China's Ultimate New Year Feast: Southern Twists Outshine Northern Traditions

"Killing the pig" can be said to be the top priority for Chinese people during the New Year.

In many places, slaughtering the New Year pig marks the prelude to the year's celebrations.

On the Loess Plateau in the northwest, the entire village collectively slaughters pigs, turning the chopped meat into minced pork. In the Wuling Mountain area of the southwest, the Tujia people prepare dishes like mung bean stew with pork intestines, stir-fried chitterlings, crispy liver, and blood tofu soup... Similarly, in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai-Anhui region, Huzhou locals make a bowl of salted vegetable braised pork and a pot of braised pork intestines as a delicious preview of the New Year's Eve feast.

Of course, there's also the Northeast, where the whole village gathers to slaughter pigs and cook a steaming pot of sauerkraut with pork and blood sausage. After finishing this dish, all that's left is to wait for the New Year. Northeasterners often call this meal "killing the pig feast." Broadly speaking, this "killing the pig feast" is widely distributed across China and comes in rich and varied forms. The pig and the New Year—two of the most important things for Chinese people—collide to create this hearty, substantial, and emotionally charged culinary tradition. From this perspective, it can be called "China's No. 1 hard dish"!

Across China, there are all kinds of "killing the pig feasts."

Photos 1 & 2 by Xu Zhiwei

Photo 4 by Xia Gongwen

Photos 3 & 5 provided by Visual China

In regions like Hunan-Hubei, Guangdong-Guangxi, Sichuan-Chongqing, and beyond... During the twelfth lunar month, waves of joyous sounds rise across China, heralding the arrival of the New Year. The only difference amid the same excitement is that in many places, it's not called "killing the pig feast" but rather "pork soup banquet," "washing the New Year pig," "slaughter pig meal," "New Year pig meal," "pork feast," or "pig slaughter gathering"...

A long-table feast after slaughtering the New Year pig in Xuan'en Changtan Dong Village, Hubei.

Turns out, the "killing the pig feast," this "China's No. 1 hard dish," can be so diverse!

Sichuan steamed pork with rice flour, Guangxi roast suckling pig, Yunnan stewed pork...

Just how imaginative are southerners when it comes to eating pork?

What does slaughtering the New Year pig mean to Chinese people?

This may trace back to the Neolithic Age around 8,000 years ago, when our ancestors successfully domesticated wild boars into pigs, officially beginning a millennia-long pork-eating tradition. Over the next few thousand years, pigs have remained by the side of the Chinese people. More importantly, in the evolution of Chinese characters, the character "豕" (shǐ) is the original form of "猪" (pig), while "家" (home/family) is "豕" topped with "宀," representing a roof. This shows that in ancient times, people believed that a home was incomplete without a pig.

Slaughtering the New Year pig in Shicang Ancient Village, Zhejiang, also signifies the beginning of reunion.

Pig slaughtering usually starts in the twelfth lunar month, with customs and timing varying by region. The pre-New Year "killing the pig feast" is unlike other festivals, where reunions are limited to small families. Here, participants include not only family but also long-unseen relatives, friends, and neighbors—making it a grander and more festive gathering. In the hands of southerners, with their richer culinary techniques, the flavors of this feast burst with boundless creativity.

Southerners' treatment of the New Year pig is full of imagination.

Slaughtering the New Year pig: The Sichuan-Chongqing New Year "party."

In 2023, Sichuan Province slaughtered 66.627 million pigs, maintaining its position as the top producer in China. If you ask who loves pork the most, Sichuan-Chongqing people are definitely at the forefront. And their love for pigs peaks during the New Year pig slaughter.

In Hefeng Township, Langzhong City, Sichuan Province, people are selecting pigs for New Year purchases.

Photo/VCG

Nowadays, people across the country have begun returning home one after another. For Sichuan and Chongqing locals, the first social gathering after returning home is enjoying "Pao Zhu Tang" (Boiled Pork Soup). While variations exist across regions, the core of the dish is a steaming bowl of soup made with pig offal like small intestines, liver, blood curd, and stomach. Other main dishes include steamed pork with rice flour, twice-cooked pork, stir-fried pork liver, and sour cabbage with slippery pork noodles. In more elaborate settings, the feast may feature seven large bowls and eight plates, adding to the grandeur.

In Chongqing, "Pao Zhu Tang" primarily focuses on offal.

Photo/Tuchong Creative, by Zheng Yun

In some rural areas of Sichuan and Chongqing where the traditional "Pao Zhu Tang" is still preserved, families buy a piglet at the beginning of the year and raise it with homegrown feed until year-end. When it's time to slaughter the pig, relatives and friends are invited to gather, catching up on the past year and looking ahead to the future. Even urban dwellers in Sichuan and Chongqing make it a ritual to invite friends to the countryside for a "Pao Zhu Tang" feast before the New Year.

Crispy pork and pork knuckle—Sichuan and Chongqing locals have countless ways to prepare New Year pigs.

Photo by Wu Zhengbo and Zhang Limei (right)

In Yunnan and Guizhou, slaughtering New Year pigs is as wild as it gets.

Though also in the southwest, Yunnan and Guizhou have distinct styles when it comes to slaughtering pigs. With numerous ethnic minorities, the ways of preparing pork dishes can vary drastically even between neighboring villages.

The pig-slaughtering feast in the southwest is equally lively.

Photo by Xia Gongwen

Some Miao people in Guizhou, like Sichuan and Chongqing locals, enjoy "Pou Tang" (sliced pork soup), accompanied by toasting and Miao songs for a festive atmosphere. The Dong people also eat "Pou Tang" but prefer "bath meat"—thick slices of fatty pork blanched in boiling water and dipped in salt and chili paste. The high-quality mountain pork shines with this simple preparation. Other specialties include Miao "cured meat," Bouyei "pickled bones," and Yi "chunk meat," showcasing Guizhou minorities' creativity with pork.

Guizhou's pig-slaughtering feast features uniquely bold seasonings.

In Yunnan, the New Year pig dishes are not just imaginative but also wild. In Luquan Yi and Miao Autonomous County, Kunming, the pig-slaughtering feast offers a visual spectacle. Unlike elsewhere, the whole pig is first roasted in straw before being butchered. The sliced skin and meat are dipped in seasoning and eaten raw—the roasted skin is tender and chewy, a Yunnan exclusive.

Yunnan's fire-roasted pig skin exudes a wild charm.

Photo/VCG

The Yi people in Luquan also have a famous dish called "liver salad," mixing fresh raw pig liver, skin, and bayberry sauce into a cold dish, another highlight of the feast. Beyond Kunming, Chuxing offers chunk-style steamed pork and fire-seared liver, while Xuanwei serves crispy fried beans with pork belly and blood curd. At this rate, trying everything might take decades in Yunnan.

Yunnan's specialty dish, "liver salad."

Photo/VCG

How Exquisite Is the Tradition of Eating New Year Pigs in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, and Anhui

Turning to the misty towns of Jiangnan, equally refined and delicious pork dishes await.

First, let’s look at Zhejiang’s Shaoxing, the true heart of Jiangnan. Shaoxing’s soy sauce gained fame as early as the Qing Dynasty, so for locals, the communal slaughter and feast are just part of the New Year pig tradition—the real highlight is making cured meats. Shaoxing soy sauce is simmered with secret spices to create a marinade, in which sausages, pig heads, ears, and trotters are soaked for days before being hung under the eaves on sunny days, awaiting the New Year.

These cured delicacies grace the table on New Year’s Eve, simply steamed into a signature Shaoxing dish. Though factory-made versions are now sold in supermarkets or online, for Shaoxing locals, the true measure of a good year is whether someone gifts them homemade cured pork.

Expanding our view to the broader "free-shipping region," Jiangsu’s Funing offers a communal slaughter where pork is distributed to households, making offal the star. Braised pig head meat, deboned with Yangzhou-level finesse, and stir-fried large intestines with local soybean paste—later stewed with belly and liver—create a uniquely Funing flavor.

Further west in Anhui’s She County, rituals precede the feast: cleaning halls and hanging ancestral portraits. Villages here preserve Huizhou traditions with dishes like "slaughter soup," braised free-range pork, and fried meatballs—a prelude to the New Year.

Beyond these, Guangxi’s "New Year pig washing" yields whole roasted pigs for villages, while southern Fujian hosts "fat pig contests" before turning them into festive dishes.

Returning north, though less refined, the harsh climate fosters bold flavors and equally hearty pork feasts.

The origin of such traditions is lost to time, but Northern Song records describe Jurchen hosts serving "meat plates"—layered fatty pork with scallions—hinting at early northern pork cuisine.

In Shaanxi and Gansu, minced pork reigns supreme!

Where does pork stewed with pickled cabbage come to mind? Not just the Northeast.

In northern Shaanxi, year-raised pigs meet pickled cabbage and potatoes—the latter a staple that once sustained winters and now stars in New Year feasts.

While this stew is a local favorite, minced pork ("sàozi") is the regional norm. A local saying goes: "Wealth is measured by wheat buns and sàozi jars."

The process, called "lán sàozi," involves rendering fatty and lean cuts separately with spices, capturing the golden, fried, and piping-hot essence of the term.

Stored in dry jars, sàozi lasts a year, elevating noodles, stir-fries, or buns with aromas that drift from kitchens to village paths.

The pinnacle of pork feasts? The Northeast.

Its dominance in Chinese pork cuisine is undisputed—slaughtering in snow, steam rising—but its fame warrants this closing spotlight.

Blood sausages, stewed with pickled cabbage, bones, and belly, dipped in garlic sauce, form the base. Skilled cooks add sweet-and-sour ribs or fried pork with chilies, while lard becomes cooking oil and cracklings fill New Year’s dumplings.

Harbin’s recent craze mirrors this cuisine: sincere, fiery, and substantial.

Whether called "slaughter soup," "New Year pig," or "butcher’s feast," across China, the pig slaughter heralds the Lunar New Year’s overture.

Are you home now? Have you had the New Year's pork yet?

This article is original content from [Di Dao Feng Wu].