Watermelon: Nature’s air conditioner
To the editor:
Stay cool. Summer is steamy in Guangzhou. Sitting in the delta of a major river and minutes away from the ocean, humidity and moisture is a major headache. When added to high temperatures things get a bit warm in the summer.
It is this time when affairs of the heart lead to romances with the air-conditioners. They are so cool! Air conditioning is a new science for Chinese. The pursuit of cool has been a side story throughout history. Fictional stories, from writers like Kipling, mention the animals peeling off their skins and moving around skinless. This was how the rhino got its wrinkly skin. There are no rhinos native to China. The politicians might call this a franking posture.
In the neighborhood its easy to see how people stay cool. First, at night crowds of people are out on the streets, walking around. This is the time when you get together with friends and have a big dinner in an air conditioned restaurant. The open air of the street is far cooler than the air in most apartments after a hard day of work. Come home from work, turn on the air conditioning, head out to a restaurant for a meal and a bit more of a walk around the block and when you get home the apartment should be cool enough to sleep.
Fans are popular. Its one of the first appliances you purchase. When people move, you see the old fan at the top of the heap of stuff that makes a household. Fans are good.
But the top of being cool is to eat cool food. Cool food is watermelon. Watermelon is very available here. Each evening as you wander the streets there are the watermelon sellers doing a lively business. Early in the season the melons are dark green and small. As the season progresses larger striped varieties appear. From the back of trucks, to carts and vans, watermelons are brought into the city. So good — and so cooling.
Time to go get the watermelon. See you in the next heat wave.
Orpheus Allison
Guangzhou, China
orpheusallison@mac.com
