Let’s start with a test: does anyone remember what happened on 2nd July 2024? Don’t check your phone; try to think back. I guarantee the vast majority have forgotten. I searched the internet for this date in 2025, and not a soul mentioned the oil tanker incident from a year…
I. The Black Box Behind Drone Crashes In the summer of 2024, on the second day of my research into agricultural drones in my hometown in Northeast China, a drone in a neighbouring village crashed while operating: it got snagged on power lines. Crashing is common, not just for…
For the past few years, due to work, I have always found myself leaving Beijing just as the crabapples were about to bloom, and returning only once the poplar fluff had finally settled. Although I missed the spring in Beijing, I gained the spring of Shangri-La. Situated at the intersection…
Foodthink Says This is the sixth edition of Foodthink’s story call for the ‘Eat Something Good’ column, and this time the theme is ‘wet markets’. It is somewhat surprising that in an age where everything seems to be accelerating, we still received so many shared experiences from readers regarding wet…
Have you ever fantasised about escaping the city, returning to your roots to farm, and embracing a pastoral life? Have you ever held romantic notions of a “self-sufficient” existence? But life on the land is far more complex and demanding than we imagine—yet it is also far more moving. Wen…
I. Establishing the Microbial Cabinet Eight years ago, I created a piece of art centered on naturally fermented yoghurt, where I dried the yoghurt starter directly onto fabric. I wasn’t particularly fond of yoghurt at the time; my interest lay primarily in the potential of natural fermentation as a form…
Foodthink’s Perspective Today, fresh produce e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba’s Hema, Meituan’s Xiaoxiang, JD’s 7Fresh, and Dingdong Maicai are increasingly popular. On these platforms, you can buy everything you need for daily life without leaving your home; with just a few taps of a finger, your order can arrive in…
As long as people are alive, they cannot do without the basics of daily life—the simple necessities of fire, rice, oil, and salt. Whether in China or abroad, the terms ‘rice’, ‘flour’, and ‘oil’ are ancient, with at least a thousand years of history. Once humanity entered the agricultural era,…
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…
Foodthink says The Atlantic salmon is known more commonly in China as ‘salmon’ (sanwenyu). Last week, we published a piece on salmon farming, ‘Is Salmon Truly “Free”?’. But what of the state of wild salmon? We may have forgotten what truly wild salmon is; they are almost impossible to find…
