Growingup

Urban farmers are turning China’s concrete jungle into high-rise vegetable gardens

The [vegetable] harvest is good. It can support at least half of our family’s daily use. The green in front of my apartment gives me a feeling of nature, and I feel relaxed and pleased whenever I see my little farmland.

Since the dawn of chinese civilization there has been an innate yearning for people to live an idyllic life surrounded by nature, far from the maddening crowds. This green dream has been filtered down through millennia to modern Chinese society now engaged in the age of technology in a maze of urban sprawls.

The scarcity of land in big cities has not diminished green dreams and instead of spreading outward, ambitions have scaled heights - quite literally.

Crops, vegetables and fruits are no longer the sole preserve of countryside farmyards. They can now be seen adding value to urban balconies and roof top gardens, a new experience for many city dwellers who use gardening as a way to unwind after a day’s grind and learn something new.

Trimming plants in her garden in front of her Beijing apartment, Xiao Shujuan, 61, said, “I used to plant a lot of flowers. With a

lot of idle flowerpots, I thought why not plant some vegetables.” Since August last year, Xiao and her husband became addicted to planting different types of vegetables in their garden, including Chinese cabbage, lettuce, parsley, onion and garlic sprouts.

“The harvest is good. It can support at least half of our family’s daily use,” Xiao told Chinafrica. “The green in front of my apartment gives me