Cu Xue Ya: The Thousand-Year-Old Bold Soul of Quanzhou Cuisine

Cu Xue Ya (Vinegar-Blood Duck), an iconic dish from Quanzhou in Guangxi, mesmerizes with its striking dark glaze and profound historical roots dating back to the Jin Dynasty over 1,600 years ago. The dish’s soul lies in its signature sauce—a bold blend of fresh duck blood and tart vinegar, stir-fried until velvety with tender duck pieces, aromatic ginger, garlic, and fiery chilies. Its deep burgundy color and intense aroma might initially surprise, but one bite reveals a harmonious explosion of tangy, savory, and subtly metallic notes, enriched by local ingredients like fragrant perilla and wild pepper.

Beyond its unique flavor, Cu Xue Ya carries a legendary origin. During the Six Month Festival (6th day of the 6th lunar month), a tomb keeper’s wife, afraid of blood, delayed preparing the ritual duck. In haste, her husband mistakenly poured duck blood into a bowl of vinegar meant for pickling. Unwilling to waste it, he stir-fried the duck with the vinegar-blood mix, adding wild pepper and perilla to mask the sourness. To their surprise, the dish turned fragrant and deeply flavorful—earning praise from neighbors and birthing a culinary tradition that spread across Guangxi.

From a humble household accident to a celebrated regional specialty, Cu Xue Ya is now a cultural emblem. Locals honor it during festivals as a tribute to resilience and ingenuity, while food adventurers embrace it as a taste of ancient Guangxi. To savor Cu Xue Ya is not just to enjoy a meal—it’s to taste a story that has simmered for centuries.