Feature: Chili stories and China's historical bonds with Mexico

For Mexican Gerardo Guillermo Canton, the shape of the arc resembles a common ingredient found in his homeland -- a chili.

CHILI STORY IN RED ARMY'S LONG MARCH

Gerardo left Mexico for China to work in the autumn of 2021. He once read a book about the Red Army's Long March, and a story about chili attracted him most.

Gerardo learned that during the Long March, soldiers used chilies as a substitute for medicines and salt due to the shortage of supplies. Meanwhile, to overcome the fatigue brought by the night march, some soldiers smeared the chilies on their temples for nerve stimulation.

For a closer look at this history, Gerardo visited the monument marking the departure of the Central Red Army on the Long March, in Yudu County, China's Jiangxi province.

Standing in front of a yellowed and worn-out rough satchel, Gerardo was told it was a kit used by the Red Army soldiers to store household items, including chilies, for easy access.

NEW CHAPTER IN OLD REVOLUTIONARY BASE

With a history of more than 700 years, Tantou Village, located in Yudu, was a poverty-stricken village partly due to its natural conditions.

Today, the village has embarked on the road to prosperity by planting chilies and other selenium-rich vegetables.

Wang Erfa, a 56-year-old villager who previously held several unstable jobs, now earns 3,000 yuan (about 447 U.S. dollars) per month by growing chilies.

"Many villagers my age can find a job in the nearby vegetable base to make more money and take care of their families as well," said Wang.

Standing in front of rows of modern standard greenhouses, Gerardo watches farmers pick and pack ripe peppers, as several trucks carrying the item drive out of the mountain village.

According to Wang Dongxiang, deputy director of the Selenium Industry Development Center in Yudu, the county's current selenium-rich chili planting area has reached 8 sq km, with an annual output of 78,000 tons and annual revenues of 470 million yuan (about 70.1 million dollars).

Wang said the industry has employed more than 8,000 rural workers in the county.

Technology has helped realize high quality and high yield, said Liu Lianyun, Party secretary of Tantou Village.

"Before, we can only harvest once a year; now, four times," Liu said, noting that as long as the temperature, humidity and other parameters are set, an intelligent cloud system can automatically control the fans, sun shading network, water and fertilizer equipment.

"For example, the fan automatically releases air when the measured temperature reaches 32 degrees Celsius and shuts down when below 18 degrees Celsius to create a suitable environment for pepper growth," Liu said.

CHILI BOND BETWEEN CHINA, MEXICO

Chili peppers originate from Mexico. More than four centuries ago, chili peppers from Mexico were shipped along the Maritime Silk Road to China aboard the Manila Galleon.

Thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative more than 400 years later, Chinese chili peppers have made their way to the dining tables in Mexico, one of the world's largest markets for the hot stuff.

The Mexican Chili Products Commission estimates that about 30 percent of the green chilies sold in Mexico come from China.

In the first five months of this year, China exported more than 120 million yuan (about 17.9 million U.S. dollars)of unground dried chilies to Mexico, with about 50 million yuan (about 7.45 million U.S. dollars)of ground dried chilies, according to China's General Administration of Customs.

In Qingtang Town, also located in the province, a local chili plant is known as the world's chili supermarket. More than 100 varieties of chilies are grown there.

This chili supermarket is the base of Rijk Zwaan, a world-renowned seed company in the Netherlands.

The temperature and climate here are suitable for growing chili, Yuan Haozhong, head of the base, told Gerardo, noting "the soil is rich in selenium, which is in line with people's pursuit of a healthy diet."

Sebastian Amaro, a food expert at Mexico's Convent Juana University, is optimistic about the future of chili cooperation between China and Mexico.

"The Mexican market has a wide variety of chili products from China. The cooperation between Mexico and China in the technology and process of the chili industry is bound to achieve fruitful results," said Amaro.

(Reporters Gao Haoliang and Cheng Di in Nanchang and Zhu Yubo in Mexico City also contributed to the story.)