Honggao Eco Yangcheng Lake Crabs

Honggao Eco Yangcheng Lake Crabs

　　Honggao Eco Yangcheng Lake Crabs

　　Xinghua is recognized as China’s No.1 eco-agriculture city (county), located in the heart of the Li-Xia River region in Jiangsu Province. The area is dotted with lakes and crisscrossed by waterways, with water bodies covering one-fourth of the city’s total area. Xinghua boasts crystal-clear, unpolluted water that is highly suitable for fish and shrimp to thrive, making it one of the most typical and pristine ecological zones in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and truly a land of fish and rice.

　　Xinghua’s specialty lies in “agriculture,” and its advantage in “water.” During the Seventh Five-Year Plan period, the city’s total agricultural output value ranked first in the nation, and its freshwater aquatic product output topped Jiangsu Province for nine consecutive years. Today, the city has developed 150,000 acres of green food production bases and 200,000 acres of pollution-free aquatic product production bases.

　　With its uniquely superior natural resources and a longstanding emphasis on ecological protection, Xinghua has been designated a National Eco-Demonstration City by the State Environmental Protection Administration.

　　Xinghua is also the hometown of Zheng Banqiao. On one occasion, to satirize a prefectural magistrate who had bought his official position, Zheng composed his famous crab poem on the spot:

　　Eight legs scuttle, startling the land,

　　Two claws wave, exuding mighty command.

　　Who’d have thought its belly holds no worth,

　　Dipped in ginger, vinegar, washed down with mirth.

　　Zheng Banqiao claimed the crab’s belly was empty mainly to mock the magistrate—who held high office and had a protruding belly—but lacked real knowledge. Today, we must speak up for the crab. The Honggao crab not only has a plump belly, but is lively, clever, and full of character.