Xiazi Mutton Rice Noodles 虾子羊肉粉
Xiazi Mutton Rice Noodles is featured among the local specialties of Guizhou.
Xiazi Mutton Rice Noodles (虾子羊肉粉) are the mutton rice noodles of Xiazi Town (虾子镇) in the Xinpu New Area (新蒲新区) of Zunyi (遵义), Guizhou. Wenhui Daily calls Xiazi the place where Zunyi's mutton noodles are most concentrated, with twelve brands of mutton-noodle shop trading in the one small town.
Flavour and texture
The bowl is known for a strong, spicy aroma and a fresh, clean-tasting broth. Wenhui Daily puts the attachment that people in Xinpu, Zunyi and wider Guizhou feel for it down to four qualities: la (辣), a stirring chilli heat; xiang (香), an aroma that is full and heavy; xian (鲜), a savoury freshness that lingers; and shuang (爽), a thorough, satisfying enjoyment.
Part of the dish's fame is a running joke: "Xiazi mutton noodles have no xiazi" (“虾子羊肉粉无虾子”). Xiazi is the name of the town, but it is also a Chinese word for shrimp, and the bowl is a mutton dish.
Where it comes from
A Bijie city feature carried by the Qixingguan District government groups Guizhou's mutton rice noodles into four "schools": Zunyi, Shuicheng (水城), Xingyi (兴义) and Jinsha (金沙). Xiazi's bowl belongs to the Zunyi school.
In Xiazi, mutton noodles have long been more than an ordinary breakfast. They anchor a chain that links goat farming, chilli growing and processing, rice-noodle making and fast-food packaging. The Xinpu New Area has pushed production lines for convenience versions, and both a just-add-hot-water type and a self-heating type are now made and sold through e-commerce platforms and the makers' own shops.
On 18 November 2020 the dish was presented at a tasting in Shanghai, jointly organised by the Zunyi city government's Shanghai office, the Zunyi commerce bureau and the Xinpu New Area administration.
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Shuicheng lamb rice noodles 水城羊肉粉 →
Shuicheng is another of the four schools of Guizhou mutton rice noodles, alongside the Zunyi school that Xiazi's bowl belongs to.
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.