Zhaoqing rules when it comes to food, with its Guozheng rice dumpling a household name in Greater Bay Area

Zhaoqing may not be widely known for its heavy industries or financial firms, but some of its farm and food products are household names in China’s southern Guangdong province, home to nine of the 11 cities in the Greater Bay Area.

Even amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the city’s farm output rose 7 per cent year on year in the first quarter to 3.77 billion yuan (US$555 million), while revenues from its fisheries sector jumped 17 per cent to 2.36 billion yuan, according to the latest government data.

Some 89,000 people in the city of nearly 4.2 million are relatively poor, according to the Zhaoqing government. In a bid to improve their income and raise their standard of living, the government is actively promoting its food products on e-commerce channels and trade fairs.

Below are five farm, fish and food items Zhaoqing is known for.

1. Zhaoqing Guozheng 

The glutinous rice dumpling, or Guozheng as the locals call it, is by far the most popular food. The fillings include 10 ingredients such as pork, dried shrimp, mushroom, dried oyster and salted egg. It is wrapped in plant leaves unique to Zhaoqing in the shape of a pillow or pyramid and boiled for at least eight hours until the ingredients form an integral body.

Many consider Guozheng as the “king of rice dumpling” for its size and weight of as much as one kilogram.

Unlike other places in China where the dumpling is traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival in May, people from Zhaoqing eat Guozheng during the Lunar New Year, and give it as a gift to relatives. Nowadays, a lot of shops in Zhaoqing sell the rice dumplings all-year round and these can also be bought online.

2. Gaoyao Maixi carp

Gaoyao Maixi carp is an oily freshwater fish grown in Zhaoqing. It has been well-liked by Chinese royalty for hundreds of years. Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) of the Qing dynasty (1644 to 1911), is said to have been a big fan of this fish.

The farming process of the fish is unique. The farmers first grow rice during spring. After the rice is harvested in May, they leave the rice heads in the field and fill it with water to turn it into a pond, which provides a mineral-rich and pollution-free natural environment to raise Maixi carp.

The locals use pork and bean curd sheets together with Maixi Carp to make a stew, using very little salt to preserve its flavour.

3. Dinghu Shangsu 

Dinghu Shangsu means “the highest quality of vegetable dish in Dinghu mountain”. According to local folklore, it was first made several hundred years ago by an old monk at the Qingyun Buddhist temple located at Dinghu mountain, a tourist hotspot in Zhaoqing.

Made with white fungus, different types of mushroom, bamboo shoot and vegetables mixed with mountain spring water, the resulting dish is delicious and full of fragrance.

4. Zhao Shi

Zhao Shi is the seed of a water lily found in ponds and lakes in Zhaoqing. According to local legend, the seed was introduced by a Taoist priest, who gave it to children to cure their sickness. The seed can be cooked with pork into soup. It is popular with women because of its touted anti-ageing properties.

5. Qiaotou mountain goat

The Qiaotou mountain goat is raised at Huaiji county of Zhaoqing. Residents of this mountainous area have raised these goats for hundreds of years.

They have a strong and well-proportioned body shape. Their meat is bright red and tender with high nutritional value. The breed made it into the “Guangdong Famous, Special and New Agricultural Products Catalogue” in 2015.