How the nature of Chinese agriculture is changing
"Xiao Xu, what's this?" asked one of the fellow reporters as we walked past a vast expanse of green and leafy bushes. We were on a two-week trip in Southwest China's Yunnan province.
"Hmm, a type of plant," I answered, followed by good-hearted laughter from others in the group, and then by an illustrative botanical lesson of what the plant actually is.
Such conversations had been taking place virtually on a daily basis during the trip, whenever a "plant" comes into visual range. It first occurred to my travel companions that my limited knowledge of botany could be a recurring joke when, on the second day of the trip, I cheerfully pointed at a field of tobacco blossoms and confidently called them rapeseed flowers. The two are similar, at least remotely, in case you're wondering.
