More than ten years ago, the national food program "A Bite of China" introduced local cuisine to the whole of China.
In the first episode of the first season, this program spent a lot of time introducing Hubei lotus roots and the beautiful lotus root soup made from simmering, and also presented the primitive and hard work of digging lotus roots to the public.
Many people "drooled and shed tears" after watching it.
Over the past ten years, the situation of lotus root diggers has improved.
Although they still have to stay in the mud all year round, with the help of new tools and e-commerce, they no longer have to live like duckweeds.
The local lotus root industry provides a kind of "certainty" for lotus root diggers. During the lotus root digging season, they no longer worry about not having any work the next day, and can get a good income every day. 700 yuan.
In 2020, Pinduoduo promoted Honghu lotus root, Honghu's landmark agricultural product, to the whole country through live broadcast, and the mayor of Honghu City also walked into the live broadcast room to explain it passionately.
The annual sales volume of leading local companies on Pinduoduo reaches 30 million yuan.
Driven by e-commerce, Honghu lotus root has become a landmark agricultural product, and it has also allowed local lotus root diggers to live the life they want.
Before this, lotus root diggers had to leave their hometowns to find work on their own, and the time lost also caused a certain loss in their income.
Nowadays, "The income earned from lotus root digging is more than that of working as a waiter or security guard in the urban area, although it is a bit tiring." Many lotus root diggers have made such a comparison, which is why they have persisted in digging lotus roots.
With this money, some people have bought a house with three bedrooms and two living rooms for their son in the local urban area. Some people no longer hesitate when buying new shoes for themselves. "In the past, I always took care of my wife and children first, and didn't think much about myself." Some people can even add 2,000 yuan a month for living expenses for their son who is working outside.
During the peak lotus root digging season, they can also make money while going home after work to take a hot bath and eat lotus root soup cooked by their wives.
When they don't have to dig lotus roots, they sow shrimp seedlings in the pond and wait for the crayfish to grow up and sell them.
This is already an ideal life for them.
Lotus root diggers work from September to April of the following year.
Photo provided by interviewee
"beating lotus root"
The best season for digging lotus roots in Hubei has passed.
Now, Honghu City in Hubei Province does not have the grand scene of "lotus leaves and fields" in summer, nor the excitement in autumn when lotus roots mature and workers from all over the country come to dig them.
There are still withered lotus stalks in the pond, and the mud at the bottom of the lake is exposed at the low water level. Before everything revives in spring, it is really not beautiful.
Zhao Daokai has been digging lotus roots in the lake for three days, doing the finishing work of digging lotus roots this season.
After returning from the New Year, the freezing rain in Hubei interrupted Zhao Daokai's schedule to continue working.
When the weather cleared up, he became the only lotus root digger in the lake.
Zhao Daokai is 51 years old. He is thin but has thick joints. He looks like he has been working hard all year round.
For the past three days, he got up at 7 o'clock every day. After breakfast, he rode an electric motorcycle with a bucket to the lake. After taking off his coat, he needed to wear a wetsuit.
This took a lot of effort.
The wetsuit had all four limbs connected and only had a large opening on the stomach.
He first got in through the big hole and then pulled his head out.
To prevent water from getting in, the neck was tightened.
Then his limbs slowly and awkwardly fit into the rubber wetsuit. Finally, Zhao Daokai tightened the rubber on his belly in circles, twisting it into a thick rope, tightening it again and again, and hanging it around his neck.
It takes more than ten minutes to complete a set of procedures.
Zhao Daokai needs to put on a diving suit before digging lotus roots.
He bought his wetsuit in September last year, and it already had many patches on his hands and feet.
Under water, as long as there is a little bit of water in the diving suit, you must go ashore immediately. The longer you wait, the more uncomfortable you will be while working, but you can't delay.
Compared with the traditional manual method of digging lotus roots in the past, Zhao Daokai now uses water pumps to assist in digging lotus roots, which saves time and effort.
He turned on the water pump inserted on the shore, and the high-pressure water gun sprayed out from the other end, quickly rolling up the lotus roots that had been dug out and floating on the water.
In order to prevent the lotus roots from being interrupted, Zhao Daokai trotted over and waded into the lake, clamped the water gun under his right arm, buried the nozzle in the water and started working.
The sound of hitting the water disappeared.
Zhao Daokai couldn't see the bottom of the lake and could only sense the location of the lotus root by slowly groping.
Zhao Daokai carried the water pump into the water and prepared to beat the lotus roots.
He knelt on the mud at the bottom of the lake, bent down, slowly touched the mud with the palm of his left hand, and held the position of the water gun with his right hand. The lake water had already submerged his shoulders, leaving only his head on the lake surface.
"Gently push it with the palm of your hand. If the lotus stem under the water is not stiff enough and falls over, there is no lotus root in the soil (at that location). If it is firm enough, it means there is one."
After determining the location of the lotus root, Zhao Daokai carefully used a water gun with his right hand to wash away the mud on one side of the lotus root. While washing, he used his left hand to explore the growth trend of the lotus root.
Lotus roots are very fragile, so you must not rush them against them, otherwise they will break and you will not be able to sell them at a good price.
After the water gun rushes to the tail of the lotus root, it comes back and rushes to the other side of the lotus root.
After the silt on both sides has been washed away, gently pull out the lotus root from the tail and throw it behind you. It will automatically float on the water, and then fish it ashore after it is finished.
This method is called "lotus root digging", and it is the choice of more people digging lotus roots nowadays.
For skilled lotus root diggers, it takes one or two minutes for each lotus root to float on the water, which is only one-fifth of the traditional way of digging lotus roots.
Despite this, "beating lotus roots" is still hard work.
Zhao Daokai kept his left shoulder tilted downward while groping, and he had to kneel and crawl in the mud.
He has been working for three consecutive days, soaking in the water from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day. He can wash four to five lotus root fields with a water pump and dig five to six hundred kilograms of lotus roots every day.
Now, he was the only one cleaning up the lotus root field. He barely drank water or went ashore to rest for 7 hours.
On the afternoon of the third day, he stood on the shore and sighed: "My whole body is sore after three consecutive days of fighting. I have to rest after doing anything today."
Zhao Daokai also has a 35-year-old apprentice, "the youngest I have ever seen in this industry. Young people don't want to do such dirty and tiring work when they go out," Zhao Daokai said.
Zhao Daokai dug out the longest lotus root that day.
Taste of hometown
There are 755 lakes and 4,230 rivers in Hubei Province, which is known as the "Province of Thousand Lakes".
Nutrient-rich soil settled at the bottom of the lake, creating unique growing conditions for lotus roots.
According to media reports, Hubei's lotus root planting area and output rank first in the country, with a planting area of more than 2 million acres, accounting for 1/3 of the country's total lotus root output. 70% of lotus roots across the country come from Hubei.
Honghu City is named after Honghu Lake, the largest freshwater lake in the Jianghan Plain. There are 102 large and small lakes.
Data from the Jingzhou Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in 2023 show that Honghu lotus roots account for 17% of the province’s lotus root planting area, and the total annual output of lotus roots is nearly 300,000 tons, accounting for 11% of the province’s total annual output of 2.7 million tons.
Before digging lotus roots, Zhao Daokai knew little about the lotus roots in his home province.
Many years ago, he was working in Guangzhou and saw that the lotus roots in the supermarket were thick and round. His coworkers told him that the lotus roots sold in the supermarket were all produced in Hubei.
He was confused. It tasted very crispy and not as fragrant and glutinous as the wild lotus root dug at home when he was a child.
A few years ago, Zhao Daokai returned to his hometown to take care of his wife who was in poor health and started digging lotus roots to earn money. Only then did he realize that the lotus roots he saw in Guangzhou were not the lotus roots from Honghu. "The lotus roots here are square."
Honghu lotus root is used to make lotus root soup, which turns out to be pink and soft and melts in the mouth. The lotus root soup also has a sweet taste.
For Hubei people, lotus root is a treasure all over the body. There is a local saying: "Eat lotus root hairpins in spring and lotus root in summer, and simmer lotus root in autumn and winter until the Chinese New Year." It can satisfy the appetite of Hubei people all year round, and it is an endless enjoyment. The perfect natural gift.
Ge Yulu, a young artist from Hubei Province, said that lotus root strips are eaten when the lotus is in a tender state, stir-fried in hot and sour sauce, and pickled with pickled peppers, which makes it crispy and tasty; the pork ribs and lotus root soup is Hubei's signature dish; the lotus root is sliced into thin slices, filled with meat and wrapped in egg flour oil. The fried lotus root sandwich is extremely delicious; the young lotus seeds are crispy and sweet, and the old lotus seed rice is paired with white fungus to make porridge.
Qiu Zhenbing also worked outside all year round as a security captain at a state-owned enterprise in Wenzhou.
When I get greedy, I buy pink lotus root soup from the market.
In Hubei, almost everyone simmers pork ribs and lotus root soup once or twice a month. For him, this is very simple and has been engraved in his genes: "Choose thick pork breast bones, cut them into pieces, put them in a casserole, and cook them." After boiling, simmer over low heat for one hour. Wash the fresh lotus root and melon skin, cut into pieces and put into the soup. Turn the heat up high, then boil over low heat and simmer over low heat for half an hour." Every time he eats lotus root soup, he always thinks of his parents in his hometown.
In order to support his parents, Qiu Zhenbing returned to his hometown.
He looked around at the jobs and found that the wages they received at their age were very low, "just over 2,000 yuan a month." Finally, he decided to work as a coolie to dig lotus roots.
In the first year, he gave him cigarettes, wine, and dinner. He worked as an apprentice to a master with decades of experience and only had to look after his food.
At the beginning, he learned to dig lotus roots in the mud, using only a shovel and using only his strength.
The weather in Hubei is still hot in September and October, so digging lotus roots must start in the early morning before the sun rises.
The lotus root diggers started working at 4 o'clock.
The water in the lake had been drained, and Qiu Zhenbing put on the rubber pants that reached her chest.
At first he couldn't even lift his legs in the mud, and it took a lot of effort just to walk in.
Qiu Zhenbing followed the master.
I saw the master first digging out a half-meter deep hole in the mud and standing in it, using experience to find out where the lotus roots were lying in the mud.
A year later, Qiu Zhenbing mastered how to find lotus roots: underneath those thin and tough lotus stems is the head of the lotus root, and there are usually two adjacent lotus stems at the tail.
The old master dug out the mud on the surface, about a foot deep, then stopped and put down the shovel, and began to gently scrape away the mud on the surface with his bare hands, slowly revealing the shape of the lotus root.
Just keep peeling off the mud on both sides of the lotus root with your hands until the entire lotus root is exposed. Use a shovel to shovel off the tail, and then carefully pull out the entire lotus root.
The traditional way of digging lotus roots is to use a shovel to dig lotus roots in the mud.
Photo provided by interviewee
When an experienced master shovels down the mud for the first time, the distance from where the lotus roots are buried may be only a little finger width away.
This technical task was difficult for Qiu Zhenbing. When he shoveled the lotus stems at first, he either couldn't find the location of the lotus roots, or he shoveled too hard and directly hit the lotus roots.
Once the lotus root is broken, the mud will pour in, making it worthless.
“At the beginning, I had no strength to dig lotus roots but I didn’t know how to use them. I was angry, anxious and tired, and felt itchy all over my body.” Qiu Zhenbing recalled.
After the sun rises, the day's work is over. In about five hours, others can dig at least five to six hundred kilograms, but he can only dig about one or two hundred kilograms, making no money.
Later, Qiu Zhenbing also used the method of "beating lotus roots".
The surface of punched lotus roots is clean, unlike mud lotus roots that are covered with a thick layer of mud and are easier to preserve.
In the winter of 2023, there was snow and freezing rain in Hubei. It was the time to simmer lotus root soup, but it was really hard for lotus root diggers like Zhao Daokai and Qiu Zhenbing.
After entering December and before the Chinese New Year, Qiu Zhenbing and Zhao Daokai did not take a day off.
They usually wear three layers of thermal underwear from top to bottom to break the frozen lake surface first. After going down, it will be bitingly cold at first, "but when they start working and keep moving, it becomes less cold."
They were soaked in cold water for six or seven hours.
One time, Zhao Daokai failed to fish the lotus roots out of the lake, and they were frozen on the lake the next day. All the lotus roots were frozen to death, and a whole day's efforts were wasted.
Qiu Zhenbing said that he earned his son's wedding house in Honghu City little by little.
After having a grandson, he will give his son 2,000 yuan as a monthly subsidy.
You don’t have to travel far away to make money
Poachers like Zhao Daokai and Qiu Zhenbing are all working for Hubei Huagui Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Huagui Group").
This company was founded in 2006. The main factory covers an area of 200 acres, next to Zhibu Avenue.
In 2012, Huagui Group started processing aquatic vegetables, focusing on the processing and distribution of lotus root strips, and wrote scientific research results into papers.
The production plant of Huagui Food Co., Ltd.
Photo provided by interviewee
On the main building of Huagui Group is posted the ambition of Chairman Zhao Daohua: "I have set a goal for myself: to help 10,000 farmers realize their dream of a millionaire income within five years; to help a thousand employees realize their dream of becoming millionaires within ten years."
Now, Huagui Group is the largest lotus root manufacturer in the country. More than ten varieties of four series of soaked lotus root strips, lotus products, lotus drinks and freshwater fish produced by the company are sold well all over the country and exported to Europe, America and Southeast Asia, with an output value of nearly 20 billion.
In the process of producing lotus root products, Huagui Group invested 120 million yuan to transform the intelligent processing factory, which will be completed and put into use in April 2022.
At Huagui Group, the cleaning interval for the connecting pipes for making lotus root soup cannot exceed one week.
According to Yang Fuyuan, general manager of Huagui Group, Huagui Group opened 12,000 acres of lotus ponds in Honghu in 2019 to plant the variety "Honghu Lotus Root No. 1". The taste is not inferior to that of Honghu wild lotus root, and the yield is four times that of wild lotus root.
"We cooperate with 30 local rural cooperatives and more than 200 farmers, with a planting area of 150,000 acres." When purchasing lotus roots, Huagui Group offered a price of no less than the guaranteed minimum price of 2 yuan and 80 cents. When the market price is high When guaranteeing the lowest price, the market price will be used for acquisitions. "For example, in 2023, our purchase price will be between 3 yuan and 10 cents to 3 yuan and 50 cents."
Since 2019, every year in September, Ten Thousand Mu of Lotus Pond has welcomed more than 50 lotus root diggers from all over the country. Two of them are responsible for 1.5 acres of lotus pond every day. On average, each person digs six to seven hundred kilograms per day. After digging one lotus pond, they will replace it with another. , so that they can work continuously until the peak of the year, and the lotus root diggers can dig 1,000 kilograms of lotus roots every day.
In 2017, Huagui Group entered Pinduoduo, and in less than three years, it ranked first in the lotus root category.
In 2020, Pinduoduo promoted Huagui Group and launched an online live broadcast on CCTV to promote Honghu's landmark agricultural product, Honghu lotus root, to the whole country. The mayor of Honghu City also walked into the live broadcast room to explain it passionately.
He Gang, head of Pinduoduo store of Huagui Group, said: "The sales were very good, which strengthened our determination to cooperate in depth with Pinduoduo." In 2023, Huagui Group's annual sales in Pinduoduo will reach 30 million yuan.
Zhao Daokai and Qiu Zhenbing can earn 70 cents for every kilogram of lotus roots pumped out by the water pump and sold to Huagui Group.
Before Huagui contracted the 10,000-acre lotus pond, Zhao Daokai and Qiu Zhenbing had to leave home and keep looking for work.
Every time he finished working at a house, his employer no longer took care of food and housing. Zhao Daokai had to pack up water pumps and other equipment and go home.
At home, he has to patiently call one by one to ask if he needs lotus root diggers, and post messages in WeChat groups where lotus root diggers gather.
"The lotus roots mature at the same time, so finding work is done in stages. When there is work, we gather together, and when there is no work, it is very annoying. There is nothing to do in winter, so we can only work and wear out. Keep looking for people to inquire." Zhao Daokai was anxious when he had no work, but he didn't want to convey his emotions to his sick wife, so he would go out during the day and talk as little as possible.
His wife had a spinal problem. When severe, she could not lift her arms and had to stay at home. After asking many doctors, they could not find out the reason.
Sometimes it is difficult to wait until the host needs someone to dig lotus roots. Their conditions are a bit harsh for Zhao Daokai, who can only dig lotus roots with a water gun: "Can you dig mud lotus roots? We only need to dig mud lotus roots (the market price of mud lotus roots is high and the storage time is high)." "Longer)" "We don't pay a penny for the cut lotus roots here" "We only want the white and fat lotus roots".
Fortunately, he found a job. He rushed there with the tools, but time was wasted in waiting and searching.
Now, Zhao Daokai is satisfied with fixed working hours and locations. He no longer has to rely on luck to find a job.
For Qiu Zhenbing, he is also tired of this kind of life of "living away from each other".
In order to take care of his parents, he returned to his hometown of Honghu from Wenzhou, "What do I want to do when I go out to work?".
He used to work in other people's homes, and fifty or sixty people lived in a simple townhouse. At that time, he was still a novice at digging lotus roots. After he came out covered in mud, he couldn't take a clean hot bath, so he had to I wipe my face and body, and rarely put on clean clothes, because I have to repeat the previous day's work the next day.
Lying in bed at night, he not only had to endure the physical discomfort caused by digging lotus roots, but also endured the helplessness and resentment of digging less than others during the day.
Now that he has stable sales through Pinduoduoou, he can go home and enjoy a rest for the day.
"Who doesn't want to go home and take a hot bath after finishing work, and then have a comfortable sleep?" Qiu Zhenbing said.
This little wish finally came true.