raises around 100,000 chickens annually, mostly through ecological free-range farming by households in pristine mountain forests and grasslands.