This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Asia from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.

Explosions are nothing new here in China. The Chinese did, after all, invent gunpowder. But exploding watermelons? I kid you not. Recently, watermelons in Jiangsu province just began exploding. The cause was traced back to an overuse of a fast growth chemical f which farmers applied in an attempt to get more melons to market more quickly. Alas, they added too much too late and the plan back-fired when fields of the fruit just blew up one after another, acre by acre. Watermelon is a staple food in China. It’s served at breakfast, lunch and dinner. No meal is complete without a plateful of juicy red triangles. As you can see, watermelons have always been a booming market in China…just not a ka-booming one.

With thanks to Deborah Peterson for suggesting this text, from the KU Center for East Asian Studies, I’m Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.