Gao Xianghua is a happy mom this year because she knows her teenage kids will eagerly finish the pork belly she is braising for the Lunar New Year feast.

Her secret? Chinese black pork.

¡°I want my kids to eat the good pork I used to have when I was little,¡± Gao said at a neighbourhood butcher as she ordered 1,000 yuan ($144) worth of black pork ribs, feet and sausages. ¡°Not the cheap, low-quality, fast-produced pork that has penetrated my kids¡¯ lives.¡± She plans to rub the pork with Sichuan numbing pepper and salt it before hanging it on her balcony to dry for the holiday.