Environmental pressures, climate change, biodiversity, species protection, and pollution.
Weeds are not the ‘other’; weeds are us. — Michael Pollan, Weeds: In Defense of Nature’s Most Unloved Plants Since last year, I have visited over a dozen ecological farms across the country with the Foodthink team, travelling from Beijing to the coastal cities of the Yangtze River Delta, and…
I. Crash Behind the Black Box In the summer of 2024, on the second day of my return to my hometown in Northeast China to research agricultural drones, a machine in the neighbouring village crashed mid-operation, catching on a power line. Crashes are commonplace, affecting not just agricultural drones…
Have you ever fantasised about fleeing the city, returning to the countryside to farm, and embracing rural life? Have you ever harboured romantic notions of a “self-sufficient” existence? Yet real life on the land is far more complex and arduous than we imagine—and infinitely more moving. Wenzizi and Changjiaoling are…
In the three months following the disaster, from anxious consumers to government officials at every level, nearly everyone posed the same question to Zhen Rui: “What is the way forward?” In the early hours of 28 July 2025, extreme heavy rainfall battered the mountainous regions of northern Beijing. Flash floods,…
Foodthink Says In China, the Atlantic salmon is better known by a simpler name: salmon. Last week, we published an article on salmon farming titled Is Salmon Truly “Free”?. So, what exactly is the plight of wild salmon today? We may well have forgotten what genuine wild salmon are, and…
Autumn harvest in North China has been disrupted by months of continuous rain, with some areas experiencing the rare occurrence of it starting as early as late August. News of unharvested corn and mouldy cobs has repeatedly topped trending lists. Foodthink visited six agricultural counties across Hebei and Henan provinces,…
The north has seen remarkably heavy rainfall this year, stretching from the torrential summer downpours right through to the lingering autumn drizzle. For this episode of *Food Talk*, we’ll begin by talking about those recent rains. We’ve invited Yu Yang, a former delivery rider who now works as an editor…
We tend to assume that provided produce passes inspection, is thoroughly washed, prepared at home and kept from spoiling, what ends up on our plates will be wholesome and natural. We scrutinise the origins of our meat and the ingredient lists on our condiments. Surely, there shouldn’t be any oversights?…
Early October saw record-breaking rainfall across multiple northern regions. Amid citizens’ bewildered exclamations of “How much longer will this go on?” and “Have we really become the south?”, and as farmers stood helpless before crops drowning in sludge, we marked the 36th International Day for Disaster Reduction. Established by the…
At first light, Yang Ge’s drone had already been working in the rice fields for some time. As a drone pilot, he holds the “life-and-death power” over some 2,000 mu of crops. Wearing a wide-brimmed hat that leaves only his eyes visible, he operates a remote control that records flight…
