MORE ON THE HAIRY SEAWEED
Dear Folks,
You've all been too generous with your compliments on my recent Chinese New Year article! Makes me feel perhaps I should "quit" my present job and start looking for a publisher to write a book on... I don't know, "Three Decades of Chinese Movies" or "Thirty Years with Jackie Chan" or something! But if I do that I'll probably have no more friends when the book comes out. I'll have to leave Hong Kong, which means leaving Jackie and that's not something I'd like to do! Guess I won't write that book after all!
By coincidence I came across an article in the South China Morning Post on the hairy seaweed I told you about. Thought it might be interesting to some of you. (See below.)Last but not least I want to thank the fans who encouraged me that no one is ever too old for romance! It may just come knocking at your door when you least expect it! Maybe I'll start buying peach blossom trees again next year!
Warmest Aloha,Willie
(Read Willie's Chinese New Year article here!)
From the South China Morning Post:Auspicious moss stays on menus despite ban
Guangzhou diners are still consuming the banned fa cai black moss, with restaurants and seafood shops cashing in on the belief that eating it gives an auspicious start to the Lunar New Year because its name is a homonym for "get rich." The harvesting and export of the hair-like plant called fat choi in Cantonese was banned in 2000 to protect the environment. Fa cai grows in the thin arid soils of Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Ningxia, Qinghai, and Gansu, and harvesting damages the environment because topsoil is raked loose, leading to soil erosion and desertification.Staff at Guangzhou's Ting Cheng Restaurant said fa cai with oysters was one auspicious dish on its menu. Seafood shops along Yide Road were also stocking the moss and asking customers what grade they wanted, leading some consumers to wonder whether some of the produce could be corn silk dyed to pass as fa cai.
While one shop owner acknowledged the ban, he said he was selling stock bought before it was implemented. "It's not allowed to be harvested any more. My suppliers in Xinjiang are giving me stocks harvested before the ban," he said.Teacher Shu Chang said she paid 230 Yuan for 250 grams of fa cai. "I can't really tell the real stuff from fake fa cai, but it must be real because it is expensive. If you soak it and the dye comes off, it must be fake," she said.
Excessive harvesting has turned millions of hectares of pasture into desert. Before the ban, 40,000 sq. km. had been laid to waste in 20 years in Inner Mongolia.Staff Reporter in Guangzhou
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posted on Friday, Jun 04, 2010
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