Foodthink’s Take With the Qingming Festival approaching, many people head to the countryside—whether for travel or to visit ancestral graves—to enjoy a few “rustic farm meals”. The author of this piece did the same during this year’s Spring Festival. This record of eating and drinking while returning to the village…
Let’s start with a test: does anyone remember what happened on 2nd July 2024? Don’t check your phone; try to think back. I guarantee the vast majority have forgotten. I searched the internet for this date in 2025, and not a soul mentioned the oil tanker incident from a year…
For the past few years, due to work, I have always found myself leaving Beijing just as the crabapples were about to bloom, and returning only once the poplar fluff had finally settled. Although I missed the spring in Beijing, I gained the spring of Shangri-La. Situated at the intersection…
Foodthink Says This is the sixth edition of Foodthink’s story call for the ‘Eat Something Good’ column, and this time the theme is ‘wet markets’. It is somewhat surprising that in an age where everything seems to be accelerating, we still received so many shared experiences from readers regarding wet…
I. Establishing the Microbial Cabinet Eight years ago, I created a piece of art centered on naturally fermented yoghurt, where I dried the yoghurt starter directly onto fabric. I wasn’t particularly fond of yoghurt at the time; my interest lay primarily in the potential of natural fermentation as a form…
The oppressive summer heat is finally drawing to a close, but the autumn rains can be just as chilling. This year’s summer has been extraordinary. Extreme rainfall and heatwaves have struck across the country: surface temperatures in Shaanxi peaked at 72.9°C, air conditioner installations surged in Harbin in the northeast,…
“We should have happy, blissful, sunlit times”—I truly love this lyric, although I’ve never quite learned to demand “Give me your innocent smile” with the same bold confidence as Lao Lang. After enduring seasons of oppression, sorrow, and gloom, I have come to appreciate just how vital happiness, bliss, and…
Two years ago, I jumped ship to a financial media outlet to cover agriculture full-time. I imagined this would be a role closer to the land and to food itself—a way to reconnect news reporting with the tangible realities of life. Unlike food writers who chronicle flavours, I wrote about…
“Complaints and mistakes flood in every morning before dawn. But I choose to switch off my phone and bury myself in sleep: they aren’t severe enough to make clients stop working with us or to drive the slaughterhouse into bankruptcy. They simply appear like clockwork every day, keeping the wheels…
The gardenias have begun to bloom in the valley. My flowers are finally here. June 16th, a month ago, was the anniversary of Villain’s Valley. 2025 marks the fourth year. My own little plot in front of the house provides more than enough to be self-sufficient, and in the valley…
