How long does it take for a piece of beef to travel from the Qian-Gui Plateau to a kitchen in the Bay Area? Yang Dechang’s answer is just over ten hours—and more than a decade.

Ten years ago, Yang Dechang returned to Wanshan District in Tongren City and founded Ruichang Fei Food Co., Ltd. With a smile, he recalled that as a “cattle-raising kid” born and raised locally, his very first job after leaving home to work elsewhere was as a cleaner in a beef slaughterhouse—and now, back home, he’s still in the “cattle” business.

Ruichang Fei Food Co., Ltd. Slaughterhouse Base.

Today, this business is already showing promising results. As the only slaughterhouse in Tongren City with Grade-A certification, this facility processes and transports up to nearly 200 tons of beef every day, supplying it on a “made-to-order” basis to supermarkets, hypermarkets, and restaurants across the country. Last year, this company ranked first in the province in terms of beef slaughter volume.

“Guizhou yellow cattle are highly popular among diners in the Greater Bay Area, and many restaurants are actively promoting Guizhou yellow cattle to attract customers.” Yang Dechang, who has been working in Guangdong for a long time, knows that due to the region’s unique preference for fresh, hot food, the primary sales channel for Guizhou yellow cattle used to be shipping whole animals by truck, slaughtering them in another location, and then selling them elsewhere. This situation has led local businesses to focus mainly on raising cattle, leaving the downstream industrial chain virtually untouched.

Ruichang Fei Food Co., Ltd. Snowflake Beef.

Only when a beef cattle industry chain—from breeding and slaughtering to processing and finally reaching the dinner table—is complete, can it be considered a closed loop.

“Last year, during our research in Hong Kong, we found that chilled beef has a higher market value compared to fresh beef,” said Yao Bin, Deputy District Mayor of Wanshan District, Tongren City. “If we can establish a chilled beef slaughtering and processing base supplying Hong Kong, with local slaughtering and cold-chain transportation, we’ll be better positioned to achieve ‘synchronized resonance’ between Guizhou beef and the Hong Kong market.”

The “deliciously fresh” flavor that runs from the high mountains all the way to your tongue faces its greatest challenge in temperature. From slaughter through transportation and storage, chilled beef must be kept at a low temperature ranging from 0°C to 4°C.

Packaging box display.

“How should we make the changes? How should we build it?” Since last year, Ruichang Fei Food Co., Ltd. has begun constructing a fresh-frozen beef slaughtering and processing facility for Hong Kong. The company has meticulously built farms, slaughterhouses, and cold-chain warehouses in strict accordance with Hong Kong’s supply standards, and has also introduced fully automated slaughtering and processing lines as well as a “freeze-to-fresh” product production line. “The fresh-frozen beef slaughtered and processed here can all meet the latest EU standards,” Yang Dechang said with a smile.

In the past, “selling whole cattle” was an inevitable response to relying on unpredictable weather conditions. Today, however, “precise cutting and segmentation” has become the only viable path for thriving in a “chain-driven” economy.

Aerial view of Ruichang Fei Food Co., Ltd.

“Owning the largest beef slaughtering facility in the entire province means that we can keep the slaughtering and processing production chain firmly ‘in our own hands,’” Yao Bin explained. Relying on the leading enterprise Ruichang Fei, Wanshan District is actively integrating marketing channel resources from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, driving upstream industries such as pasture cultivation and feed transit processing, as well as downstream sectors including packaging of products destined for Hong Kong and the beef catering industry. The district is making concerted efforts to build an integrated beef industry base covering breeding, slaughtering, processing, cold-chain logistics, distribution, and sales.

Starting from the midstream of the slaughtering and processing industry, Wanshan District is moving upstream to “optimize raw materials” and downstream to “expand markets,” striving to ensure that every piece of meat finds its ideal place. As of the end of 2024, the beef cattle industry in Wanshan District has achieved an output value of approximately 510 million yuan.

Guizhou Daily Tianyan News Reporter

Ao Ziqi Pan Deyu

Editor: Zeng Shuhui

Second Instance: Chen Yuzhao

Third Review: Ma Gang