Huánglián zhīxiāng, yī zhī tǔjī; huígān yī wǎn, liùshí yī rén. — Home of the coptis, one local chicken; a sweet aftertaste in one bowl, sixty a head.
Coptis chicken stew (黄连炖鸡, Huánglián Dùn Jī) is the county’s signature dish and its most literal expression of place: a local chicken stewed with coptis root (黄连), the bitter medicinal rhizome the county is famous for producing — “Home of the Chinese Coptis” (中国黄连之乡). The dish runs about 60 yuan per person, and its point is the coptis’s particular finish: the bitterness that resolves into a sweetness (回甘), the register that local palates read as the root’s quality.
Coptis is the county’s defining crop — the plant’s active bitterness (berberine) is the reason it is one of Chinese medicine’s most-used herbs, and the county’s plateau climate grows it well enough to name the county by it. The kitchen use follows the medicine’s logic: a small quantity of the root in a long stew, where the bitterness infuses the broth without overwhelming it, and the finish is the huigan — the sweet return after the bitter. The dish is the crop’s edible argument.
The dish’s quality is decided by the root’s grade — the county’s own coptis is the point, and the kitchens that source it locally are the ones to pick. The correct order is the whole pot for the table, with the broth drunk last. The locals’ register is the mild version: enough coptis for the finish, not enough for the medicine.
flowcloud would say that the county named itself after a bitter root and then put it in a chicken — and that the huigan is the root’s way of apologising.
Where to find it: the county’s kitchens that source the county’s own coptis — the signature pot of the “Home of the Chinese Coptis”. All checked October 2026.
Words and Names
黄连 huánglián — coptis root, the county’s defining crop · 中国黄连之乡 Zhōngguó Huánglián zhī Xiāng — “Home of the Chinese Coptis”, the county’s title · 回甘 huígān — the sweet aftertaste, the coptis’s finish · 炖鸡 dùn jī — stewed chicken, the dish’s form · 土鸡 tǔjī — local free-range chicken