This is a magical animal, you despise it, you insult it, you tread on it, but you can't ignore it.
Without it, history would go backwards, the country would be in danger, the people would be hungry, and the animal would be:
[动] （哺乳动物） hog
In particular, photo is a common pig breed in this paper, which is different from the traditional pig breeds in China. The picture is derived from @ VCG.
Today, the year of the Pig, the image of pigs all over the streets, pig body on the table, people around the world of pigs, the sea of pigs, it is time to bathe and change clothes, clean hands, a serious understanding of how important pigs are to China.
I, origin
Nine thousand years ago, a wild boar was captured by humans in Jiahu Village, Wuyang County, Henan Province (Jiahu location, charting @ Zheng Berong / Planet Research Institute); China is one of the earliest independent domestication centers of domestic pigs in the world, and the Jiahu site is the earliest known unearthed place of domestic pigs in China. Since 9000 years ago, the actual domestication time of domestic pigs may be earlier than that of the rest of the world. In addition to capture, pig domestication may also be carried out through symbiosis.
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Wild boars are stout and grumpy. Adult males can weigh up to 200 kg and are very aggressive.
(modern wild boar, photo from @ VCG)
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In a later oracle bone inscription, the ancients referred to it as sh based on their appearance (ragweed oracle, charting @ Zheng Burong / Institute of Planet Studies).
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A wide range of recipes, like to dig roots, pick fruit, so often appear in groups in human fields, looting, trampling on crops.
As a result, angry humans rushed to kill, for "chops" (inscribed oracle inscriptions, followed by human footprints, charting @ Zheng Burong / Planet Research Institute) (oracle-by-word oracle, followed by human footprints)
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Being chased, will not be easily obeyed, it with brute resistance, sharp fangs, rampage-like collision, trying to put the pursuer to death.
Especially sharp body hair high up, as if the size of another big circle, this is the "Howe" (oracle, high heck, body hair blown up during the fight boar, cartography @ Zheng Boyong / Planet Institute)
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However, the strong have their own strong hands, real human warriors, dare to face the tyrannical pig, and their uniforms, this behavior is known as "daring" (dare oracle, shape of a man with a fork in the eye, cartography @ Zheng Boyong / Planet Research Institute), this behavior is known as "daring" (daring oracle, shaped as a man with a fork in his hand)
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This time, however, the brave Jia Hu village warrior did not immediately kill the pig, but detained it, and even regularly fed food.
It seems that he is waiting for a better meal time (Liangzhu culture on the jade on the image of the pig, hindlegs tied to the rope, reflecting the initial detention and feeding of pigs; Because adult wild boars are irritable and difficult to tame, domestication may also start with wild boar cubs.
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This may be an accident, a historical storm has been opened from now on, it is no longer in control of its own destiny, it is only a grain of sand in the storm.
In the year 2000, its kind was captured, detained, fed, and bred under human supervision, and its identity changed from a wild boar to a domestic pig.
By 7,000 years ago, domestic pigs had spread all over the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. (according to Luo Yunbing, domestication, breeding and ritual use of Pig in Ancient China, China Pig appeared 7,000 years ago, Cartography @ Zheng Berong / Planet Research Institute)
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The long-term detention of human beings limits their moving space, and the feeding weakens their demand for field feeding, so the physiological characteristics of pigs have changed greatly.
Wild boar head and neck strong, mouth long and powerful, conducive to arch excavation, developed canine teeth can be used as a weapon of attack and defense, but also the front of the thick, the back of the slender, quite healthy.
The head and mouth of the pig were significantly shortened, the canine teeth degenerated, and the size of the pig bloated (diagram of changes in the pig body size, drawing @ Zheng Berong / Planet Research Institute, according to Qian Yanwen, Origin of raising Animals)
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Sex is also treated differently according to human preferences. Sows can provide meat and produce offspring, so they are loved by humans.
The grumpy boar has been castrated and has since become docile (the word for castration and uncastrated hogs in oracle, which is not castrated at the bottom of the abdomen, and which is slightly disconnected from the body, which has been castrated. Cartography @ Zheng Burong / Institute of Planet Studies)
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Life expectancy is also controlled by humans, ranging from 20 years to 1 and 2 years of age when slaughtered.
Because at this time its meat has stabilized, continued feeding will not significantly gain weight, it is better to kill the matter.
The proportion of underage pigs in the Jiahu site is as high as 81.4%, which is why (Pig bones at Jiahu site)
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But for humans, the domestication of the pig is successful, it only needs a small piece of local captivity, or in a small area near the village, very suitable for the settlement of the farming people.
It also does not pay attention to feed, human abandoned food residues, including rice husks, leftover food is enough to pass, by contrast, cattle, sheep need broad grass, and sometimes need to migrate (pig pen pig, image from @ VCG)
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Domestic pigs also grow very fast, reaching 70 kilograms between the ages of half and one. They are simply a fat machine (pig, photo from @ VCG).
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This machine also has very strong fecundity. Sows give birth to one to two litter a year, and one litter usually has 10 litter size, while cows, sheep and deer usually have only one litter a year. (baby pigs eat milk; photo from @ VCG)
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Good feed, fast growth, more raw, can be called low input, high return stable profit business, so when the wild boar was domesticated, the Central Plains residents in the meat food.
The proportion of pigs has risen rapidly, from an average of 10% to about 70%. (the growing trend of pork in total meat consumption in the Central Plains region was 10,000 years ago. Map @ Zheng Berong / Planet Research Institute, according to Luo Yunbing, domestication of Pig species in Ancient China. Feeding and ritualistic use >)
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It reached a peak of 90% 5, 000 years ago, and even after the domesticated cattle and sheep were introduced into the Central Plains, the proportion of pigs dropped slightly, but it remained at a high of 40% to 60%. A "pork state" is emerging (trends in the proportion of pork to total meat in the Central Plains region 6900 years ago, map @ Zheng Burong / Planet Research Institute, according to Luo Yunbing, domestication, breeding and ritualistic use of pigs in ancient China)
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However, pigs exist in the rivers and lakes (pig farms), but higher than the rivers (pig farms), the opportunity to eat pork, most of the upper class of the society "meat eaters", pork is still scarce and valuable.
Pigs themselves have a high cultural status, even deification.
Deification
In oracle bone inscriptions, the ancients had a home when they raised them under their houses (inscriptions in oracle bones, charting @ Zheng Burong / Planet Research Institute).
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The more pigs a family has, the richer it is. Pigs represent wealth, and eating pork stands for social status.
So in the daily lives of prehistoric residents, there is also a preference for pig-themed "creative products", including the charismatic Tao pig (Tao Pig, Hemudu Culture, now hidden in the National Museum of China, 7,000 years ago).
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Decorated with Pig markings (Pig-striped Pottery, Hemudu Culture, 7,000 years ago, the image of Pig-grain is somewhere between a domestic pig and a wild pig, possibly a pig in the process of domestication, now hidden in the Zhejiang Provincial Museum).
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Pottery pot depicting pig face (pig face colored pottery pot, Yangshao culture Banpo type, 6, 000 years ago, now hidden in Gansu museum)
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Pig-shaped pottery canisters (pig-shaped pots, Hemudu culture, 7,000 years ago, now hidden in Nanjing Museum)
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Red pig-shaped wine pot (red pottery animal-shaped pot, Dawenkou culture, about 5500 years ago, used to hold wine, four feet stand up easy to heat, some people think it is dog-shaped, now hidden in the Shandong Museum).
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In Inner Mongolia, Liaoning Hongshan culture, people are combined with pig head, snake body, with jade processing jade pig dragon, or worn in the necromancers, sheikhs chest, or decorated on the wand, become the symbol of divine powe
this moment。
Pigs are no longer ordinary pigs, but are endowed with the divine "god pig" (jade pig dragon, fat first ear, kiss front protruding, curled up like a ring, now hidden in the Liaoning Provincial Museum; others think it should be jade scroll dragon, not related to pigs)
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Shenpig continues to evolve, and even some scholars believe that it eventually evolved into the word "dragon" in oracle bone inscriptions, and the origin of pig and dragon is astonishing (a kind of "dragon" in oracle bone inscription is compared with jade pig dragon; according to Sun Li, on the basis of "Yu Pig Dragon")
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However, a mountain is higher than a mountain, a pig is better than a pig.
5300 years ago, Lingjiatan, Hangshan County, Anhui Province, another "Shen Pig" came into being. It was carved with a whole piece of jade, weighing up to 88 kg. It is the largest and heaviest jade pig known to date in the Neolithic Age.
Known as China's first Jade Pig (Jade Pig, now hidden in Anhui Museum)
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Pigs are so important that they should be sacrificed to gods and ancestors.
Four thousand years ago, people used pig heads, pig jaws, or whole pigs for sacrifice, accounting for more than 80 percent of all sacrificial animals (pig sacrifice was the proportion of animals sacrificed 4,000 years ago, "sacrifice" is the slaughter of animals for sacrifice, "sacrifice", "sacrifice," or "sacrifice"). Mapping @ Zheng Burong / Institute of Planet, based on Luo Yunbing, domestication, breeding and ritualistic use of Pig in Ancient China)
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By the late Spring and Autumn period, officials had established a fixed sacrifice system, in which the imperial sacrifice to the country was the highest standard, with a total of three kinds of animals called "Taolao", one of which was pigs (Takeo sign, Cartography @ Zheng Berong / Planet Research Institute), one of which was known as "Taolao" (Takeo sign, Cartography @ Zheng Berong / Planet Institute)
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This custom of offering sacrifices to pigs is still popular in many places to this day (Fujian Sun Pig Festival, photographer @ Li Yishuang)
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So far, pigs have given their bodies, their "brand image," for the prehistoric and pre-Qin Chinese, for the vivid "cultural creation products," for the grand sacrificial ceremony, but also for the life of the nobleman's wine pool meat forest (ragweed copper respect in the Shang Dynasty). Wine receptacle, now hidden in Hunan Provincial Museum)
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However, in the following days, pig sacrifice did not receive corresponding respect, but was repeatedly belittled and insulted, so that pigs "die in peace."
III, downgrade
During the Qin and Han dynasties, the number of domestic pigs was even larger and the industry of raising pigs became more popular. Many well-known figures had the experience of pig herding, for example, the male sun-sun Hong, who was from the official to the Prime Minister in the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. When I was young, I went to the Bohai Sea to raise pigs because of the poverty of my family. (in the Western Han Dynasty, pigs were raised at Tomb No. 12 of Shizhaishan in Jinning, Yunnan Province, where pigs were raised only by way of herding.)
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There are no shortage of masters among pig farmers, they become rich by pigs, rich enemy country (language from the "History of goods", meaning that there are a lot of sheep and pigs, the degree of wealth is equivalent to the King Hou)
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"Sheep Hog Thousand pairs" than the Kingdom of thousand times ", emperors still like to use pigs to show wealth, a variety of can be held, can admire the jade pigs buried in the tomb (the Han Dynasty jade pigs, now hidden in the Palace Museum)
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The mausoleum of Emperor especially and his empress, with a large number of animal terracotta warriors, including pigs (Han Yang Mausoleum animal terracotta warriors scene, photographer @ Yuyu wing)
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However, the number of pigs has increased, and the status of pigs has fallen sharply.
The need for war has greatly promoted the status of horses, the maturity of cattle farming technology, and the importance of cattle highlighted.
Cannot fight, cannot arable the pig, how still has the reason "to set aside the god pig"? The famous bronze galloping horse of the eastern Han dynasty, now hidden in the museum of Gansu province
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Once the Shenpig was arranged to live next to the toilet. The Han Dynasty specially designed a pig pen connected to the toilet, spilled straw and millet shells into it, used the trampling of pigs, and mixed human and pig excrement to form high-quality fertilizer. In the absence of fertiliser, this is one of the secrets of thousands of years of inexhaustible soil fertility in China.
For pigs, it is the deterioration of the living environment, narrow, dirty, stinky sky. (the Han Dynasty green glazed pig pen, above the toilet, the bottom of the pig pen, now hidden in the Palace Museum.)
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Environment determines fate, housing change pigs are born, a lot of notoriety ensues.
People dislike pig dirty, dislike pig stink, dislike pig lazy do not exercise, but in the environment imposed by human beings, pigs have a choice?
No!
The option is in the hands of humans, who need a species to be the venting object of bad reputation, and pigs "stand out" at this time.
Qin Shihuang toured the meeting to warn men and women who had sex with each other not to mate at will like a boar. (written from the Book of Records of the Emperor, "sending" means a mismatched boar).
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"the husband is not guilty of killing."
The queen of Han Gaozu, Lu Pheasant, broke his hands and feet, threw them into the toilet and named them "human fogs," meaning a pig in the shape of a human. (Western Han Shi Pig, now hidden in the National Museum of China)
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In the period of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern dynasties, nomads invaded the Central Plains, and the Chinese people's eating habits appeared huge change, mutton replaced pork, became the main meat food of Chinese people for thousands of years, and the last bit of dignity of pigs was also by deprive. (written from the Northern Wei Dynasty, Luoyang Galan)
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"Sheep is the most produced on the land." at that time, the famous agricultural production guide "Qi Minyao", in relation to animal husbandry, the content of raising horses and raising sheep accounted for 45%, 25% respectively, and the proportion of raising pigs was less than 4%, even lower than that of chickens and ducks (pig killing chart). From the brick tomb of Wei-Jin murals in Xincheng, Gansu)
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In the Tang Dynasty, pigs once again took the last place in the twelve zodiac signs formed by the great competition of 12 kinds of animals (the pottery figurines of the Chinese zodiac animal in the Tang Dynasty, now hidden in the National Museum of China)
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It was not until the Song Dynasty that the saviors of pigs finally appeared. They were not others, but a group of foodie.
Legend has it that when Su Dongpo was demoted to Huangzhou (Huanggang, Hubei), he chose half-fat and half-thin pork to cut into squares, simmered slowly in a small fire, simmering red crisp, thick soup and mellow taste, known as Dongpo meat.
(according to legend, "Pork eating Poetry" written by Su Dongpo)
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"get up in the morning and play two bowls, so that you can fill up your family."
Su Dongpo, who later became governor of Hangzhou, rewarded the migrant workers dredging the West Lake with the meat and became one of the most famous pork dishes (Dongpo Meat, photo from @ VCG).
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Legend goes back to legend, but innovations in dishes such as Dongpo Meat have indeed triggered pork's "revolution" industry.
One foodie is full, a group of foodie comes in again, and the attractiveness index of pork has risen sharply.
According to the records of the Song Dynasty, tens of thousands of pigs are transported into Kaifeng City every day, consuming a staggering amount of money.
Kaifeng's "foodies" love pork so much that a beautiful pork turnaround seems to be about to win (part of Kaifeng City in the Ching Ming River Tu, now hidden in the Palace Museum; Tokyo Dream Records may have exaggerated ingredients)
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During the Ming and Qing dynasties, China's population grew rapidly, with the North China Plain, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River plain, thousands of villages with even more than 10,000 people everywhere, and large and small lands were developed. There is no idle land (written by Zhao Yi in Qing Dynasty, one of the rice-shortage poems in Oubei Poetry).
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"the Cape Hill has been ploughed, and there is no room for breeding."
There is no land for grazing, cattle and sheep have been restricted, captivity of domestic pigs have been highlighted, pork has finally defeated mutton to become the largest consumption of meat in China.
Li Shizhen wrote in the Compendium of Materia Medica that "Pig, the Livestock of the World" (Old Summer Palace Pig head in Qing Dynasty, now hidden in Pauli Museum of Art)
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But has the pig's image improved accordingly?
Still not!
Under the background of tension between man and land, pigs can only live in narrow pigsty, still dirty, still smelly, is still the object of human ridicule.
Just at this time, the novel "Journey to the West" became popular, in which Zhu Bajie had many shortcomings, such as gluttony, lust, cowardice, incompetence, and so on. The ridicule of pigs went deep into the literary classics, and the aura of the former days was completely lost. The image has been irreparable (Zhu Bajie is a black, traditional Chinese pig rather than a white one, painted by four people on the Summer Palace's corridor, the Journey to the West.)
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Pig, what do we do?
IV. Miracles
In 1950's, China ushered in an all-round socialist construction, hundreds of millions of people were waiting to feed, a large number of farmland urgently needed fertilizing, pigs as the national economy and people's livelihood, has been paid more attention than ever.
Mao Zedong wrote in his article (from the note "raising a large number of hairy pigs here")
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"Pigs are a big problem with fertilizer, meat and exports in exchange for foreign exchange. All cooperatives have to put pig farming in their own plans," he said.
< People's Daily > also published an article on the front page, which promoted the pig from the last of the six animals to the first place, that is, "pigs, cows, sheep, horses, chickens, dogs". The situation of long-term suppression reversed instantly (17 December 1959 < People's Daily >).
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The people's enthusiasm for raising pigs across the country has also been mobilized (1960 Piglet poster "excellent female Breeders", author Jin Meisheng)
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Also appeared at one time, the boasting wind of a thousand jin fat pigs (the rural murals of the Great Leap forward period, a thousand jin fat pigs, the author is not known)
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And the real miracle, after the reform and opening up, professional farmers and industrial farming, instead of the thousands of years of court-style bulk farming, pigs as a "meat-growing machine" characteristics have been played to the extreme (modern pig farm, image from @ VCG)
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Today, there are six hundred and seventy nine million nine hundred and ninety nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine pigs in this country every year, 400 million pigs in the column, and an annual output of 54 million tons of pork, which is equivalent to the combined production of pork in other countries in the world, which is a miracle. (over the past 70 years, China and the United States have increased the number of pig stocks compared with that of the rest of the world. Cartography @ Zheng Burong / Institute of Planet Studies)
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The huge production put pork on the table of millions of ordinary people, with a variety of pork dishes, including, but not limited to:
Braised Pork with Vermicelli, Stewed Pork Ball in Brown Sauce, fried bacon, braised pork ribs, Sautéed Shredded Pork with Green Pepper, pot meat, Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs, white-cut pig hoof, fried pig liver, plum butcher meat, Coke chops, steamed meat with powder, boiled blood, bitter melon tendon meat, roasted meat, boiled meat slices with water. Pork dumplings, stewed pig hoof, ginger vinegar pig hoof, peanut pig hoof, Roasted Suckling Pig, papaya boiled meatballs, mushroom roast meat, thousand layers of pig ear, Yu-Shiang Shredded Pork, sliced meat slices, slippery fried ridge, incense explosive sausage, sauce elbows, chops of winter gourd soup, pineapple Gulaorou （Sweet and Sour Pork with Fat）, Crispy-skinned pig large intestine, chestnut stewed ribs, plum steamed ribs, crystal pig skin frozen, etc. (orange ribs, photo from @ VCG)
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In addition, pigskin can be leather, bristles are made into various brushes, and gelatin extracted from pig skin is used to make cakes, ice cream, beer and even pig bone powder to make fine porcelain. (bone porcelain was first made in Britain. China is now the largest producer of bone porcelain, from @ VCG)
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At the same time, pig's cultural image also ushered in great prosperity.
Chinese pigs and foreign pigs all have a wide range of fans in China, including the clever and lively little pig Page, the McDull, who always responds to the slow half-beat, the sunny piglet with special functions, and the three little pigs with different personalities. Wait a minute (McDull)
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As stated in the exhibition "walking with pigs", held jointly with the Institute of Archaeology, Peking University, and the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, "for thousands of years, there has been no domestic animal like a pig.
It is not only the most important meat resource for the Chinese people, but also has been playing an important role in the spiritual field, from domestication of pigs to the development of breeding and breeding techniques, from simply eating pork, to cooking pork as a delicacy, and from using pigs to be buried with them. To regard pigs as an important symbol of spirit and culture, human beings in the historical process of walking with pigs, production skills are improving, living standards are improving, customs and habits are changing, cultural knowledge is being enriched ".
After 9000 years of scouring, the pig's contribution to the Chinese people is indelible.
Today, when we have a wonderful New year's dinner, we may be more aware of it.
Pig, the country needs you, the people need you.
Happy year of the Pig to all of you.