In the Chinese classic Journey to the West, the Liusha River is where the story "Pigsy vs. Monk Sha" happens, which makes readers very impressive.

There is also a Liusha River in Ningxiang, Changsha. Ningxiang people are known for their ability to study well and their expertise in raising pigs.
Ningxiang pig has strong disease resistance and gentle temperament. Its origin is Caochong Village  Liushahe Town, Ningxiang City, so it is also known as Liushahe pig.

Delicious but not cheap

The hog breeding base is just like a park. Hundreds of acres of flowers and plants grow on the pig farm, and so there is no fetid smell even when you stand next to the pigsty.
Ningxiang pig is in medium size and the largest one is no more than 100 kilos.

Its forehead has different horizontal wrinkles in shape and depth. Its ears are small and drooping. Its neck and limbs are stout and short. Its back is broad and its topline is sunken. Its ribs are arched. Its abdomen is large and drooping. The fur color is black and white in different shapes and there are three types of flowers in total.

In the breeding base, the rectangular pigsties are about 20 square meters each and each one has four windows and a large ceiling fan above. The ceiling fans and exhaust fans run 24 hours a day to keep good ventilation, so the base is still cool despite the high temperature of more than 30 ℃ outside.
At noon on July 19, Wang Moquan, a national senior culinary technician and Hunan cuisine master, cooked a Hunan homemade dish with Ningxiang pork: fried pork with chili.

A piece of streaky pork is first sliced into pieces and then pickled with salt, starch and soy sauce for a little while before being fried in hot oil for a short moment.
Then the fat meat is fried, letting the oil out before putting the chopped chilies. When the chilies turn soft, some salt should be added and finally the lean pork. Now, the fried pork with chili is done.

When you take a bite, the taste of meat and chili fill the whole mouth. Eating it with rice, the memory of childhood will come to the mind.

Ningxiang pork is sweet, chewy and tasty without unpleasant smell. At present, the market price of 1 kg is about 100 yuan. This year, Ningxiang is expected to sell 300, 000 pigs.

Colorful life of Ningxiang swine

The breeder carried a large bundle of fresh water spinach, amaranths and sweet potato vines to the pigsty at 10:20 on the morning of July 19.

Ningxiang pigs raised in the base eat three regular meals and two extra meals of leafy vegetables a day, and the time and the amount of food for each meal are strictly made.
Breakfast starts at 7:30, lunch at 12:00, and dinner at 17:30. They also eat leafy vegetables at around 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., including water spinach, cabbages, amaranths and sweet potato vines.

There are four tactile faucets on the sink of each pigsty. If pigs are thirsty, they just need to raise their head and open mouth, sucking the faucet with their tongue, and the clear spring water will flow into their mouth automatically.
Around 1:30 at noon, it is the hottest time of the day, a group of piglets are diving in Ningxiang Xiang Du Ecological Agriculture Park.

Eight three-months-old pigs, stood in line on a one-meter-high platform, plopping into the water one by one under the guidance of the breeder.

The breeding of Ningxiang pig is quite meticulous. Piglets build strong bodies by swimming and running, while big pigs are reared in captivity to gain fat.

During the whole feeding process, they can only be fed by ground and cooked grains and need to grow naturally for at least 8 months before being sold on market.

Their pork contains more than 40 kinds of essential minerals and trace elements such as potassium, calcium, sodium, magnesium, copper and zinc.

They have low cholesterol and high unsaturated fatty acid, so the pork is exported to Beijing, Hong Kong, Macao and other places.

How to select and identify Ningxiang pork? The easiest way is to see if it is fat and to touch if the meat is elastic.  

To keep Ningxiang swine's good genes

Ningxiang pig is a lard-type pig with rich genetic structure. It has a long history of breeding, but was once on the verge of extinction.

In the 1980s, fast-grown pigs were introduced in Ningxiang, which made the Ningxiang pigs no longer take up the market. The fast-grown pigs interbred with tens of thousands of local sows and delivered white-haired pigs. In 2003, Ningxiang pig only left 7 boars with 7 lineages.

Ningxiang pig has very high requirements for lineage, which must keep 31 lineages or at least 10. Boar changes a generation every 3 years. Each boar has a file and each generation has a complete set of lineage records.

In 2004, after hard search, local technicians found 3 Ningxiang pigs' lineages in the other county. There were finally 10, making the local hog escape from extinction.

Later, the pig was listed in the national protection list. The national reservation farm and protection area were set up in Liusha River.

Though the positive characteristics of Ningxiang pig were completely retained, the breeding quantity was still limited, which makes it precious and expensive.

With modern people's pursuit of higher quality of life, it is time to improve the popularity of Ningxiang Pig.

According to the living habits of modern people, we need to improve the rate of lean meat by making use of its inherited genes. The breeding method should also be improved to ensure the quality of the pork.

In addition, efforts should be made in maintaining the brand through traceability and unified standards to ensure the quality and brand of Ningxiang pig.