In the three months following the disaster, everyone from anxious customers to government officials at every level has asked Zhen Rui the same question: “What happens next?” In the early hours of 28 July 2025, extreme torrential rain battered the mountains of northern Beijing, as flash floods swept up silt…

Late September in the Greater Khingan Mountains brought a slight chill. Perhaps due to global warming, the white birch forests of Jagdaqi had not yet turned yellow. Until a few decades ago, these forests served as the hunting grounds for the Oroqen people. Gathered within the forest was a group…

I. One Action Outweighs a Thousand Theories There are always chance encounters that plant the seeds of change. For instance, in the winter of 2007, I took Gao Tian, a volunteer photographer, to the Northeast to shoot a photobook for disabled artists. After settling Gao Tian into Zhao Li’s gallery…

The dream of a lazy foodie is to create a self-sufficient lazy garden—a sustainable food forest where the harvest is as bountiful as possible and the labour as minimal. Years ago, while studying permaculture in Taiwan, I first encountered the concept of “food forests”. I had heard the term before,…

Foodthink’s Take This summer, extreme heatwaves have frequently hit Sichuan. Climate change is making the Southwest region hotter and drier. Those living in the countryside understand the implications all too well: when the weather becomes too oppressive, farmers are not only forced to shift their working hours and daily routines,…

I. Climate change through the eyes of small-scale farmers: spring droughts, soil, and food storage With only three days until the summer solstice, Yang Xiuyou finally saw the arrival of heavy rain. The downpour began on the evening of 17 June, falling in intermittent bursts until the following afternoon. “After…

Foodthink Says Thirty-one elderly residents perished at a care home in Taishitun Town, Miyun, Beijing. A minibus carrying 14 female pepper pickers in Shanxi vanished in a torrential downpour. Following these record-breaking floods, each heartbreaking story serves as a warning: how are we to coexist with a nature that has…

Eating to Extinction Original Title: Eating to Extinction: The World’s Rarest Foods and Why We Need To Save Them Author: Dan Saladino Curated by: Beiye Books Publisher: Wenhui Publishing House Translator: Gao Yubing Published: November 2023 Foodthink’s Take Eating to Extinction is a work that explores the global crisis of…

Farmer Sun Wenxiang stood in his concrete courtyard to welcome us, his large, calloused feet bare. In early July, Hongya County in Meishan City, Sichuan Province, had just experienced several torrential rainstorms. It was a rare few days of downtime between farm tasks. In another fortnight, the maize in Sun…

Foodthink Says “Six months of drought, six months of flooding.” Farmers in parts of Guangxi are experiencing unprecedented natural disasters. First came a once-in-60-year drought. From November last year to April this year, average precipitation in Guangxi was nearly 70% lower than usual—the lowest since complete meteorological records began in…