Beixing Jing Tang Lotus Root

Beixing Jing Tang Lotus Root

　　In Jingtang Village, Huadong Town, there is a lotus root pond spanning over 20 acres with a history of lotus root cultivation dating back more than 200 years. The strangest thing about this pond is that the lotus roots it produces are unimpressive in appearance — long and thin, only slightly thicker than a thumb at their widest point, yet stretching over a meter, even up to two meters in length, resembling tree roots or firewood branches. Despite their odd look, they are refreshingly sweet when eaten raw, and when cooked, they are fluffy, fragrant, and smooth, offering medicinal benefits such as replenishing qi and nourishing blood. Another remarkable feature is that all the lotus roots in this pond belong to the entire village. When harvest time comes, the villagers collectively decide on a day to dig them up. People of all ages — men, women, and children — join in the effort, creating a spectacular scene. Whoever digs up a root keeps it. Even more unusually, after the harvest, no new planting is needed. By the next year, the pond is again covered with lotus stems and leaves, growing from sparse to dense, all in vibrant green, requiring no fertilization either. By the winter-spring transition, the lotus roots are ready again, and the whole village heads out to harvest them. This cycle repeats year after year, yielding over 20,000 jin of lotus roots annually — a truly unique and marvelous natural bounty.