In the Qingzhiwu area of Yuquan Village in Hangzhou, Zhen Shifeng is busy making the Hangzhouspiced soy-sauce duck, a traditional local dish which is popular during the Spring Festival.

“Atourist from Shandong province, who bought 200 duckslast year, hasalready ordered 200this year,”said Zhen.

Zhen, who has lived in Hangzhou for 34 years, learned the skill ofmaking spiced soy-sauce duckfrom a chef when she was running a restaurant. Now, at the end of each year, she makes hundreds of ducksfor relatives, friends, and regular customers.

It takes skill to make a good spiced soy-sauce duck.

The old Sheldrake duck that has already laid eggs is preferred. After removing the viscera, fat, and coquettish, the duck is plucked and its tongue is cleaned with kosher salt.

Then, the duck's wings are crossed, the breast is propped open. Hung the ducks in an airyplaceto dry.

The dried duck is soaked in a box filled with special sauce.

The sauce is made of raw materials such as soy sauce, sugar, cooking wine, ginger, cinnamon, fennel, green onion, geraniol, dried chili.

The duck will then be left in the box for 30 hours. Turn the duck over every now and then to allow the sauce to penetrate better.

Finally, let the duck dry for about 10 days so that all the sauce can be absorbed. The skin of the sun-baked duck turns a sauce-brown color and its abdomen becomes dry.

This is the Hangzhou spiced soy-sauce duck, a delectable specialty dish of Hangzhou cuisine that delivers the authentic flavors of the region.