My last trip to China was in November 2019, and it was great to be back. So how are things in the Middle Kingdom since the Covid Pandemic?
The first thing is the new flight route. Instead of heading up to 60 degrees North over Helsinki and then traversing Siberia the new route from Europe needs to avoid Russian airspace so now drops down to roughly the 45th parallel. Although this adds over an hour to the flight there was a bonus: being able to watch the dawn over the Tian Shan mountains. The Tian Shan, a huge range with peaks over 6000 m, are located to the north of the Taklamakan Desert. Snow melt from the Tian Shan will likely figure strongly in China’s green development of its western regions.
China has opened up to Western tourists, but the numbers have not yet arrived. Obtaining a visa is not as easy as it once was. There were very few Western guests (and very few Chinese guests also) at all the hotels stayed at.
In downtown Qingdao real estate development has gone on at pace, with some huge buildings now surrounding the Shangri La Hotel (my home-from-home in Qingdao). The now-completed Hai Tian Centre is over 1000 feet tall. However, some RE developers are in trouble: the market has gone backward, and buyer confidence has dropped. Nevertheless with the Chinese economy predicted to grow 5% this year (as opposed to recessions or near recessions in much of the West) probably that confidence will return.
Another striking thing is the number of electric cars. These are easily identified by their green as opposed to blue number plates. One Western observer thought there was one in five in Shenzhen. There are not quite that many in Qingdao yet, but still a very significant number. Prices range from a lot less than 10k to well over 50k USD. Dragons Garden has a new VW EV and our next farm staff van will also be electric this year.
Many of our factory and farm staff are driving cars now and bicycles are rarely seen. Driving manners have improved, which has been put down by locals to the traffic surveillance cameras at nearly every block in towns and cities. Jimo, our nearest city, is prospering with a population now well over 1 million. Recently China Heavy Truck started a huge new factory there and has doubled the city’s GDP. We saw one example on the road which appeared to be gas-powered. Hydrogen maybe?
In addition to our 40-acre organic farm – Marlborough Block – we have leased another 35 acres, which we have named Canterbury Block (a 360 view is available here). This leased land is fully managed by Dragons Garden and is in the first year of organic conversion. Full certification is expected in 2025. Canterbury is performing well so far; general conditions this spring have been benign with adequate water. Our Waikawa block, just 300 metres from the factory, continues to grow a wide range of vegetables in addition to strawberries. Recycled water from our factory water treatment station supplies all irrigation needs.
In the factory grounds our new Biofuel boiler will be commissioned in one month and we have built a large new cold store adjacent to the factory. We have engaged the Jimo-based Enerpower Company to provide plans for solar panels on the factory roofs and other power-saving plans for our cold stores and drying equipment.
A walk through our factory showed it to be in great condition with a lot of new equipment installed. There was strawberry washing, freezing, and sorting going on (video), while in the temperature-controlled puree hall, 10-kilo packs of strawberry puree and smaller packs of orange puree were being made (video: bulk puree /video: puree portion pack). Over in the drying factory glace apricots were being packed in one workshop, and fruit leathers in another (video: glace apricots).
This trip included a visit to Yunnan where we source a wide variety of fruit. That is a story in itself, deserving of its own newsletter. Watch this space!
As always if there is something of particular interest please get in touch, we would be happy to share photographs and videos.
