You know that salt gives your food more flavour. But do you know where it comes from? An expert from Zigong, the 'salt capital' of Sichuan province, says that salt is still produced by traditional methods in his city.
'Like water and air, salt is an indispensable part of our lives,' says Huang Jian, curator of the Zigong Salt Industry Historical Museum. He has done 27 years of academic research related to salt and its bond with humans.
Huang says salt extraction from wells is very important for people who do not live close to lakes or the sea. Well salt requires more advanced skills and effort to produce than lake salt or sea salt, and is part of a long Chinese tradition handed down from the wisdom of the ancestors.
The Chinese first started getting salt underground through shallow, wide-mouthed wells during the Song dynasty.
Drilling technology improved as craftsmen invented better tools to dig wells through a smaller hole.
The inventions are the foundation of modern digging technology.
'In 1835, the Chinese invented salt-drilling tools that dug down as deep as a kilometre, the first machine in history to achieve such depth,' Huang says, smiling proudly.