Pinghu Watermelon
Local people have grown Pinghu watermelon,honored as the Best Watermelon in Southern China,over 800 years.Endowed with advantages like high content of sugar,juiciness,fine pulp,thin rind,the watermelon enjoys high fame both at home and abroad,and are exported to faraway places including Hongkong,Macao,and Southeast Asia.High-quality breeds of Pinghu watermelon are being developed from time to time,among which were Horse Bell breed introduced at the beginning of the 20th century,Jiefang breed bred shortly after the founding of the People''s Republic of China in 1949,Zhongyu series bred after 1960s and Pingyou No.1 breed cultivated in recent years.Good breeds have earned the highest prizes for Pinghu watermelon at province-level watermelon contests many times.
It is the unique creation of Local Pinghu people to carve elaborate pictures on watermelon rind and put candles or electrical lights inside to create the art of so-called Watermelon Lamp.In July 1985 Pinghu hosted the first Watermelon Lamp show of China after the founding of P.R.C. in 1949.
A grand Watermelon Lamp Art Festival has been held each year since 1991 in Pinghu,which has been reported by media from the Beijing,Shanghai,Zhejiang Province as well as Japan.
Pinghu Egg Preserved in Rice Wine
Pinghu egg preserved in wine is soft,crystal like,mellow,fragrant,nutritious,and tasty,having the function to improve appetite,digestion and blood circulation,thus is both a good cold dish and a superb gift for friends and relatives.It first appeared over 250 years ago during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng of Qing Dynasty,and later was awarded a gold tablet by Emperor Qianlong for being a first-class local tribute to the imperial court.
When displayed successively on Southeast Asia Commodities Fair,London Fair of Britain and Nanjing Commodities Fair,it won high praise from domestic and foreign visitors.It won a medal on Panama World Exposition.After 1949,it has been listed as one of the best products of its kind in various contests,which brought it a Prize of High-Quality Product at Ministry Level and a gold medal of the first China Food Products Exposition.In addition,foreign friends including former prime minister of Japan Tanaka once gave it high praise.It has been exported to distant places like Hongkong,Macao and Southeast Asian countries.
Bee Products
Pinghu is the birthplace of high-yield bee breeds with nearly 10 thousand beehives of high grade and high yield bee colonies at present.In 1998 Pinghu began setting up a brand named Rape Flower for local produced 100%pure fresh royal jelly.Scientific operation rules,quality control system and modern fresh-keeping technologies are introduced in the producing procedure.Honey is quick frozen and kept at minus18 degrees centigrade after being gathered so as to guarantee the freshness of royal jelly.Since its appearance in the market,the Rape Flowers brand has been listed as trustworthy product for its outstanding quality by consumers.In addition,the brand won a number of honorary titles including Municipal High Quality Product in 1998 Jiaxing High-Quality Agricultural Products Exhibition,Provincial High Quality Product in 1999 Zhejiang High-Quality Agricultural Products Exhibition and Famous Brand in 2001 Jiaxing Agriculture Exposition.It was also awarded a silver medal in International Agriculture Exposition hosted in Jiaxin,Zhejiang,China.
High-yield bee breeds are cultivated here in Pinghu,too.After 1989 high-yield bee breeds have been promoted on a trial basis,it has been applied in more than 20 key counties and cities producing honey in Zhejiang Province and widely adopted around China soon afterwards.Till now Pinghu has provided over 20 thousand breeding queen bees to more than one thousand counties and cities of China,which improve over one million bee colonies in terms of their productivity.Pinghu bee breeds are introduced and researched by the institute of bees under China Academy of Agricultural Sciences,institutes of growing bees in Jilin and Jiangxi provinces as well as colleges and universities specialized in agriculture in provinces including Zhejiang,Shandong Fujian,etc.They were also exported to the United States twice.The application and dissemination of Pinghu high-yield bee breeds have improved China''s royal jelly output from under 500 tons in 1987 to over 2500 tons now,which brought an increase in economic profit by more than 1.1 billion Yuan.
