Sipping soup in Shiquan county

Shaanxi's Shiquan county is located between the Qinling and Bashan mountain ranges.

Shiquan is just one of the counties south of the Qinling Mountains dating back over 2,000 years. Many ancient cultural sites are situated in the county. Silkworm farming is a pillar industry in the area.

Shiquan has preserved the millennia-old custom of serving dinners individually as guests arrive in succession.

Residents offer them paotang soup when Lunar New Year approaches.

In ancient Chinese, pao means chefs and paotang refers to dishes they cook. Paotang is a kind of soup in which fresh pork is boiled in clean water. The meat, including large hunks of fat, is poured into the pot and mixed with fresh vegetables.

Locals view paotang as not only a popular seasonal dish but also as a source of nostalgia.

In rural areas in the past, slaughtering a pig for Spring Festival was not only a capstone of the year's labor and a symbol of family honor but also the main source of nutrition for the coming year.

So, every household would kill a pig in the twelfth lunar month to honor the longing for prosperity in the coming year.

A date would be set for the slaughter, when a full-time butcher would prepare the meat.

The owner would then use the fresh pork to make over 10 specialties, and invite the elderly and children, relatives, friends and neighbors to eat meat and drink from large bowls to share the joy of the year's harvest.

Shiquan's pork-soup banquet features 28 dishes－specifically, eight cold dishes, six fried dishes, six steamed dishes in large bowls, six steamed dishes in small bowls, plus one salty and one sweet soup.

Shiquan paotang was officially listed as a provincial-level intangible cultural heritage form in 2018.

If you go

Take the 2.5-hour bullet train from Xi'an North Railway Station to Ankang Railway Station. A taxi ride from there to Zhongba village, where the pork-soup banquet is held, takes about an hour and a half. The banquet is served during lunch and dinner daily.

Cost: 60 yuan ($9) per meal per person