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1
Place the pork belly pieces in a pot of cold water. Bring to the boil over high heat and blanch for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold running water. The surface should be visibly clean and the cut edges no longer pink.
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2
Return the pot to medium-high heat with a film of oil. Add the blanched pork pieces and brown briefly on all sides until the skin begins to colour and the fat takes on a little golden tone. The fat will begin to render and hiss.
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3
Add the hong qu paste, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, rock sugar, and enough water to barely cover the pork. Stir to combine, ensuring the paste dissolves into the liquid and the pork is evenly coated. The braising liquid should be a deep, opaque crimson from the outset. This is the step on which the dish lives or dies: insufficient time in the braise, or treatment of the hong qu as mere colouring rather than a fermentation product with its own flavour, will produce pork that is pallid and flat. Bring to the boil, then reduce to the lowest possible simmer, cover, and braise for a minimum of 2 hours — the pork must absorb the crimson colour and funky, fermented character throughout its interior.
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4
Uncover and raise the heat to medium. Reduce the sauce for approximately 15 minutes, turning the pork occasionally. The sauce is ready when it coats the pork thickly but remains pourable — it should fall slowly from a spoon in a continuous ribbon, not set solid on the pork's surface.
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5
Taste the sauce: it should carry deep fermented savour, sweetness from the rock sugar, and the wine aromatic of the Shaoxing. Adjust with a small measure of soy sauce if required. Serve immediately with steamed white rice or mantou to absorb the sauce, or refrigerate overnight and reheat — the colour and flavour deepen considerably the following day.