Wenchang chicken, Danzhou chicken, ant chicken...the "chicken secrets" of Hainan that you don't know!

1. Is Wenchang chicken the only chicken in Hainan?

Chicken is closely related to the diet of ordinary people. In Hainan, there is a saying among the people that "no chicken, no feast". As early as the 1970s and 1980s, people who came to Hainan must have heard of or even tasted Wenchang Chicken, one of Hainan's four famous dishes. Hainan Wenchang Chicken has become the first of Hainan's four famous dishes because of its unique flavor and affordable price.

With the rapid economic and social development of Hainan and the increasing efforts in external publicity and promotion, Hainan Wenchang Chicken has long been famous both at home and abroad. Many large and medium-sized cities in China have opened a varying number of Hainan Wenchang Chicken restaurants or have Hainan Wenchang Chicken on their menus. Wenchang Chicken has become one of the main symbols of Hainan, and Chinese people also mistakenly believe that Hainan only has Wenchang Chicken. However, people who have lived in Hainan for a long time or the native people of Hainan do not agree with this.

The news that Danzhou chicken was selected into the "National List of Livestock and Poultry Genetic Resources Varieties" continues to attract attention. People chatted about where in Hainan the chicken is the most delicious and which chicken is most likely to be the next "out of the circle". What is the origin of the Danzhou chicken that made a big splash this time, and what other special chicken breeds are there in Hainan that are not well known?

2. Overview of Wenchang Chicken

1. Overview

Hainan Wenchang Chicken is named Wenchang Chicken because it is produced in Wenchang. It is a local excellent broiler breed in Hainan Province with a breeding history of more than 400 years. It is square in shape, with short legs, thin skin and crisp bones, sweet and tender meat, rich in nutrition, and has the characteristics of excellent color, fragrance, taste, shape and nutrition, and it is never tiring to eat. It ranks first among Hainan's "Four Famous Dishes". On September 29, 2004, the former General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine approved the implementation of origin product protection for "Hainan Wenchang Chicken".

Wenchang City is located in the tropical northern coastal zone, with tropical and subtropical climate characteristics, and a tropical monsoon island climate. Wenchang has abundant rainfall, but it is unevenly distributed in time and space, with distinct dry and wet seasons and prominent spring droughts. The annual rainfall is 1721.6 mm, with an average of 1529.8-1948.6 mm. The rainy season is mainly concentrated in the flood season from May to October, accounting for 80% of the annual rainfall. Wenchang is located in the northeast of Hainan Island, facing the sea on the east, south and north, with a land area of ​​2,488 square kilometers and a sea area of ​​4,600 square kilometers. It has blue sea and blue sky, shady trees, and spring all year round. Wenchang chicken was born in such a natural ecology and rich cultural history.

2. History

Wenchang chicken was introduced to Wenchang in 1600 along with mainland immigrants. The earliest description of Wenchang chicken can be found in the Qing Dynasty's "Lingnan Miscellaneous Poems". The book says, "There is a kind of female chicken in Wenchang County, and its meat is like pasture meat, and the taste is the best. It is said that the best part of a rooster is cut and put into the belly of a hen. Then it does not lay eggs, nor does it wake up in the morning. The feathers gradually become sparse, and it is unusually fat and tender. The same method is not tried in other places, so it is called Wenchang chicken." This kind of chicken is a castrated rooster, and Hainanese slang calls it "chicken castration". It is said that the ancestors of Wenchang chicken originated from Tianci Village, Tanniu Town, Wenchang County, Hainan Island. There are several large banyan trees in the village, and the seeds of the trees are scattered all over the ground. The seeds are rich in nutrients, and domestic chickens peck at them, and their physique is excellent. Since the Guangxu period, under the biochemical action of generations, a high-quality chicken breed with a petite body, shiny hair, thin skin, tender meat, crisp bones and crisp skin has gradually been developed.

3. Culture

There is a saying among the people that there is a village in Tanniu, Wenchang, where banyan trees grow abundantly. Banyan seeds are rich in nutrients and fall all over the ground when they mature. Domestic chickens peck at them and grow up with excellent physique. According to legend, during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, there was an old man in Tanniu Village. In order to let his son, who was a Hanlin in the capital, eat "chicken castration" when he returned home in glory, he locked several large castrated chickens in cages and fed them with rice bran and sweet potatoes. When his son came back, he ate the chickens fattened by his mother and thought they were "the best food". Later, when the Hanlin returned to Beijing, he brought several castrated chickens that grew up and were carefully fattened by eating banyan seeds to offer to the emperor. After tasting them, the emperor praised them and said: "Chickens come from a cultural town with outstanding people and prosperous culture. Chickens are also sweet. They are really Wenchang chickens!" Therefore, the chickens were named "Wenchang Chicken". Because it was named by the emperor, the villagers agreed to change the name of the village to "Tianci Village" to show their honor. Since Wenchang chicken was offered as a tribute to the emperor, every household later used Wenchang chicken as a sacrifice to worship their ancestors during traditional festivals, and businessmen also used Wenchang chicken as a sacrifice to the God of Wealth. This traditional custom has been passed down to this day.

4. Breeding methods

Nowadays, Wenchang chickens are intensively farmed. Although there are not so many banyan seeds to feed them, they are very particular. They need to be raised in the mountains and woods, giving them space to move freely and to eat plenty of wild fruits and animal proteins such as snails, insects, and grasshoppers. In the morning and evening, they also need to be fed a small amount of rice, bran, and crops such as sweet potatoes, which truly achieves original ecological farming. After 6 months of free-range, the chickens are edible. However, before slaughtering, the chickens need to be caged in a quiet and dark place, and they are prohibited from walking around. They are fattened for about 60 days. This is the uniqueness of Wenchang chickens.

5. Production situation

In 2004, Hainan Wenchang Chicken obtained the national "geographical indication" registration.

In 2009, Hainan Wenchang Chicken obtained the national "certification trademark" registration.

In 2016, Hainan raised 65 million Wenchang chickens, sold 47.8 million chickens, had 910,000 sets of breeders, hatched 150 million chicks, had 1,871 scale farmers, and had an output value of 1.9 billion yuan, accounting for 60% of the output value of Wenchang's animal husbandry industry, with 26,000 employees. The number of Wenchang chickens sold off the island reached 17.16 million, accounting for 30% of the total output.

5. Cooking and tasting

The biggest feature of Wenchang Chicken is that it is easy to make and delicious. It can be served after just a few stirs, boiling and stewing. The skin is crispy and the meat is tender. It bursts with a poke and smells fragrant and smooth. When paired with secret ingredients, it is truly a delicacy.

2. Hainan Pheasant

Hainan pheasant, also known as Hainan wild chicken, is the hybrid offspring of Hainan subspecies of Gallus gallus domesticus and domestic chicken. Compared with mainland pheasant, Hainan pheasant is completely different from the same species in terms of body shape and feather color. Hainan pheasant is smaller in size, with white ears. Male pheasants weigh about one to two kilograms, with colorful feathers, while female pheasants weigh only about one and a half kilograms, with simple feathers, mostly light gray.

Hainan pheasants are lively, good at running and flying, like to wander and forage, run fast, can fly up to more than ten meters, and can fly about one kilometer at a time. Male pheasants have a sharper voice, and when they crow, they make a "Yi, Yi, Yi-Yi" sound, which is very pleasant to the ear. Female pheasants have a smaller voice. Hainan pheasants like all kinds of insects, small amphibians, grass seeds, tender leaves and tender grass, etc. They are adaptable, cold-resistant, and not afraid of rain. They can withstand high temperatures of 40℃ in summer and like to live on high trees at night to prevent harm from various beasts or rodents. Hainan pheasants have tender and delicious meat, strong game flavor, and high protein content. Hainan pheasants can only be easily raised after being hybridized with domestic chickens.

3. Danzhou Chicken

1. Origin and Source

Danzhou chicken, also known as North Bank small breed chicken. It is an ancient chicken breed, evolved from stone chicken. It has a long history of breeding in Danzhou City, Hainan Province, and was bred as early as the Tang Dynasty. It originated in the North Bank areas such as Mutang Town, Emen Town and Yangpu in Danzhou City. Locals also call it stone chicken or North Bank small breed chicken. It is a very distinctive local chicken breed.

From the perspective of animal genetics and breeding, by observing and analyzing the appearance characteristics and genetic laws of the main traits of Danzhou chicken, the ancestor of Danzhou chicken is the red junglefowl.

Danzhou chickens are native to the northern shore areas of Danzhou City, such as Mutang Town, Emen Town and Yangpu. They are usually raised in the mountains and bushes, digging for food in the red soil and black stone piles, eating wild fruits or chasing insects. This kind of chicken is often called "North Shore Small Breed Chicken" locally, and among the elderly over 90 years old, it is also called "Stone Chicken" and the eggs it lays are called "Stone Chicken Eggs".

In the sandy and rocky land of the northern coast of Danzhou, this "stone chicken" has been breeding from generation to generation, sometimes climbing rocks and calling, sometimes flying through the jungle. Thanks to Hainan's unique geographical environment and traditional self-breeding and self-raising methods, Danzhou chickens have survived and reproduced in the local area for a long time. After a long period of domestication, today's Danzhou chickens are still "good at flying and fighting", flapping their wings and flying nearly 100 meters, walking in the mountains and forests to find food during the day, and resting on branches at night, preserving their precious pure bloodline.

The earliest record of Danzhou chicken can be found in Li Deyu's "Written on the Road to Lingnan" in the Tang Dynasty. In 848 AD (the second year of Dazhong), Li Deyu, who was demoted to Chaozhou Sima, had just arrived in Chaoyang when he received another demotion letter and was demoted to Yazhou Sihu. This poem was written by him during his demotion.
Li Deyu traveled south through mountains and rivers, passing through betel nut and coconut forests, and felt the unique customs of Lingnan. In his description, "In May, the rice fields are harvested, and the roosters crow at midnight." The local rice harvest is in May, and the roosters crow at midnight. Whenever the tide rises, the roosters crow and go to inform the villagers that the tide is coming.

The "Chaoji" in the poem is probably referring to the Danzhou chicken. There is relevant evidence in the "Danxian Chronicles" of the Republic of China, "The stone chicken is very small, also known as the tide chicken, it crows when the tide is high, and its sound is long and clear, like blowing a horn. Li Deyu's poem "Three o'clock in the morning, the official reported the tide chicken" is about this." This record is basically consistent with the description of "stone chicken" in "Guangdong Xinyu" which was written at the end of Ming and the beginning of Qing.
"Danzhou chicken is called stone chicken and tide chicken, perhaps because it grows in sandy and rocky land and has a very special call." Hou Guanyu, a researcher at the Institute of Tropical Crop Variety Resources of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Institute of Tropical Crop Variety Resources of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences), who has long been engaged in the collection and protection of Danzhou chicken varieties, said that there have been continuous records about "stone chicken" and "tide chicken" since the Tang Dynasty, and it is estimated that its breeding history is more than 1,000 years.

The name of Danzhou chicken was first written into the "official history" in 2009. According to the "Danzhou City Annals" (1991-2010), local chickens are free-range, have strong self-foraging abilities, can fly and run, and each household raises an average of five or six chickens, with some raising more than a dozen. During this period, local small-breed chickens were listed in the 2009 "Danzhou City Yearbook" as a specialty product, and their characteristics are "fragrant and tender meat, but small size and slow growth."

2. Related research

According to Hou Guanyu and his team from the Institute of Tropical Crops Variety Resources of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Institute of Tropical Crops Varieties and Resources), after consulting a large amount of historical data, they found that the earliest documented record of Danzhou chicken was found in the poem "Written on the Road to Exile in Lingnan": "In May, the fields harvested fire rice, and the officials at the three o'clock in the morning reported the tide chickens." Later, in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the "Guangdong Xinyu" Volume 20 "Bird Language" recorded the various chickens, including stone chickens, pheasants, sky chickens, western chickens, turkeys, ducks, wild ducks, etc. Among them, the stone chicken was described as "There is a stone chicken, which is very small, also called tide chicken. It sings when the tide is high, and its sound is long and clear, like blowing a horn. Li Deyu's poem "The official at the three o'clock in the morning reported the tide chicken." The "Danxian Annals" in the 25th year of the Republic of China recorded the birds including stone chickens, turkeys, bamboo chickens, pheasants, etc., and pointed out that "the stone chicken is very small, also called tide chicken, it sings when the tide is high, and its sound is long and clear, like blowing a horn. Li Deyu of the Tang Dynasty reported the tide chicken at the three o'clock in the morning."

"Danzhou chicken is called stone chicken and tide chicken, which may be named because it grows in rocky and sandy land and because of its call." Hou Guanyu said that there are records of "stone chicken" in Danzhou, Hainan from the Tang Dynasty to the present, and its breeding history is more than 1,000 years.

How did the Danzhou chicken maintain its pure breed after thousands of years? Hou Guanyu analyzed that it was mainly related to the characteristics of Danzhou chicken and the breeding habits of local farmers. "Danzhou chickens are not picky eaters and have strong wildness. They can live anywhere in front of or behind houses, making them more suitable for breeding by farmers in remote areas." Hou Guanyu said that since most of them are traditionally bred and raised by themselves, there has never been a centralized large-scale breeding of Danzhou chickens in history, so it is difficult to organize effective hybridization and improvement.

This free-range method has a historical tradition in Danzhou, and the "Danzhou City Annals" (1991-2010) has detailed records of this. Local people built chicken coops under rubber forests, casuarina forests, and bamboo forests. Chickens mostly forage in the woods and fields in front of and behind houses and near villages. Only in winter when it is difficult to find food, or in spring when eggs are laid, do farmers scatter some corn or other feed as supplementary food. Free-range Danzhou chicken has good quality and is a delicacy on the tables of local people. It is also a must-have in sacrificial ceremonies and wedding and funeral activities. In addition, local farmers prefer to raise livestock and poultry breeds handed down from their ancestors, which also allows Danzhou chickens to be passed down from generation to generation and continue to thrive.

In 2012, Hou Guanyu, who was originally engaged in Wuzhishan pig research, came across "Danzhou chicken" at a seminar and saw the broad prospects for the development of the "Danzhou chicken" industry. "After research, it was found that Danzhou chicken is a population formed by long-term geographical isolation on the island. It has not been hybridized and improved with other chicken breeds during the breeding process. It is a tropical chicken breed with important genetic breeding research and development value." This understanding strengthened Hou Guanyu's research confidence.

Over the past decade, the Institute of Product Resources of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Chickens has collaborated with Hainan University, Hainan Agricultural Reclamation and Livestock Group, Danzhou Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and other organizations to continuously carry out resource collection, organization, protection and research on Danzhou chickens. The Danzhou chicken grandparent breeding farm has a conservation stock of 8,000 chickens, and two populations of hemp feathers and black feathers have been established, pushing the conservation population of the Danzhou chicken central production area to more than 18,000 chickens, laying a solid germplasm foundation for the Danzhou chicken industry with scientific and technological power.

3. Features

Danzhou chickens were first raised in the northern shore of Danzhou, where they were raised in the mountains, forests and bushes, and allowed to dig for food in the red soil and black stone piles, eat wild fruits or chase insects. Compared with other chicken breeds, Danzhou chickens have very distinct characteristics, with a short body, compact structure, most chickens have whiskers on their beaks and hair on their feet. They are wild, adaptable, tolerant of roughage, resistant to disease and sociable.

The feather weight of an adult hen is about 1.1kg~1.3kg, and the feather weight of an adult capon is about 1.5kg~1.7kg.

The breeding cycle is longer than that of ordinary broiler chickens. Hens need to be raised for more than 180 days, and castrated chickens need to be raised for more than 240 days.

It has bright eyes, slender and powerful legs, and is good at flying and fighting. Its flying distance can reach 10~15m, and its continuous flight length can reach 50~100m. It is easy to scare the group, so if you want to catch it, you have to do it late at night.
Danzhou chickens have two egg-laying periods each year, namely March to April and September to October. They lay an average of 3 to 6 eggs in each period, with egg weights of 20 to 30 g.

Danzhou chickens lay fewer eggs, weigh less, have a strong brooding ability, and have a hatching survival rate of 90% to 95%. These reproductive characteristics are highly hereditary, even in artificial breeding environments.

4. Development History

In 2013, the Institute of Tropical Agricultural Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences and the Danzhou Municipal Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau officially named the variety "Danzhou Chicken".

In 2014, Danzhou Chicken was approved for registration as a geographical indication trademark by the former State Administration for Industry and Commerce.

In December 2017, Danzhou Chicken was named one of Danzhou’s nine specialty agricultural product brands.

On May 14, 2018, Danzhou chicken was included in the Hainan local livestock and poultry genetic resources protection list.

In December 2018, Danzhou Chicken won the second prize in the Hainan Province Agricultural Products Public Regional Brand Creation Competition.

In 2021, the Danzhou Chicken Breeding Base was awarded the National Forest Economy Danzhou Chicken Breeding Demonstration Base.

In 2022, "Danzhou Chicken" was awarded the "Hainan Fresh Products" provincial agricultural product regional public brand.

In 2023, Danzhou chicken passed the appraisal of the National Committee of Animal Genetic Resources and was included in the "National Animal Genetic Resources Variety Catalog", becoming the third chicken breed resource in Hainan Province to pass the appraisal and approval of the National Committee of Animal Genetic Resources.

5. Industry status

After long-term selection and natural domestication, Danzhou chickens are now fully adapted to the local climate conditions, with characteristics such as tolerance to roughage, strong resistance to stress, tolerance to high temperature and humidity, high agility, strong foraging ability, and singing day and night. Danzhou chickens can be raised in the wild, in a pen, or in intensive farming. The survival rate is very high under various feeding modes.

It is understood that there are more than 18,000 preserved chickens in the Danzhou chicken production center, mainly distributed in Dongcheng, Guangcun, Heqing and other towns, and also in Baisha, Changjiang, Qiongzhong and other places adjacent to Danzhou City. Under the "scientific research + enterprise + farmers" model, Danzhou City produces more than 2 million Danzhou chickens per year.

4. Wuzhishan Ant Chicken

Wuzhishan Ant Chicken is a small breed of chicken raised in the wild by ethnic minorities in Wuzhishan City. It feeds on insects and wild vegetables. It is named "Ant Chicken" because of its small size, with the largest weight not exceeding 2 kilograms. It has shiny fur, thin skin, tender meat and hard bones, which makes people never get tired of eating it. It flies to trees to sleep at night, and is called "Tree-climbing Chicken" by locals.

The special tropical rainforest climate and unique geographical advantages of Wuzhishan have determined that it has become a "wild" organic and healthy food. Wuzhishan pheasant is a local superior chicken breed in Hainan Province and the best poultry. It is a pheasant breed that grows in the original tropical rainforest mountains of Wuzhishan and is ecologically free-range in the disease-free mountainous areas all year round. Wuzhishan pheasants forage freely, eat more insects and green leaves, and the eggs they produce are much smaller than ordinary eggs, and the yolk is heavy and firm. It is rich in a variety of essential amino acids for the human body, high in iodine, high in selenium, high in zinc, and almost zero in cholesterol. As a special meat poultry, this chicken has multiple values ​​such as high edible, medicinal, economic and ornamental properties. Wild pheasant eggs have been tested by authoritative institutions and are organic and healthy products without antibiotics and drug residues.

Authoritative experts at home and abroad unanimously believe that Wuzhishan pheasant has the remarkable characteristics of tender meat, rich nutrition, delicious taste, kidney and blood nourishing, strong adaptability and immunity. It is indeed an indispensable "poultry delicacy and home game" on the dining table and has huge market potential.

6. Bawang Mountain Chicken Bawang Mountain Chicken is produced in Qicha Town, Changjiang Li Autonomous County, Hainan Province. The quality characteristics are thin skin, fine bones, tender meat, good taste and mellow flavor. The intramuscular protein content is 18~23%, the fat content is 2.0%~3.0%, and the cholesterol is 20mg~30mg/100g.
The Bawangling pheasant is native to the deep mountains and old forests of Bawangling. It is bred from wild red jungle fowl after a long period of domestication and selection. It has the characteristics of strong adaptability and disease resistance, high survival rate, and low feed intake.

The Bawangling pheasant is short and similar to a domestic chicken. Its feathers are close together, its body is well-proportioned, and its head is delicate. Its crown is mostly red and single, and a few are bean-shaped or feather-shaped. Its beak is black, and its eyes are large and bright. The color is mostly yellow, but there are also brown and gray. The male pheasant has a fleshy crown on the top of its head and a wattle under its throat. The exposed parts of its face, chin, throat and neck are light red. Its legs and feet are black, and a few are black with yellow.

Changjiang Li Autonomous County belongs to the tropical monsoon climate zone, with an average annual temperature of 24.3℃, a warm climate, no winter and no frost throughout the year, and distinct dry and wet seasons. There is sufficient sunlight and long sunshine hours, with an average annual sunshine of 2,000 to 2,600 hours. The average annual precipitation is 1,676 mm. From May to October each year is the rainy season and typhoon season, and the rainfall accounts for 90% of the annual precipitation; from November to April of the following year, it is dry and rainy, which is suitable for the growth of Bawangling pheasants.

In 2016, Bawangling pheasant was recognized as a famous agricultural product in Hainan. In 2016, the total area of ​​Bawangling pheasant breeding was 259 square kilometers, and the number of Bawangling pheasant in the region was more than 100,000.

7. Qiongzhong Pheasant

Qiongzhong pheasant is produced in Qiongzhong Li and Miao Autonomous County, Hainan Province. Qiongzhong Li and Miao Autonomous County is located in the northern edge of the tropical marine monsoon zone, with abundant rainfall, mild climate, and surrounded by mountains. It has unique mountain climate characteristics. The frequency of calm winds throughout the year is 55%, with the southeast wind direction being the most common throughout the year, and the annual average wind speed is 1.2 meters per second, which is suitable for the growth of pheasants.

The appearance of Qiongzhong pheasant has the main appearance characteristics of red jungle fowl. The rooster has red body feathers, white ear lobes, blue-gray shanks, a small and narrow body, wings close to the body, upturned tail feathers, and the two longer and drooping tail feathers in the middle are sickle-shaped; most of the hen's feathers are dark brown, and the upper back is yellow with black stripes; the tail feathers and wing feathers are darker in color, light black, the tail feathers are well developed, upright and upturned, and usually shaped like a half-open book. The hen is smaller than the rooster, and the color of the ear lobes, skin and feet are the same as the rooster.

Qiongzhong pheasant has high nutritional value and low fat. The moisture content of chicken is 70%-75%, ash content is 1%-1.5%, protein content is 20%-25%, hydrolyzed amino acid content is 18%-24%, and fat content is 0.1%-0.5%.

In 2017, Qiongzhong County has built a Qiongzhong wild pheasant breeding farm with an area of ​​8,000 square meters, with a stock of 15,000 pheasants. There are 16 large-scale pheasant farmers in Qiongzhong, and each household raises more than 2,000 pheasants per batch.

8. Hainan has many secrets

In short, Hainan Province is rich in livestock and poultry genetic resources. The third Hainan Province livestock and poultry genetic resources census from 2021 to 2023 focused on finding out the number, distribution, breeding environment and characteristics of local livestock and poultry breeds originating in Hainan, including Hainan pigs (including four groups of Tunchang pigs, Ding'an pigs, Lingao pigs, and Wenchang pigs), Wuzhishan pigs, Guangdong and Guangxi small flower pigs (Duntou pigs), Leiqiong cattle, Xinglong buffaloes, Leizhou goats (Hainan black goats), Wenchang chickens, Chinese Muscovy ducks (Jiaji ducks), and Ding'an geese. According to Li Boling, a senior animal husbandry technician at the Hainan Animal Husbandry Technology Extension Station, there are currently three new livestock and poultry genetic resources registered in Hainan Province, all of which are chickens, namely Danzhou chickens, Bawangshan chickens, and Wuzhishan ant chickens.

When you come to Hainan, you can not only try Wenchang chicken, but also various local specialty chickens distributed around Hainan, which will also make you linger in the aftertaste!