https://www.scmp.com/rss/330781/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com A growing chorus of voices emanating from Chinese ministries and state media are calling for an end to excessive coronavirus-control measures that pose a threat to the spring harvest, and by extension the nation’s food security. With agricultural production in various parts of China facing disruptions, there could be an adverse effect on the long-term supply, warned a front-page commentary in the official Economic Daily on Monday. The piece pinned blame on the “one-size-fits-all” approach to... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3175471/chinas-food-security-spring-harvest-threatened-excessive-zero?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3175471/chinas-food-security-spring-harvest-threatened-excessive-zero?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Apr 2022 13:30:27 +0000 Ralph Jennings Ralph Jennings US soybean exports to China are leading their five-year average this year, as the war in Ukraine and drought in South America hamper alternative sources, according to an industry body. American soybean producers shipped 27.3 million metric tonnes to China from September 1 to April 22, said Scott Gerlt, an economist with the American Soybean Association. Over the past five years, Gerlt said, China ordered 22 million to 23 million metric tonnes in the September-April periods. Russia’s war in... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3175444/china-trade-imports-us-soybeans-rise-ukraine-war-south?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3175444/china-trade-imports-us-soybeans-rise-ukraine-war-south?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Apr 2022 09:30:16 +0000 As China imports record levels of grain every year, an oft-repeated vow by President Xi Jinping is given greater impetus: “The Chinese people’s rice bowl must be firmly held in their own hands.” But China’s amassing of grain stockpiles has sparked allegations by some Western critics who say such a mentality has contributed to rising food prices globally amid the prolonged pandemic and now war between two of the world’s biggest grain suppliers – Russia and Ukraine. Many analysts point to China’s... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3173619/china-didnt-hoard-grains-stockpiling-ensure-domestic-food?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3173619/china-didnt-hoard-grains-stockpiling-ensure-domestic-food?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Apr 2022 21:00:17 +0000 Authorities in China’s northeast provinces have issued guidelines to protect their low-income populations – including farmers and small-business owners – from falling back into poverty, as the latest coronavirus outbreaks put the livelihoods of people in financially vulnerable regions at considerable risk. Liaoning province and neighbouring Jilin province, the epicentre of the country’s latest Omicron wave, vowed assistance on Wednesday to those teetering on the brink of poverty. This highlights... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3173471/chinas-lockdowns-put-working-class-poor-provinces-risk?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3173471/chinas-lockdowns-put-working-class-poor-provinces-risk?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Apr 2022 14:15:11 +0000 China’s coronavirus curbs are disrupting the supply of fertiliser to the country’s northeastern breadbasket, just a month before spring planting, and pose a threat to this year’s corn and soybean crops. Farmers typically have fertiliser prepared in early April before applying it to fields later in the month during the sowing processing. But China’s worst outbreaks of Covid-19 since the pandemic began two years ago have triggered strict controls on the movement of people and goods, sharply... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3172748/chinas-fertiliser-crunch-leaves-farmers-grasping-straws-month?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3172748/chinas-fertiliser-crunch-leaves-farmers-grasping-straws-month?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Apr 2022 07:59:27 +0000 China is sounding the alarm about “unprecedented” challenges facing the nation’s food security this year, while prioritising domestic grain production and soybean self-sufficiency in its annual blueprint for rural policies. The concerns were outlined this week in the year’s first joint policy statement issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the State Council, the nation’s cabinet. Atop the to-do list is the need to ensure that there is abundant year-round arable land for... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3168111/chinas-grain-security-faces-unprecedented-difficulties?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3168111/chinas-grain-security-faces-unprecedented-difficulties?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Feb 2022 13:30:13 +0000 China is giving new impetus to its trillion-dollar campaign to revitalise the nation’s vast countryside, by calling on banks to lend more money for rural infrastructure projects in the coming years, as the nation tries to leverage such investments to help curb an economic slowdown. As part of the nation’s five-year plan (2021-25) to modernise its agricultural and rural sectors, Beijing will roll out a rural public infrastructure programme. This includes expanding its 5G network to support... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3167017/chinas-rural-revitalisation-plan-calls-banks-support?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3167017/chinas-rural-revitalisation-plan-calls-banks-support?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Feb 2022 14:15:15 +0000 For centuries, the Chinese cymbidium – Cymbidium sinense – was a coveted status symbol. Also known as the ink orchid, it symbolised good taste and beauty, as it was delicate, unobtrusive, distinctively scented and allowed itself to bloom undetected by the world at large. As with many other plants, artistic allegories were extensive; depictions found their way into paintings, porcelain, brocades – anywhere that the delicate symbolism could be appreciated. No self-respecting Chinese merchant was... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/3160546/why-chinese-gardeners-prized-canton-mud-and-farmers-too?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/3160546/why-chinese-gardeners-prized-canton-mud-and-farmers-too?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Dec 2021 02:45:17 +0000 “Governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deducted from it.”  – Allegedly from Hegel As a lifelong student of Hegel and Chinese communism, it has always intrigued me whether his famous quote could be applied to the Chinese Communist Party. To cut a long story short, though, you would probably be disappointed with my answer. At crucial junctures, the party learned the wrong lesson or ignored the right one that was staring at it, leading to complete disaster for... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3128532/does-chinese-communist-party-ever-learn-history?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3128532/does-chinese-communist-party-ever-learn-history?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Apr 2021 21:19:05 +0000 China has raised its alert to prepare for the possibility that swarms of locusts that have laid waste to agricultural land in Pakistan, India and East Africa find their way across its borders, a government agency said on Monday. “Although experts believe that the risk of swarms entering the country and causing disaster is relatively low, [China] will be hampered in tracking the locusts by a lack of monitoring techniques and little knowledge of migration patterns [if they do] invade,” the... https://www.scmp.com/society/locust-threat-has-china-edge-coronavirus-continues-rage/article/3064718?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/society/locust-threat-has-china-edge-coronavirus-continues-rage/article/3064718?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Mar 2020 11:10:06 +0000 In 2018, farmer Chen Jiubei made a business decision that would lift not just her own fortunes, but those of others in her town. It was something she stumbled upon: a relative mentioned that she had started live-streaming on ecommerce site Taobao, and while Chen said she did not know what that was, “I decided to give it a shot when I had some free time on my hands.” Her live streams of herself doing farm work, cooking meals and talking about her products proved so popular, that she racked up... https://www.scmp.com/culture/live-streaming-helping-lift-farmers-out-poverty-china/article/3045832?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/live-streaming-helping-lift-farmers-out-poverty-china/article/3045832?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jan 2020 08:32:23 +0000 Ma Gongzuo, a beekeeper in Zhejiang, China, has garnered more than 700,000 followers on Douyin, the Chinese version of video app TikTok. From opening up a hive to swimming in a river to chopping wood, he has used the service to share his day-to-day life in China’s rural areas with his followers. https://www.scmp.com/society/beekeeper-rural-china-hits-it-big-live-streaming-his-everyday-life/article/3045308?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/society/beekeeper-rural-china-hits-it-big-live-streaming-his-everyday-life/article/3045308?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Jan 2020 09:12:20 +0000 A rapidly spreading pest is threatening to further ravage China’s domestic food security within the next two months. The fall armyworm, which grows up to be a moth, has already affected farms in southern China, and could hit the country’s crop-growing heartlands in the north and northeast as temperatures rise. It increases the risks to crop production, at a time when trade tariffs are restricting China’s ability to purchase American agriculture products as replacements. To compound matters,... https://www.scmp.com/food/fall-armyworm-threatening-chinas-food-supply/article/3011453?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/fall-armyworm-threatening-chinas-food-supply/article/3011453?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 May 2019 07:44:21 +0000 Lei Yan shows us her vegetables, pokes at some bees, and takes us around her urban farm in Chongqing. She is one of the many migrants laborers who moved from the rural countryside of China to the megacity that’s home over 30 million people to be a factory worker. In between the work grind and city life, she’s found solace in a patch of green land where she’s able to grow her own food and upkeep her farming skills. https://www.scmp.com/videos/little-farmer-big-city/article/3000125?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/videos/little-farmer-big-city/article/3000125?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Sep 2018 04:48:32 +0000 Warning: The video contains graphic content that some may find disturbing. The pursuit of freshness is sweeping across China. In the past decades, rural farmhouses called nongjiales have been popping up all over. They cater to the growing urban desire for fresh food and air, and they’ve been heavily promoted by the government as a way to bridge the income gap. We visited a couple of these farmhouses and got the inside scoop. And killed a chicken while we were at it. Written by: Clarissa... https://www.scmp.com/videos/we-killed-and-ate-chicken-jungle-china/article/2160897?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/videos/we-killed-and-ate-chicken-jungle-china/article/2160897?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Aug 2018 13:10:14 +0000 On an April afternoon, I convince the team to hop in a car and head out of the comfortable  urban confines of Chengdu into the jungle. We drive to a small village of Hongzhi in Jiulong Gou Scenic Area, a series of residential homes tucked away on mountainous winding roads surrounded by a deep green where wild giant pandas have been known to reside. A cherub-faced man named Zhang Wenjun greets us, flanked by his wife and grandmother. Immediately, we are given lunch—a wonderful spread of... https://www.scmp.com/travel/boom-rural-farm-table-dining-china/article/2160885?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/travel/boom-rural-farm-table-dining-china/article/2160885?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Aug 2018 11:45:15 +0000