Cantonese Pig

Facts about Cantonese Pig, The Cantonese pig is also known as the Kanton pig, Chinese pig, big spotted pig, large black white pig, Cacao pig, Guandong pig (because it is native to the Guangdong area of China), Pearl River Delta pig, Ta-hua-pai and dahuabai pig. The Cantonese word for pig is zyu, sometimes pronounced and spelled as “hua” in English.

The saliva of Cantonese Pigs contains pheromones-( A chemical substance used to attract a mate) similar to that of other pig breeds that communicate their sexual wants. The male Cantonese Pigs discharge this steroid and female pigs will go to vast lengths to acquire a smell of the sent.

History of the Cantonese Pig

The Cantonese pig was developed in the Zhujiange delta in the Pearl River area near Guangdong, China. The Cantonese Pig were raised for both meat and fat, which was often used as a lubricant. Rice farmers would raise a few pigs, feeding the swine leftover food, rice husks and the inedible parts of their vegetables. Pig rearing was more highly capitalized than rice production, due to the existence of pig buying clubs and pig raising co-ops.

The Chinese have a reputation for using every part of the pig in their cooking. Cantonese pigs were traditionally slaughtered for the Chinese New Year.

This tradition is so important that pork buying is often done by pork societies, also known as pork buying clubs. In these clubs, each person continues paying a portion each month toward the final purchase price of the swine; cuts are then distributed to each member, but choice cuts go to those with the highest social status such as the head of a family.'
Pig farming in China even today tends to be a secondary agricultural activity engaged in by rice or vegetable farmers who feed the pigs their leftover agricultural products, instead of the factory farm raised pigs of the West.

Physical Characteristics of the Cantonese Pig

Cantonese pigs are black and white. The Cantonese Pigs have thick black hair with a few strands of white. Many have a vertical white band around the front hind legs. The Cantonese Pig are wide and heavy, with protruding bellies. Unlike many pig breeds, the Cantonese pig usually retains small tusks.
Cantonese pigs strongly resemble the classic piggy bank, with a short fat body, protruding belly, short snout, full cheeks without the dished snout of many white pig breeds and short legs. Cantonese pigs were a form of savings or investment for the average farmer, something sold to pay for school fees, unexpected medical bills or raise any other sudden large sum of money.

Trivia about Cantonese Pig

The Chinese word for pig is “zhu”, and that word is shared with the Cantonese dialect. This term thus refers to the Cantonese pig.
The traditional Cantonese dish siu yuk or roasted pig is made by roasting the entire Cantonese pig. Roast suckling pig recipes go back over two thousand years in Cantonese literature. Cantonese pig’s ear is another delicacy. Pig blood curd or zhu hong is sometimes called blood tofu. New mothers traditionally feast on pickled pig’s feet.
The Cantonese version of the phrase “when pigs fly”, meaning that something is impossible, is “when pigs climb trees”.

One of the twelve Chinese zodiac symbols is the pig, occurring every twelve years. Several dates of the year of the pig include 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, and in the future 2019, 2031. The Chinese zodiac symbol for the year of the pig is s red, fattened Cantonese pig. The personality traits tied to the year of the pig are being ambitious, generous and easy-going. They are considered very healthy.

The Chinese use the term “fist like a pig foot” as an equivalent for having a tight fist. In contrast, the English phrase “ham handed” means clumsy or bungling. However, both languages consider referring to someone as a pig as greedy and stupid.

Cantonese Pigs unlike is said, happen to be very clean animals. Cantonese Pigs make sure their bathroom area is far away from where they eat, lie down and rest, even piglets (baby pigs) will find a place to go to the bathroom, far away from their nest. A domestic farm Cantonese Pig averages 6 to 10 baby piglets in a litter and will have two to three litters per year

Cantonese Pigs are very intelligent, not like people think, that pigs are dumb animals. A Cantonese Pig can drink between 10 to 14 gallons (37.8 to 53 liters)of water in a day. Cantonese Pigs are omnivores like humans, an omnivores, (definition-they eat both other animals and plants). The Cantonese Pig snout is its most important tool for finding food. The Cantonese Pigs snout is used for their excellent sense of smell.

Cantonese Pigs are raised for there meat such as ham, sausage, bacon and pork chops. Pigs can make great pets. "A wild male pig is called a boar"- meaning uncastrated male pig, that lives in the wild and can be hunted. "Feral pig or hog is defined as a wild boar" can be a very big danger where humans habitat.

Cantonese Pigs can carry a variety of diseases and can pass them to humans. Cantonese Pigs have small lungs compared to their body size.

The term Swine: is any variety of omnivorous, even-toed ungulates of the family Suidae, this includes hogs, boars and pigs having a short neck, thick skin a movable snout and a stout body.

Cantonese Pigs Feet

The four feet and four toes of the pig are called "trotters" that humans eat as a delicacy called pigs feet or pigs knuckles. A Cantonese Pigs foot has four toes that are pointed downwards when the pig walks, it walks on the tips of its toes, rather than its whole foot and only uses two of the toes in the middle and the outside toes for balance. The Cantonese Pig has tougher feet at the ends that are hooves. The two toes in the middle of the foot are slightly webbed, this helps the pigs balance for walking.

Cantonese Pigs have 44 teeth when full grown, when they are baby pigs (piglets) the have 28 teeth which will fall out when they are 12 months old. Just like human teeth, the Cantonese Pig has an enamel coating that makes the pigs teeth stronger and helps it curb disease. Cantonese Pigs chew their food because pigs have a digestive system similar to a human digestive system and cannot digest food that is not chewed.

Cantonese Pigs do not sweat a lot, that's why they cover themselves in the mud to keep their bodies cool. The expression "sweating like a pig" comes from a reference to pig iron, which comes form iron smelting.
"Scientific name for Pig Sus scrofa", the wild swine (Boar) from the old world with a narrow body and prominent tusks is from where most domestic swine come from. The "fear of pigs Swinophobia".