Social Media Digest

Wild foraging

What's the hottest social trend this spring? For many young people in China, it's heading outdoors with friends to forage for wild vegetables.

Foraging has become a fun and refreshing way for young people to reconnect with nature. They've even dubbed the activity "jungle", borrowing the term from the gaming world of League of Legends and giving a modern, playful twist to the age-old tradition of spring outings.

On the lifestyle-sharing platform Xiaohongshu (RedNote), the hashtag "digging wild vegetables" has racked up 200 million views, with over 890,000 users sharing their own "wild vegetable maps".

The trend has also sparked regional discussions, with netizens in cities like Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Beijing posting local foraging guides and teaming up for group adventures.

Tips and strategies for identifying edible wild vegetables are spreading rapidly online — partly because some eager foragers have accidentally wandered into private plots or suffered food poisoning after eating unfamiliar plants.

"Foraging for wild vegetables certainly comes with risks," said Shi Jun, a plant biology expert at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in an interview with Beijing Traffic Radio. "But for many, the real value of the activity lies in the joy it brings and the deeper connection with nature."