As a specialty in Qingyan Ancient Town, stewed trotters can be seen in dozens of shops. There is a folk legend about stewed trotters in Qingyan: it was during the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty that Zhao Yijiong, a native of Qingyan, prepared to go to Beijing for his examination. When he set off, his mother, amid worries that he might not be able to keep a nutritious diet on the road, cooked a pot of pig's feet for his journey. Finally, he became the first person in both Guizhou Province and Yunnan Province to take first place since the very inception of the imperial examination. Therefore, the Qingyan people also called stewed trotters as the "Top Scorer Trotters".
Qingyan Top Scorer Trotters is a delicacy that must be dipped with a special sauce, a mixture of vegetarian chili peppers and double-fermentation frothy vinegar that's only sold here in the town. Dipping the sauce, the oily stewed trotter is rich but not cloying and has an overwhelmingly appetizing smell.
Qingyan Top Scorer Trotters [Photo provided to english.guiyang.gov.cn]