Saturday, 22 May 2010
With other international exchange students from Japan, Vietnam, Poland, Korea, USA and of course Indonesia, I visited Dashu.
It's a village located in Kaohsiung County, approximately 10 minutes from Foguangshan (Buddha Light Monastery). This agricultural village is famous for its pineapple and lychee production (I knew that just after this visit, what a shame).
In Dashu, literally means "big tree", there is also a rich private university called I-shou 義守大學, which has its own hospital, shopping mall, cinema and amusement park.
Leader of this rural trip was Mr. Bosco Lee, former president of Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages. (a middle age man with cap on the right side)
In this festival, every pineapple farmers should participate in a competition. They hand over their best pineapple, as seen on picture. Then, a group of juries will pick out the best pineapple as the winner. Honestly, I don't really understand the scoring criteria but I'm sure that the juries should be experts in this field. So what prize will the winner of this competition achieve? The answer is quite simple: price of their pineapples will increase and more customers will buy their production.
I'm quite certain that all of you know the fruit on the left side. Yes, it's lychee.. Lychee is a tropical and subtropical fruit that can be primarily found in Asia, Southern Africa and Mexico. It's a fragranced fruit with a sweet taste.
There are many cultivars of lychee and one that is extensively grown in Dashu village is named Jade purse (玉荷包 yuhebao). It is named because of its large fruits and the thick flesh within. The seed is small in this cultivar.
