Our next destination is the vast flood plain of between the Yangtze River, Taihu Lake, and Qiantang River. Thanks to the abundance of fresh water carrying nutrients from the river upstream, this area is so productive that it has raised over 100 million people here. And it is one of the most densely populated areas of China. This area is very similar to the flood plains in Bangladesh, West Bengal in India, Saigon in Vietnam etc.
What have the Chinese done differently compared to other densely populated flooded plains in India and Bangladesh?
Location 2: Nanxun, Huzhou, Zhejiang, China (30°46'14.5"N 120°09'02.9"E)
Instead of growing rice, the Chinese have been growing a variety of “water food” that can sell at higher prices and makes them get richer than growing rice. If you zoom in, you will find millions of fish ponds instead of rice fields. Besides the fish ponds, you might identify lots of green trees grown around them.
These trees are mulberry trees used for silkworm farming. Over the past two thousand years, the Chinese have developed many sophisticated and sustainable agriculture ecosystems around these areas. One most famous eco-cycle is the fish-mulberry tree-silk cycle as shown in the following graph:
Chinese farmers have been exploiting the ecosystem in fish, silk farming for thousands of years without knowing the concept of “sustainable development”. Nowadays, it is evolved into multiple cycles of “recycling” on the same land:
However, in order to raise more fish in the pond, you need an additional aerator that pumps air into the water, otherwise, the fishes would not have enough space to breathe. In the following picture, the aerator is the white dot in the centre of each pond.
Having an aerator requires every fish pond to be connected to electricity. How to generate electricity for the aerators? Yes, you are right: add solar panels on top of the fish pond.
From Google Earth, it is found that solar panel fish ponds are already taking over some of the traditional mulberry fish ponds in China. Some of the areas in Huzhou area have already been placed with solar panels.
Local fishermen and farmers are actually forced to learn the latest solar technology and sustainable techniques provided by professionals from the local Chinese government.
Why are the local Chinese governments so eager to promote high tech to the local farmers? In order for an official to gain promotion to the next rank, he has to demonstrate his “government performance”. Solar panel fish pond is one of the best indicators for “promotion” as it fits well in the sustainable development initiative.
From this, you might have understood why China has dominated the world’s silk production (84%), freshwater fish production (66%) and solar energy generation (25.8%). In the Zhejiang, Jiangsu area, rural people eat fish almost every day. Some say that’s why people from these regions are more clever than other regions of China.
Eco-cycle option 2: lotus root - fish
In the fish pond, you can also grow other kinds of vegetables meanwhile raising fish. One of the most widely grown vegetables is the lotus root. China lotus root production is 11 million tonnes which accounts for 90% of world production and 60% of the world export. Not only Chinese like to eat them, but most of their lotus roots are also exported to Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.
Lotus roots are one of my favourite vegetables too, I do hope China can promote the rest of the world to enjoy this delicious root as well.
Eco-cycle option 3: canola oil - bee- fish & crab
You can also grow rapeseed using the same principle. Instead of using fertilizers, at each winter, Chinese farmers dig the “nutrient mud” from the bottom of the water and stack on the bank. And then they grow different plants such as rapeseeds or taros on the mud. After thousands of years of continuous cultivation, the field has become something like this:
Location: Duotian(垛田镇), Xinghua, Jiangsu, China 32°56'51.9"N 119°51'50.4"E
There is no road. You can only navigate around using boats. Of course, that is why China is also the leading world producer of rapeseed oil (22% of global production).
Not to mention the massive beekeeping industry that thrived on the rape flowers in China, China takes over 30% of the global honey production.
Actually, one-third of the honey consumed in the US are directly or indirectly from China. To avoid tariffs from the US, Chinese honey exporters would first export their honey to India, Philippines and Malaysia. Then they change labels and alter them to domestic production and sell them to the US. I’m sure this happens to other products too.
Besides honey, this area is also where the most famous Chinese mitten crab grew. They can sell at $60 per kilo, therefore only the middle-class Chinese can afford this.
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