F is for Food.

Which is very important in China, perhaps because of a collective memory of hard times.

People more often than not will greet you with “ni chi fan le ma”, which means “have you eaten?”. When visiting people it is polite to bring fruit or other foods. When Chinese people travel within China they will almost always bring back foods that are local to where they visited to share with family and co-workers.

More specifically fresh food. Freshness matters because there is not universal access to refrigeration. Both Farming and Fishing are part of the landscape in China, everywhere I’ve been.

Farms

China is a very agricultural nation. You really see this riding on trains. The high speed rail lines are raised above the road levels and give one a view of the vast expanses of farmland.

Even within cities you can see the green houses:

Fishing

Fishing is very popular.

Weifang.

Weifang.

Moat around Qufu.

Mihe River in Shouguang.

Mihe River in Shouguang

Mihe River in Shouguang.

The even have several street vendors selling brightly colored equipment at the entrance to the park along the Mihe River in Shouguang.

Along the Yangtze, and tributaries there were fish farms and many people in boats trying to catch and sell enough to make a living.

Fish farm in the lesser three gorges area.

Close up of a fish farm.

Vendor who approached our river cruise ship, while it was docked in White Emperor City. Musst have been at least 20 of them.