Need to ground peppercorns to stir fry clams?

Yes, it's whole peppercorns.

In both Chinese and French cuisine, it's not unusual to season a brothy sauce or braising liquid using whole peppercorns. It's one way of giving the sauce a peppery flavor without having little black flecks all over the food, they way you would with ground pepper. And, like other whole spices, whole peppercorns release their flavor better if it's going to be a long braise.

As @AMto points out, it wouldn't be unusual to see whole Sichuan peppercorns in a Chinese recipe as well, and you can't tell what's meant just from the text. You can, however, tell from the photo:

Those two objects look just like peppercorns that have been braised in liquid to me. They do not look like Sichuan peppercorns.