The Taihu pig is a domestic breed from the narrow region of mild sub-tropical climate around the Taihu Lake region in the lower Yangtze River

Yangtze River

The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...

 valley of China. The breed is a large one, black in colour with a heavily wrinkled face. It has a large head with a broad forehead and large folded ears. The breed has a number of divisions, classified by some authors as strains and by others as separate breeds.

All the Taihu strains have a high rate of reproduction with litter sizes ranging up to 20, but averaging 14 live piglets. This characteristic, as well as their resistance to disease, has resulted in interest in the pigs for research into breeding and genetic engineering uses. Taihu pigs have been established in France, Albania, Hungary, Japan, the UK and the USA.

Taihu pig strains

There are usually four main groups of the Taihu pig identified and listed below. Although many others are named by authors it is debatable whether there is any substantial genetic difference: some variation is due to diet and environment rather than genetics. Taihu are kept well-fed on a vegetable diet thriving on large amounts of roughage, but which sometimes leaves them short of calcium for bone development.

Meishan

The Meishan

Meishan (pig)

The Meishan is a breed of domestic pig named for the Chinese prefecture of Meishan. It is a sub-group of the Taihu pig and is a small to medium-sized breed with large drooping ears, and wrinkled black skin...

 strain is mainly found in the Jiading

Jiading District

Jiading District is one of the 18 districts of Shanghai, People's Republic of China. It has a population of 1,471,100 .-Geography:...

 district of Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

 and the Taicang

Taicang

Taicang is a coastal city in Jiangsu Province of People's Republic of China. It is approximately to the northwest of Shanghai, and to the east of Suzhou. It is a county level city under jurisdiction of Suzhou prefecture level city. In 2008, the registered population was at 466,300, and total GDP...

 district in Jiangsu

Jiangsu

' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name...

 province.

Fengjing

The Fengjing

Fengjing

The Fengjing pig is a domestic breed from Shanghai, China, named after the town which forms a district of Shanghai. Its main locations are in the districts of Jinshan, Songjiang and Wujiang...

 strain, named after the town which forms a district of Shanghai, is mainly found in the Jinshan

Jinshan District

Jinshan District of Shanghai is neighbouring Zhejiang and near Hangzhou Bay. It has a land area of 586.14 km² and a population 536,900 as of 2001....

 and Songjiang

Songjiang District

Songjiang District of Shanghai has a land area of 605.64 km² and a population of 1,582,398 as of 2010. Its main town is Songjiang, connected to Shanghai by Shanghai Metro Line 9.It was Songjiang County until 1998.-Significant Features:...

 districts of Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

 and the Wujiang

Wujiang, Jiangsu

Wujiang is a county-level city in the southernmost of Jiangsu province, South East China. The total area of Wujiang is 1,176 square kilometers, with a population of 1.5 million.-Geography:...

 district of Jiangsu

Jiangsu

' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name...

 province.

Jiaxing Black

The Jiaxing Black strain is mainly found in the districts of Jiaxing

Jiaxing

Jiaxing is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province of Eastern China. Lying on the Grand Canal of China, Jiaxing borders Hangzhou to the southwest, Huzhou to the west, Shanghai to the northeast, and the province of Jiangsu to the north....

 city in Zhejiang

Zhejiang

Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...

 province.

Erhualian

The Erhualian strain is mainly found in the districts of Changzhou

Changzhou

Changzhou is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It was previously known as Yanling, Lanling, Jinling, and Wujin. Located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Changzhou borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the west, Zhenjiang to the...

 and Wuxi

Wuxi

Wuxi is an old city in Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China. Split in half by Lake Tai, Wuxi borders Changzhou to the west and Suzhou to the east. The northern half looks across to Taizhou across the Yangtze River, while the southern half also borders the province of Zhejiang to the south...

 cities in Jiangsu

Jiangsu

' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name...

 province.

Other named strains

Hengjing, named from a town in Suzhou

Suzhou

Suzhou , previously transliterated as Su-chou, Suchow, and Soochow, is a major city located in the southeast of Jiangsu Province in Eastern China, located adjacent to Shanghai Municipality. The city is situated on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Taihu Lake and is a part...

 city, Jiangsu

Jiangsu

' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name...

 province; Mi pig is found in Changzhou

Changzhou

Changzhou is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It was previously known as Yanling, Lanling, Jinling, and Wujin. Located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Changzhou borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the west, Zhenjiang to the...

 and Yangzhou

Yangzhou

Yangzhou is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province, People's Republic of China. Sitting on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, it borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yancheng to the northeast, Taizhou to the east, and Zhenjiang across...

 cities of Jiangsu province; and the Shawutou pig is found in Nantong

Nantong

Nantong is a prefecture-level city in Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China. Located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, near the river mouth, Nantong is a vital river port bordering Yancheng to the north, Taizhou to the west, Suzhou and Shanghai to the south across the river, and...

 city, Jiangsu

Jiangsu

' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name...

 province.

Research outside China

Interest has grown in Western countries for the possibility of using this pig in the female line of a breeding program with the hope that they can improve the taste, disease resistance and litter size while retaining the fast growth of Western breeds, possibly using genetic engineering

Genetic engineering

Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...

 techniques. 144 pigs, mostly various strains of Taihu - but also some Minzhu, were brought into the US in 1989 under a United States Department of Agriculture

United States Department of Agriculture

The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...

 scheme with the University of Illinois and Iowa State University

Iowa State University

Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...

.