Rice planting

planting the rice

Lisa planting rice

Libby (Wang Ying and Duan's daughter

)

Well, the seasons are changing and this year, Mark and I got to partake in some different sorts of spring activities.  Recently, we had the opportunity to help our friend Duan's family in planting their rice crops for the season.  Duan's father, who has been farming his whole life, showed us how to uproot the young rice plants from the place where they had been sprouted.  Then we separated the plants into small clumps and planted them in rows pushing the roots into the mud.  It was fun squishing around barefoot in the mud with water almost up to my knees.  Duan and his family put us to shame by the speed and quality of their work.  Between me, Mark and the two Nates, we figured the total of our work equaled about the same as one of our Chinese friends.  They were thankful for our help, in spite of our slowness and we appreciated the chance to experience such an important part of Chinese culture.  Rice planting has been done this way for thousands of years and I'm sure it will continue for many more.  I'm sure I'll never look at a grain of rice the same way again.  I'm reminded of a famous Tang Dynasty poem we learned in our Mandarin class.  The English translation goes something like this...

Mark, Nate and Duan uprooting the baby rice

The peasants are weeding at noon,
Sweat falls down to the earth.
Who knew rice,
Doesn't come easily. 


- Lisa