Guiyang Travel Guide

Guiyang = Sour and Spicy Empire! Sour Soup Fish: two types of broth—red sour (fermented maolaguo tomatoes)/white sour (fermented rice water); add jiangtuan (longsnout catfish)/huanglading (yellow catfish) to the pot; the dipping sauce is the soul (burnt chili + mujiangzi oil + fermented tofu + fish mint). Must-eat: Changwang noodles (pork intestines + blood curd + crispy cracklings), Siwawa (Guiyang-style spring rolls, DIY fun), beef rice noodles (Huaxi Feiwan/Wang Ji), Liàn'ài Dòufu Guǒ (love tofu puffs), Lei Family Tofu Balls, crispy cracklings (lard residue snack). Spice level: medium to extra hot! Sour and spicy is the main profile.

2 days: D1 Qianling Mountain Park (see wild macaques for 5 yuan!) + Jiaxiu Tower + Qingyun Road Night Market; D2 Qingyan Ancient Town (600 years of history, a Ming and Qing military stronghold) + Huaxi Park + Guizhou Provincial Museum. 3 days: add a 1-day trip to Huangguoshu Waterfall (130km from Guiyang, Asia's largest waterfall, most spectacular during the high-water season from May to October). Budget: 500-1000 yuan.

Lao Gan Ma (Tao Huabi) = one of China's most legendary food entrepreneurs. Born in 1947 in a rural village in Meitan, Guizhou, she never attended a single day of school and could only recognize her own name. At 42, she set up a street stall in Guiyang selling cold noodles and cold rice noodles, and her homemade chili sauce was more popular than the noodles themselves—so in 1996 she founded Lao Gan Ma in Guiyang, starting with 4 pots and building it into a global chili sauce empire (annual revenue exceeding 5 billion yuan). Lao Gan Ma is called "Godmother" by Western netizens abroad. On Amazon, Lao Gan Ma Flavored Black Bean Chili Oil has tens of thousands of reviews—white people say it's delicious mixed with pasta, spread on pizza, or dipped with fries. Lao Gan Ma product matrix: Flavored Black Bean (the most classic, black fermented beans + chili + Sichuan peppercorn, salty, spicy, and fragrant, absolutely perfect with rice or mixed into noodles), Chili Oil (just chili + peanuts, crispy texture, can be eaten directly as a snack—many people eat Lao Gan Ma straight from the jar), Flavored Chicken Oil Chili (added chicken oil makes it more fragrant), Mushroom Chili Oil (a new flavor). Lao Gan Ma never goes public, never takes loans, never runs ads—because she believes "flavor is the best advertisement." Lao Gan Ma's bottle cap design is a disaster for people with weak hands—but Chinese people say "if you can't unscrew the cap, it means you don't love Lao Gan Ma enough."

Houttuynia cordata (fish mint / Houttuynia) = the soul vegetable of Guizhou people, and also one of the most divisive foods in the Chinese culinary world (standing alongside cilantro/durian/luosifen as the Four Dark Kings). Taste: a strong "fishy smell" + earthy freshness + a slight sweetness with a lingering aftertaste. Chemical composition: Houttuynia cordata contains decanoyl acetaldehyde (houttuynin), and this substance is the source of the fishy smell—it also has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects (in traditional Chinese medicine, Houttuynia cordata is a medicinal herb for clearing heat and detoxifying). How to eat it: cold-tossed Houttuynia cordata (the most common way in Guizhou—tender stems and leaves cut into sections + charred chili + soy sauce + vinegar + minced garlic + cilantro + crushed peanuts) + Houttuynia cordata stir-fried with cured meat + Houttuynia cordata dipping sauce (the dipping sauce for Guiyang siwawa/doufuguo must include minced Houttuynia cordata). Guiyang streets are full of Houttuynia cordata—in siwawa, in doufuguo, in dipping sauces, in cold dishes, in hot pot dipping saucers... there's no escaping it. For people from other provinces trying it for the first time: there is a high probability their face will contort. But if you give Houttuynia cordata three chances—by the third time you might be addicted. Just like blue cheese for the French and natto for the Japanese—Houttuynia cordata is the culinary identity of Guizhou people.