Pinghan Big Top Bitter Melon

Pinghan Big Top Bitter Melon

　　Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Big Top Bitter Melon was already being cultivated in areas such as the Pinghan Administrative Zone of Gonghe Town. It is a local specialty developed through selection and careful breeding by farmers in their production practices. Since the 1950s, the scale of bitter melon cultivation by farmers has expanded rapidly, with the total planted area in the town each year exceeding 5,200 mu (1 mu = 666.7 square meters), and an annual output of 15,600 tons. The Emerald Green No.1 Big Top Bitter Melon is planted around mid-December of the lunar calendar each year, and is harvested and marketed around the following Qingming Festival (Tomb-Sweeping Day). Nowadays, melon farmers have gradually expanded from winter planting and spring harvesting to spring planting and summer harvesting, as well as summer planting and autumn harvesting. Fresh melons are available on the market from April to November each year, and the product is exported as far as the Hong Kong and Macao markets. Zhaiwu Seedless Watermelon is a famous local specialty of Heshan. It is mainly produced in Zhaiwu Town. Zhaiwu watermelons are seedless, high in sugar content, and delicious, enjoying a reputation both at home and abroad. During each watermelon harvest season, merchants from Hong Kong, Macao, and inland areas come to place orders. The cultivation of watermelons in Zhaiwu began in 1978, with varieties such as "Dahongbao" and "Hebao" being introduced and extensively cultivated for export. After 1986, the current seedless watermelon variety was introduced from the Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Initially, the green-skinned variety (Heming No.2) was tested, later developing into two new varieties—the flower-skinned (Heming No.3) and yellow-skinned (Heming No.4). In 1992, the planting area reached over 13,000 mu, and melon farmers also contracted land in neighboring areas such as Yueshan and Shuijing in Kaiping City and Cangcheng to grow watermelons. In 1993, Tan Junwei, a watermelon seed-breeding specialist from Yangmianshan Village, was awarded the title of “National Model Farmer for Learning and Applying Science” by the Ministry of Agriculture. (In 1994, the net income from watermelon cultivation alone in the town exceeded 8 million yuan, with the per capita income from watermelons in Liuhuaping Village of Shuanglong Administrative Zone reaching 2,000 yuan.)