Longhu Mountain Luxi River Fish 龙虎山泸溪鱼
Longhu Mountain Luxi River Fish is featured among the local specialties of Jiangxi.
Longhu Mountain Luxi River Fish (龙虎山泸溪鱼) is fish from the Luxi River (泸溪河) fried and seasoned with local chilli. The Luxi runs through the Longhu Mountain (龙虎山) scenic area on the south-western outskirts of Yingtan (鹰潭), Jiangxi. Writing in June 2024, the Jiangxi magazine Contemporary Jiangxi (当代江西) cited the dish as an example of what the cooks produced at the first Jiangxi Xiaochao (江西小炒, Jiangxi stir-fry) cooking contest, held shortly before in Nanchang.
How it is made
As Contemporary Jiangxi describes it, live fish from the Luxi River are fried in the wok until golden, then sprinkled with the area's own local chillies (土辣椒). The flesh is fresh and full of flavour. The author of a People's Daily (人民日报) essay on Longhu Mountain in April 2024 had heard that Luxi fish living in the gaps between stones taste especially fresh, but a local friend told him that fishing on the Luxi had long been stopped to protect the river's ecology.
How it is eaten
The dish is part of the Celestial Masters' health banquet (天师养生家宴) that the Longhu Mountain tourism company presented in 2020, alongside Tianshi chestnuts braised with free-range chicken and Shangqing (上清) tofu. The company told China.org.cn (中国网) that the banquet was modelled on the family banquet menus of successive Celestial Masters (天师) of Longhu Mountain and adjusted to the seasons.
Where it comes from
The Luxi River runs 43 km through the Longhu Mountain area. Its national aquatic germplasm reserve for the long-fin catfish (大鳍鱯), approved in 2009, has been under a year-round fishing ban since 1 January 2020. A former fisherman told China National Radio (央广网) that when he was a boy the river held long-fin catfish, spiny barbel (刺鲃), yellow catfish (黄颡鱼) and catfish (鲶鱼), and that these fish had become hard to find. By October 2020 the scenic area's new fish-protection team, working with the police and market regulators, had seized more than 40 kg of illegally sold catch from markets and restaurants and taken down three 'Luxi fish' (泸溪鱼) signboards.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-24. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.