China's Peking Duck to help warm ties with Taiwan

Dec 7, 2008, 2:40 GMT

   Taipei - As Taiwan-China ties warm up, the world-famous Peking Duck will lead the way to the hearts of the Taiwanese, a newspaper said Sunday.

   The Beijing-based Quanjude Peking Duck Restaurant has signed a contract with the Her Bian Food & Beverage Group to jointly open a Peking Duck Restaurant at the Kaohsiung Harbour, in South Taiwan, the China Times reported.

   The 18-year contract was signed by Jiang Junxian, director-general of Quanjude, and Chang Su-luan, chairwoman of the Her Bian Group, on Thursday when Jiang visited Kaohsiung, the paper said.

   Under the agreement, Her Bian Group will renovate a two-storey warehouse at the Kaohsiung Harbour into the Peking Duck Restaurant, while Quanjude will send cooks to Kaohsiung to prepare Peking Duck.

   As Taiwan ducks are lean, Quanjude plans to ship its specially raised and fat Peking Ducks to Kaohsiung, the paper said.

   A staff member of Her Bian Group sais it is scheduled to open in spring 2009.

   'Renovation of the warehouse has already begun,' she said.

   Peking Duck refers to ducks which are force-fed, roasted, sliced and served with pancake, spring onion and sweet sauce.

   Animal rights groups have blasted China for cruelty, because after being raised in a free environment for 45 days, the ducks are force-fed through a tube four times a day for 15-20 days to fatten them up.

   Many ducks die when their stomachs burst from over-feeding or bleed to death after their throats are ruptured by feeding tubes.