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1
Place the pork bones in a large pot, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Drain and rinse the bones, discarding the blanching water. Return the bones to the pot with fresh cold water and bring back to a boil. Add the dried fermented black beans and preserved vegetables. Simmer at a steady, uncovered roll for at least two hours. The broth is ready when it is viscous, deeply savoury, and distinctly darker and more pungent than a plain pork stock; it should coat the back of a spoon.
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2
Braise the pork pieces in a separate heavy pot. Add soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and chopped fermented black beans. Cover with a ladleful of the pork bone broth and cook over a low heat, turning occasionally, until the meat is yielding, lacquered, and deeply fragrant with the funk of douchi. This is where the dish lives or dies: the braised pork sauce must carry genuine fermented pungency — the 'stinky' character of chou rou is deliberate and cannot be cooked away or substituted with fresh braised pork. The sauce should be thick, not loose.
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3
Blanch the rice noodles in a large pot of rapidly boiling unsalted water, working in batches if necessary. Thick round Changsha noodles require brief blanching only; remove them the moment they are heated through, pliable, and yield to gentle pressure between two fingers — they must not be soft or collapsed. Drain immediately.
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4
Divide the blanched noodles among four deep bowls. Ladle the hot, viscous pork bone broth over the noodles — enough to surround but not drown them. Spoon a generous portion of the braised stinky pork and its sauce over each bowl. Serve chilli crisp separately at table for each diner to add according to preference; Changsha bowls are eaten noticeably spicy.