食从何而来

Pig slaughtering is an annual activity for JiaRong Tibetans. It usually happens right before their New Year celebration. Almost every man got trained to do this kind of work when they were teenagers. Nowadays, pigs are much bigger than what they used to be. This one is over 500kg, which takes six strong men to do the work. Pig slaughtering doesn’t only take strength, but skills which come with tedious practice. It roughly consists of ten steps—slaughtering, pumping, clubbing, racking, scalding, depilating, singeing, stomach and back incisioning. Each step calls for careful decision-making and wisdom. There are a few local proverbs that were refined from this process.