A feast in exchange for slaughtering 2 pigs: Call for help on social media brings thousands to a Chinese village

When Daidai realised her father was too old to slaughter two pigs for a traditional community feast in the run-up to Chinese New Year, she turned to social media, the BBC writes.

“Can anyone help me?” she asked on Douyin, China’s version of Tiktok, at the end of last week. “My father is old. I am worried that he can’t handle these pigs.”

Daidai, who’s in her 20s, promised that those who came to their village, Qingfu, to assist would be treated to a pork banquet.

In rural Sichuan and Chongqing, large community meals are an important part of culture, featuring twice-cooked pork, steamed ribs, soup and homemade liquor.

“Let me hold my head up high in our village,” she said.

Her appeal for help attracted more than a million likes and the response on the ground was like a scene from a cheesy feel-good movie, as thousands of cars poured in, carrying many more people than she needed for the task.

So many responded that traffic jams have brought roads in this part of rural Chongqing in south-west China to a standstill.

When the pig slaughter and subsequent mass banquet did happen, it was watched live online by more than 100,000 viewers, registering 20 million likes, and the local government embraced it as a flash-tourism moment.

With many more people in town than two pigs could feed, tourism officials donated more pigs to meet the huge demand, and small restaurants have been serving crowds of visitors in outdoor seating areas.

The banquet celebration, by then huge in size, went on for two days, with bonfires into the night and much partying, accompanied by a band.