The shellfish gene
For many gourmets around the world, this time of year is known simply as the 'oyster season'. Despite their rough, ugly appearance, the shellfish have been a firm fixture on festival menus since the time of ancient Romans. The French have their Fine de Claire oysters, Australian their Sydney Rock. Almost every marine nation boasts some kinds of oysters as their local speciality.
Little known to foreigners, Shenzhen was once a famous breeding ground of oysters. The shajinghao variety, renowned for its juicy, creamy and translucent soft body, was sought after by food snobs as early as the Song dynasty - more than a millennium ago. In its heyday, there were more than 10,000 oyster breeders in Shajing town. The annual harvest was enough to fill 6,500 junks, according to local history books. But, sadly for our gourmets, shajinghao is now a dying species. Those few that remain are deemed unsuitable for consumption.
The decline began after Shenzhen was designated one of China's first special economic zones in the 1980s. The rapid industrialisation and urbanisation that followed brought fabulous wealth to this former fishing village; but nothing comes without a price.
By the early 1990s, Shajing's breeders had begun reporting an alarming increase in the death rate of their oysters. The oyster beds shrank rapidly with each passing year, as the waters turned black. In 2003, a government study found heavy chemical contamination in Shenzhen bay. By then, the once booming oyster industry in Shajing had almost completely disappeared.
Some vendors there still sell oysters under the shajinghao name. And two years ago, the local government launched an annual December oyster festival as a tourist attraction. But the shellfish on sale are no longer produced locally. They are shipped from other, less-polluted Guangdong cities such as Taishan , Yangjiang and Huizhou .
The shajinghao is perhaps just one of the many examples of the steep environmental price we have paid for breakneck economic growth. The mainland was once a heavyweight exporter of vegetables, shrimp, seafood and fruits, but now its food products are often rejected by overseas markets for failing to meet health standards.
Chinese consumers are also becoming increasingly aware of the problem. Food safety issues dominate newspaper headlines and opinion polls. Last week, Shenzhen Mayor Xu Zongheng pledged to the local People's Congress that his government would make improved food safety a top priority next year.
Today, our newly rich residents can enjoy fresh but expensive Fine de Claire, air-shipped from France. I bet that, as they dine in restaurants, some of them may have sudden attacks of nostalgia for the shajinghao of yesteryear.
