Heishui Melon Village

Heishui Melon Village

Traveling 15 kilometers southward through the ancient city along the Changbai Highway or the Pingqi Railway will take you to Heishui Town — the nationally renowned “China’s Melon Capital.” Every summer and autumn, when the fields are lush and green, the air is filled with the mysterious fragrance of melons. Roadside melon sheds attract travelers passing through to stop and enjoy a refreshing bite, while merchants from north and south gather here to purchase. As a result, hundreds of trucks loaded with watermelons converge at the roadside melon market, creating a unique sight in China’s Melon Capital.

The history of Heishui Melon Village dates back many centuries. As early as over a thousand years ago during the Liao Dynasty’s rule over the north, melons were already being cultivated here. According to *The Records of the Khitan*, “The Khitan obtained this fruit after defeating the Uyghurs. They grew it by covering mounds with cow dung, and the fruit grew as large as a Chinese winter melon but tasted sweet.” At that time, to open up trade routes to the Western Regions, Liao Taizu Emperor Yelü Abaoji personally led his troops on a western campaign. In the scorching, arid desert with scarce water, hydration became a major challenge. Watermelons, originally from the oases of Xinjiang, could quench thirst, relieve hunger, and were easy to carry and preserve, making them essential supplies for the army. After the successful campaign, Emperor Yelü Abaoji ordered the seeds to be brought back to the Liao capital at Shangjing and cultivated there. Before long, melon farming began on the outskirts of Heishui in Taizhou, an important stronghold of the Liao Dynasty. In the early Liao period, a man from the Central Plains named Hu Qiao visited the north for travel and study. Passing through Heishui in Taizhou, he tasted watermelon for the first time and was amazed. He carefully studied the cultivation techniques and brought the seeds back to the Central Plains.

The *Taonan Prefecture Annals* and the *City Annals* also recorded that during the mid-to-late Qing Dynasty, Heishui watermelons and their seeds were tributes to the imperial palace. In the early years of the Republic of China, they were considered a precious delicacy used by warlords such as Zhang Zuolin and Wu Junsheng, as well as Mongolian nobles like Prince Jasaqtu, to beat the heat and relieve boredom. It wasn’t until after the liberation that the people truly became masters of their own destiny, and melon farmers in Heishui Melon Village were free to harvest and enjoy the fruits of their labor. They also frequently supplied premium, refreshing watermelons to central government meetings and state institutions. Thanks to favorable geographic and climatic conditions, mature farming techniques, and high quality, Heishui watermelons are becoming the “golden treasure” that helps local farmers prosper.

Heishui Melon Village boasts uniquely beautiful scenery. In spring, farmers eagerly await the early arrival of melons in the market. They widely adopt plastic mulching techniques to raise soil temperature and promote early ripening. As a result, silver ribbons appear across the melon fields. Under the sunlight, the black-and-white fields sparkle brilliantly. In the peak of summer, the Changbai Highway flanking the melon village is lined with melon sheds and shaded walkways. Farmers arrange emerald-green watermelons into green walls or long dragons, creating powerful visual advertisements that attract countless melon merchants from all over the country. Some slice open the melons to reveal juicy red flesh, captivating passersby and generating irresistible appeal. In autumn, trucks of all sizes carrying watermelons gather at the Heishui Melon Market, forming a sea of green. Merchants from across the nation haggle with farmers in diverse regional accents, while rows of heavy-duty trucks and trains stand ready. Once deals are struck, these vehicles transport the watermelons to all corners of the country. In winter, under sunlit greenhouses, premium melon seedlings begin to stretch, producing a wide variety of melons: ripe fruits range from large, seedless ones to small, fist-sized varieties and even cube-shaped ones — treasured either as winter hospitality gifts or ornamental curiosities…

Heishui Melon Village is a place you won’t want to leave and will never forget.

Heishui Town: Located in the southern part of Taonan City, Heishui Town covers an area of 330 square kilometers. In 2000, it was designated by the Jilin Provincial Government as a pilot town for reform and development, as well as one of the top ten towns. Heishui is one of the key commodity grain bases in Taonan, primarily producing corn with an annual capacity of 2 kilograms. It is also a nationally famous melon-producing region with a century-long history of watermelon cultivation. As early as the 1960s, “Heishui Watermelon” gained national fame for its excellent quality and unique taste, becoming a well-known brand supplied to Zhongnanhai, with an annual production exceeding 60 million jin. It is distributed as far as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

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