🍽️ Ya Fish

Qingyi River fish, best steamed.

Ya Fish is a prized cold-water fish of the Qingyi River around Ya'an, Sichuan, known formally as the Schizothorax and named for Ya'an. It grows in the clear, cold flows of the Qingyi River, with tender, firm meat and few fine bones; the classic preparation is steaming, finished with soy sauce, scallion and ginger to highlight its own flavor, or clay-pot simmering into a milky, cleanly sweet broth. Ya fish prizes freshness above all—killed and cooked to order with precise heat—giving tender meat and sweet soup. It is the signature river specialty at Ya'an restaurants and a draw for visitors; the tenderness raised by Qingyi mountain-spring water is a representative delicacy of Ya'an's landscape.