Abundant resources and products

Areas south of the Yangtze River are very important for Chin's agriculture. The plains of Jianghan, the Dongting, Poyang and Taihu lakes, and the Yangtze River Delta region are known 28 the "land of milk and honey" in China.

Fertile land, plentiful rainfall and a good irrigation system help grow two crops a year. Crops such as soy-bean, rapeseed and wheat are harvested after early spring, fol-lowed by the sowing of paddy. The southern region has the high-est rice and rapeseed yield in Chi-na. In some areas, paddy can be grown twice a year, resulting in a far higher yield per hectare than in the northeastern and northern parts. The southern region also grows wheat and cotton.

The southern region is the big-gest freshwater fish producing area in China. The so-called "four major Chinese carps"- black, grass, silver and bighead carps-are farmed in the region, so are Bluntsnout breams (also called as Wuchang Fish), silver fish, mandarin fish, and river crabs and shrimps. Other aquatic products of the re-gion include lotus, water chestnut, Euryale ferox, arrowhead and chufa.[1]

The Taihu Lake Plain is an important silkworm base and has a very long history of silk production. People in the area have a rich experience of breeding silkworms, prompting the government to set up silkworm research institutes there. These institutes impart scientific knowledge to farmers to help them produce superior silkworms that give high yield-ing quality pods. Cities and towns near the Taihu Lake have developed silk- reeling and silk-spinning industries. Suzhou in Jiangsu, Huzhou and Hangzhou in Zhejiang are famous silk-weaving centers. The exquisite handmade embroidery in Suzhou and super silk-weaving handicrafts in Hangzhou have long been famous across the world.

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Xihu Longjing (West Lake Dragon Well) Tea

Areas near Hangzhou are home to a variety of famous green tea. Longjing is the name of a village, as well as a well west of the West Lake. The area, surrounded by hills on all four sides, has a weather that helps grow very high quality tea. and hence has many tea gardens. Taditional Longjing Tea is hand-made following a unique processing method. The fresh and tender super fine Longjing Tea is nice in colo, smell, taste and appearance.

Hills dot either side of the Yangtze River, where subtropi-cal fruits and other commercial crops are grown, with orang-es and tea being the most popular. China is the birthplace of tea and silk. Centuries of efforts have resulted in the produc-tion of a huge variety of tea, and the number continues to grow because of different tea-making techniques and styles being developed in modern times.

The Jiangnan Hill region, rich in acid red soil, enjoys pleasant weather, plentiful rainfall and humid air, which are extremely suitable for growing tea. Therefore, tea grown in the region is not only of high quality, but also has the high-est yield. Longjing Tea grown near the West Lake, Biluochun Tea produced in the West hill near Taihu Lake and East Hill near the Dongting Lake, Junshan Silver Needle Tea of Jun-shan Island in Dongting Lake, and Tunxi Green Tea and Qi-men black tea grown near Huangshan Mountain in Anhui are famous worldwide.

Areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze Riv-er have long been China's important porcelain producing re-gion. Jingdezhen in Jiangxi is known for its super porcelain-making techniques, and makes porcelain with white and fine texture. The high degree of craftsmanship of its artisans has earned it the name of "China's Porcelain Capital."

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[1] The Zhou shan Fishing Ground in Zhejiang Province is China's largest fishing port and regarded as a "natural fishing" center.