Shangdang Cured Donkey Meat 上党腊驴肉
Shangdang Cured Donkey Meat is featured among the local specialties of Shanxi.
Shangdang Cured Donkey Meat (上党腊驴肉) is a donkey-meat speciality of Changzhi (长治) in Shanxi, which China News Service calls the most famous of the city's well-known foods.
Ingredients
Fresh donkey meat is the main ingredient, prepared with a range of spices and seasonings, and China News Service describes the work as highly exacting. The name originally referred specifically to casserole-cooked donkey meat (沙锅腊驴肉).
Where it comes from
The 'la' (腊) in the name refers to the twelfth lunar month (腊月): according to China News Service, the name was given because the meat was first made in that month. China News Service adds that the meat was already widely known in the Jiaqing reign of the Qing dynasty and became a tribute food of the imperial court, and it quotes the popular saying 'dragon meat in heaven, donkey meat on earth'.
The Shanxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism included it in a Shangdang (上党) cultural-heritage travel route, which runs from Zezhou (泽州) in Jincheng (晋城) to Pingshun (平顺) and Licheng (黎城) in Changzhi. At the Pingshun stop the route suggests tasting it as a local snack, along with Pingshun eight-strand youtiao (平顺八股油条), a fried dough stick.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-24. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.