NaturePlus: Investigating aubergines in China: Liondancing

Liondancers

After a true Cantonese breakfast with dumplings and all sorts, we set off to the tip of mainland China to see what we could find. It was chaos going through town, everyone was out and about; it is nearly last day of Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) and the celebrations are reaching their peak in south China, where the holiday is taken very seriously! In the village of XiaoLiao we encountered lion dancers who went from house to house to the accompaniment of firecrackers and drums – in some places the firecrackers were so many you couldn’t see the dancers for the smoke!

Aubergines, ready to go

This is a true mega-production zone – irrigated and full of vegetables – including aubergines! They were being harvested and readied for sending to the north. We spoke to one farmer in his field where he told us they were all planting the new variety Nong Feng #3, it gave two crops a year and after two years they took the plants out and began again.

Aubergine field

We passed through areas of chilli peppers and onions as well, where the air changed scent depending on what crop was being harvested. Despite it being a festival the harvest was going on. We also collected much Solanum undatum, the putative wild progenitor of the aubergine, in several villages – the local people say it is a wild plant and is not now eaten, though it used to be and is still used as medicine.

Salt pans (click images to enlarge) Fishing boats

We reached the southern-most tip of mainland China, after going through black plastic evaporating tanks for making salt. There we found fishermen mending their nets at low tide, waiting to go out again. They had a piece of red coral that had caught in their net (collecting it on purpose is not legal) – it was beautiful, you can see why it is endangered.

Red coral (click image to enlarge)

Then off to catch the ferry to Hainan Island. Tiangang and JinXiu said this was truly travelling Chinese style, and they would never do it again – it was wild. The pushing and shoving was intense and the ferry was stuffed with people, cars and buses. We made it though, and the solanums of Hainan Island await!