On September 1, on the eve of the Chinese New Year Festival, Guangxi Wanya went public.

On this day, ducks are an indispensable dish for every household in the south, making a large wave of ducks "doomed."

Eventually, it becomes lemon duck, beer duck, white sliced ​​duck, roast duck on the table...

Guangxi "Duck Trade" business is booming

  At 0 o'clock on September 1, the "duck power" increased sharply in the Liuzhou Haijixing poultry trading area, the largest farmer's trading market in Guangxi.

  Under the bright lights, the smell of duck dung filled the air, and tens of thousands of ducks covered the stalls.

All kinds of ducks, including white ducks, swamp ducks, native ducks, western ducks, and blue-headed ducks, gather together and surround their ears with "quack" sounds, as if they are in the final exchange of "duck life".

  Thousands of ducks, no matter how loud they call, cannot escape the fate of entering the dining table.

  The market is full of busy figures. Sellers quickly catch ducks, pretend to be ducks, and weigh their catties while entertaining buyers.

In the early morning of the 1st, vendors were busy packing ducks.

Photo by Lin Xin

The busiest time of the year

  Every year on the eve of the "Chinese Yuan Festival", the spectacular "duck market" will be staged in Liuzhou.

The market was full of busy figures, and sellers quickly caught ducks, loaded ducks, and weighed catties.

Photo by Wang Yizhao

  The folks in Guangxi have the custom of slaughtering ducks to worship their ancestors and eating ducks during the "Chinese Yuan Festival". This is the hottest time of the year for ducks.

The ducks about to go to the table filled the market.

Photo by Lin Xin

  Affected by the epidemic this year, duck sales in the first half of the year have decreased compared with previous years.

"The ducks sold every day are only enough to maintain the expenses on the storefront and basically make no money." Li Guihua said.

  In order to welcome the "Chinese Yuan Festival", the vendor Li Guihua prepared milk tea and food all night to prepare.

“It’s the busiest at this time of the year. I usually sell hundreds of ducks a day. Today I buy 4,000 of them and come back for sale.” Li Guihua said. On the day of Mid-Year Festival, the sales of ducks soared. The price of ducks rose by about 1 yuan per catty. Worry about selling.

The vendor loaded the ducks into the cart.

Photo by Wang Yizhao

  The trader Lan Ozawa also hopes to get back on the day of "Chinese Yuan Festival".

Lan Ozawa, who has been in the "duck trade" business for 7 years, was too busy to take care of dinner that day. He said: "Duck business is not optimistic during the epidemic. I hope I can make more money this day."

  According to Tan Lu, manager of the poultry department of Liuzhou Haijixing, as of 22:00 on August 31, the sales of ducks in the market were about 80,000, nearly three times the usual sales.

During the epidemic, in order to ensure market safety, a complete elimination was carried out every other day.

"Before the ducks enter the market, the market will carry out a mass killing to ensure safety on the tip of the tongue." Tan Lu said.

  Fearing that the ducks would be sold out on the "Chinese Yuan Festival", Li Guihua kept five ducks for her family in advance.

"Our family also loved ducks, and planned to make a whole duck feast for the holidays." Li Guihua said.

The vendor loaded the ducks into the cart.

Photo by Lin Xin

Why do you want to eat duck on "Chinese Yuan Festival"?

  White-cut duck, vinegar-blooded duck, fried duck with ginger, lemon duck...In China, festivals are always closely linked with food.

The symbols formed by these foods represent different festivals.

  So why do you eat ducks during the "Chinese Yuan Festival"?

This question is asked every year, but so far there is no standard answer.

The vendor weighed and packed the duck.

Photo by Lin Xin

  Legend has it that a long time ago, people started raising ducks from March to April in spring, and they grew up during the period of "Chinese Yuan Festival" four or five months later.

Because life was relatively poor in the past, I was only willing to kill ducks to eat on festivals.

  It is also said that the Mid-Year Festival is the day when the ghost gate of the underworld is opened, and the ghosts will come to the sun to meet their relatives.

Ducks were brought by the deceased across the Naihe Bridge to Yangjian to meet their relatives. On the 14th day of the seventh lunar month, a large number of ducks will be slaughtered.

  There is also a legend that "duck" means "squeezing", and eating ducks can suppress the ghosts that wander for food this day.

  How to fry duck meat is delicious and simple?

Here is a recipe for you!

Braised duck, photo courtesy of Chen Wei

Basil Duck

  Ingredients: duck meat, ginger spring onion, basil, garlic, Zhu Hou sauce, white vinegar, white wine, sugar, oil

  practice:

  1. Slice the duck, marinate it with ginger, garlic, and white wine after flying in water to chop off the smell.

  2. Heat oil in a wok, sauté ginger and garlic, add perilla and saute until fragrant.

Add duck meat and stir fry until fragrant.

  3. After seasoning, add appropriate water to simmer the duck pieces for 20 minutes. The final thickening can be served on the table.

Photo courtesy of Roast Duck Chen Wei

Drunk Beer Duck

  Ingredients: duck, green onion, ginger, garlic, green and red two vitex chili pepper, white sugar, dried chili, dried pepper, star anise, cinnamon, bay leaf, bean paste, beer, light soy sauce, rattan pepper oil

  practice:

  1. Cut the duck meat into pieces and blanch it in a pot under cold water. Rinse and drain the water after boiling.

  2. Cut the green and red pepper into horse ear shape for later use. Heat oil in the pot and add a little sugar or rock sugar

  3. Turn on a small fire and slowly fry until the sugar melts and the bubbles become caramel color

  4. At this time, add the blanched duck meat and stir fry quickly to color

  5. Bring ginger slices, garlic slices, dried pepper segments, and dried peppercorns to medium heat

  6. Then add star anise, cinnamon, and bay leaves to fry until fragrant, then add bean paste and stir evenly

  7. At this time, pour in a whole bottle of beer, cover the pot and simmer on high heat

  8. Boil until the broth in the pot is thickened and add salt, then add green and red pepper and stir fry until broken

  9. Finally, put the light soy sauce and drizzle a little vine pepper oil, stir well and start the pot

Photo courtesy of White Duck Chen Wei

Ginger duck

  Ingredients: female hemp duck, ginger, sesame oil, glutinous rice wine, dark soy sauce, white sugar, medlar, salt

  practice:

  1. Wash the duck meat and cut into pieces, and cut the ginger into slices.

  2. Put sesame oil in the pot, add ginger slices when it is heated to 60% over medium heat, and gradually fragrant.

  3. Pour the duck meat when the ginger slices are simmered until lightly yellowed.

  4. Stir-fry until the duck meat changes color, pour in appropriate dark soy sauce and stir-fry until it is colored, stir-fry evenly, pour in Guangdong rice wine, keep on medium heat and stir for about 15 minutes.

  5. Stir-fry until the duck meat is dry and the color becomes darker, add sugar, star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, and season with appropriate salt.

  6. Participate in the boiling water of the duck meat, turn on a high fire until jubilant, turn the fire to a low heat and gradually simmer for 1.5 hours.

  7. Add the washed wolfberry to the pot 10 minutes before it is out of the pot. Turn on high heat, mix well and cook until the soup is fragrant.

  Photo/Text: Lin Xin Wang Yizhao