The braised pork knuckle (猪蹄, zhūtí) sold along Qingyan's main street is the town's most recognisable food — slow-cooked in soy sauce, rice wine, star anise, and a mix of spices until the meat falls from the bone and the skin becomes gelatinous and dark. The whole knuckles sit in the cooking liquid in clay pots visible through every other shopfront window on the main street; you point at one, pay, and eat from a paper bag or a styrofoam container as you walk.
The cooking method varies slightly between stalls — some add chilli, some use more sugar, some cook longer — and the differences are worth investigating. The stalls toward the south gate tend to have higher turnover and fresher product on weekend mornings. The price per knuckle is fixed at around ¥15–20 and has been so for years; there is no negotiating and no need to.