Rice, 米 mi, is a staple
food in the southern Chinese diet and much land is given over to growing this crop.
It is thought that rice has been cultivated in China for as long as 8000 years,
and nowadays mechanised farming in the "Great Ricebowl" of the
southern Chinese plains accounts for 1/4 of the world's rice production. Many rice fields can be found around Simao, and more further afield, where whole
hillsides are carved into rice-growing terraces. To the Chinese rice is more
than just a basic carbohydrate, it is food itself; hence the word for
"(boiled) rice", 饭 fan, can mean "food"
also. Furthermore, fan wan, meaning "ricebowl", has the
secondary meaning "job; means of livelihood". So rice is pretty
important here, and it's no surprise to find that in Chinese culture rice is
regarded as one of the seven basic necessities of life: tea; fuel
(firewood); oil;
salt; soy sauce; and vinegar being the others.
It's our aim on this page to document as many
of the rice growing stages, from planting to harvest, as we are able. So here
goes...
January/February: Wet beds (left) of rice seedlings (centre) are
cultivated at the beginning of the year. After that, the back breaking work of
preparing the rice paddies (right) begins. (Men prepare the paddies, women plant,
and everyone joins in with the harvest.)
The small rice fields of Yunnan are ploughed using domesticated water buffalo,
ancestors of beasts which once roamed wild in these lands.
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Late March/Early April: Rice planting 插秧 cha yang
begins. First of all, bunches of seedlings are taken from the seedbeds (left).
Women work in groups, helping plant each others fields and sharing the workload.
A taught string drawn across the paddy aids the insertion of guidelines of
seedlings about 2m apart. The women stand in the middle of each row (a full arm
stretch is about 1m), shuffling backwards while planting two seedlings at a time
across the row. The result is a remarkably neat planted grid of seedlings.
We found these women planting a paddy at Da
Zhai, east of Simao, in April 2009. The field is about 35m x 20m, and
the four of them planted it in a little over 2 hours. It's a social occasion, a
good opportunity to catch up on the local gossip.
Some more action photos from Da Zhai. The flooded paddy fields provide an ideal
environment for eels and paddy frogs - and the pond herons and egrets that feed
on them!
After Freda, Edie and Ali had hung around for a bit watching and taking photos,
the women asked us if we wanted to join them in the paddy. We didn't need to be
asked twice! The water was cool, the mud warm and smooth between the toes, and
the girls took to it naturally! We're hoping to be invited back for the
harvest...
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April: Young, recently planted rice plants (left) in a flooded paddy field
(centre); a few weeks later (right).
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April to May: the young rice plants start to establish themselves in the
flooded paddy fields.
Ingenious systems of channels and sluice gates keep the water levels at the
optimum state, despite rainfall fluctuations.
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July: the rice is flourishing as the temperatures and rainfall remain
high.
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September/Early October: The rice has ripened and is ready for
harvest (the exact date will depend on altitude, location and weather). Like
planting, harvesting operations are a family affair, and the whole village will
assist each individual farmer in turn to get the job done quickly and
efficiently. Here in Yuanyang in October some
fields have been cut, others are waiting. The kids are playing about in the
muddy waters catching eels. Haystacks of rice straw line the paddy edges. The
terraced fields of the Yuanyang area are thought to be some of the oldest
human-built structures in China.
Ready-to-harvest
rice plants (left); Cutting and threshing the rice at Yuanyang in October (centre);
the threshed stalks are either tied into haystacks or lain across
the stubble to dry, prior to burning (right).
Near Jinggu, the haystacks are a different
style: taller, and supported by a stick.
The rice straw haystacks (above) will be used for fodder.
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Rice-based food in
Yunnan
The Yunnan climate is warm and wet – ideal rice growing conditions – so it’s
no surprise that rice-based dishes are a major feature in the area’s culinary
repertoire, especially in the south. Don’t for a moment think the choices are
limited to boiled or fried options! The possibilities are vast – it’s even
possible to find a healthy (sugar-free, unsalted) version of rice crispies (mi
pao) in some countryside village homes!
Not surprisingly, mifen
(rice noodles - whiter than wheat noodles), are extremely popular. The
spaghetti- style ones are termed mixian (thick in the north,
thinner in the south), while the flatter taglietelle-style are juanfen.
In Xishuangbanna and Simao prefectures they call the latter migan.
The most famous noodle
dish in Yunnan is guoqiao
mixian
(Across-the-Bridge rice noodles).
The
other great Yunnan speciality rice product is erkuai, a form of
refined, cooked, compressed rice. Erkuai can be boiled, stir-fried, or
barbequed (kao erkuai), when it usually comes in the form of a
circular disc smothered in a deep red mala paste of chilli, salt and
Sichuan peppercorns. Another less common manifestation is ersi,
finely shredded erkuai in a noodle soup.
Rice also features in popular streetfood. Migao and zhengao
are heavy rice-flour cakes, the former striped with layers of brown cane
sugar, the latter coloured in squares of white, yellow and pink like a
battenburg cake. Lifting the lid of a stack of steamers can occasionally reveal
the small, shiny, red/purple-coloured xiao hong mi, literally
“small red rice”, a type of hollow steamed rice cone, renowned as a health
food. You might also come across shao mai, steamed dumplings of
sticky rice with ham, sealed inside a wafer thin shell of wheat dough cinched at
the top.
Sticky
(glutinous) nuomi rice is the filling in zongzi,
four-sided triangular reed packages often sold strung together. They’re a
feature all over China around the time of the Dragonboat Festival in June, but
in Xishuangbanna and other Dai areas (like Jinggu and Dehong) these gloopy,
finger-licking packets are a year-round treat. Bamboo tube rice (zhutong
fan) is another Dai speciality – slightly sweet sticky rice
(with peanuts) steamed and barbequed in a small bamboo tube. Alternatively,
experience the tropical flavours of boluo fan, purple sticky rice
with pineapple, sometimes served in the hollowed-out fruit and more widely known
as a Thai dish. And finally, do try to sample the speciality cha fan
if you’re ever in the southern tea producing area of Simao. This unusual and
simple dish of rice cooked in deep red Pu’er tea is usually served with a
thick pork gravy.
Have
a look at our Yunnan Oddities page for
some further explanation, and photos, of 3 Yunnanese rice-based dishes: guoqiao mixian, erkuai
and zhutong fan.
LEAF-go-VSO
