Karsts, Kiwifruit and Big Data Guizhou Has Transformed Its Notoriously Juddering Terrain from a Bane Into a Boon

20 | December 29-30, 2018 CHINA DAILY LIFE Karsts, kiwifruit and big data Guizhou has transformed its notoriously juddering terrain from a bane into a boon. Turns out, tricky geology can advance technology, Erik Nilsson discovers. recently used an app to water a mountainside kiwi field in Guiz- Ihou’s Shuicheng. A few taps on a phone and the taps of the sprin- kler systems started spurting. It was one of several experiences that showed me how topographically treacherous Guizhou — one of Chi- na’s poorest provinces for time brings in several times more mon- immemorial — is turning its geologi- ey.” cal disadvantages into technological Shuicheng’s kiwis are not only eat- advantages. en raw but also processed into alco- Turns out, big data has climate hols and soft drinks with growing preferences — cool and stable — and national brand recognition. is averse to seismic twitchiness. Many residents lease their land to And Guizhou’s karsts, which have growers and earn about 100 yuan long stood as obstacles to its develop- additionally a day as migrant work- ment, sire ideal conditions for data ers, he explains. storage. Others are capitalizing on the Much of this is concentrated growing tourism industry, as more around the capital, Guiyang — aka, outsiders arrive to pick fruit and the “city of eternal spring”. The city enjoy the striking scenery. has an average temperature of 22 C The number of visitors to the agri- and rarely registers anything beyond cultural park and surrounding area magnitude-3 tremors. has grown from roughly 20,000 six So, China selected Guizhou as the years ago to about 80,000 today. Vil- site of the country’s first comprehen- las built in the scenic spot cost about sive big data experimental zone. 2,000 yuan a night. Big data has contributed over 20 Guizhou was the last stop of my percent of Guizhou’s annual growth 35-day, 2,000-kilometer journey to 11 from 2014 to the end of 2017. A bird’s-eye view of Shuicheng, Guizhou province. PHOTOS BY CHINA DAILY NEW MEDIA CENTER destinations along the Yangtze to dis- I visited a park with 29 buildings cover how cities on the river have that house 60,000 cabinets and embraced the achievements and con- 800,000 servers. It hosts data centers sion of big data’s development in the kiwifruit slice installed for photo ops. times more than Sichuan’s on aver- fronted the challenges brought by the for such telecom giants as China Tele- province and throughout the coun- At the bottom of the alp’s water rib- age, locals told me. reform and opening-up. com, China Mobile and China Uni- try. bon, teeny people got out of tiny cars to Turns out, like big data, they thrive China is addressing such problems com. Huawei’s data center is under The app I used at the 400-hectare snap shots with the huge fruit wedge. in climatically stable karsts. as uncoordinated regional develop- construction. agricultural-technology-demonstra- The fruit from which the kiwi was Guizhou has long been known for ment, widening wealth gaps and The porous, melted-limestone tion park built in Shuicheng six years created in New Zealand originally poor soil that often produces little environmental degradation by shift- landscapes are pocked with a honey- ago operates according to a big data came from China’s Sichuan province more than low-grade corn on terrac- ing toward new models that focus on comb of caves particularly ideal for system adopted last year. over a century ago. es chopped into the mountains over quality development rather than data hardware. Sensors monitor such conditions The wild varieties, then called Chi- centuries. growth for growth’s sake. One of the centers is contained in a as sunlight, moisture, nutrition, tem- nese gooseberries, were grape-sized “Local farmers could only earn The country is improving people’s man-made tunnel connecting two perature and pests, and relay the Editor's Note: This is Part 3 and bitter. about 1,000 yuan ($144) per mu lives while protecting the ecosystems mountains. Its natural ventilation information to the app. of the six-part Yangtze dia- They were selectively bred in New (1/15th of a hectare) growing corn,” we depend on. saves energy, my guide told me. The app can perform such actions ries series based on journal- Zealand to create the large, sweet Zhang told me atop the mountain The reform and opening-up is still The park includes a district in as watering and fertilizing fields ist Erik Nilsson’s recent 35- varieties we eat today. that the orchard spills down. unfolding, especially as China enters which the province has concentrated according to the data. This reduces day, 2,000-kilometer About a decade ago, I reported on “They earn an average of 30,000 a new era. its major universities to cultivate tal- human labor — and error. journey to 11 cities to discov- how the not-so-prodigal kiwi had yuan per mu a year growing kiwif- It’s not only a model for develop- ent for the industry. “It requires electricity”, agronomist er how the Yangtze River returned home to southwestern Chi- ruit. They can earn 90,000 yuan per ment along the waterway — or even It’s also producing the semicon- Zhang Rongquan told me, “which Economic Belt has trans- na’s soil. mu at most.” throughout China — but, ultimately, formed over the ductors used to store and process big comes from that”, he said, pointing to 40 years since It’s today cultivating new prosperi- I pointed out a small cornfield an inspiration for the world we all data — “like the neurons in a giant a waterfall blasting down a moun- the reform and ty in places like Shuicheng. below, at the orchard’s edge. share. brain”, as one producer put it. tainside. opening-up. The variety that thrives in Guizhou “That’ll be gone next year,” Zhang Thus, Guizhou’s otherwise-hazard- The cascade gushed into a fizzing Scan the code to — relatively bald and with a tangy- told me. Contact the writer at ous topography has led to an explo- pool in front of a two-story statue of a watch the video. honey aftertaste — sells for four to 10 “Locals have realized kiwifruit [email protected] Gulping firewater along the ‘liquor river’ By ERIK NILSSON I watched children scuttle in and Hundreds of ceramic bottles are The workers coaching me giggled out of a massive sculpture of a brew- exhibited in a two-story glass wall in as I alternatingly folded the wrong I recently learned how to sensory ing urn near the Chishui’s banks. An the lobby that displays different cardboard flaps or got them right evaluate China’s top-end tipple and elderly man rode a robotic panda with varieties produced over the years. but forgot to put the shot glasses in joined an assembly line to package wheels that blasted music nearby. Some are designed in shapes like the box first. booze bottles while exploring the The shore is lined with tradition- lighthouses. Others are printed with I got it right on the fourth try. country’s “liquor river” in Guizhou al-style wooden buildings plated brocade patterns from Chinese eth- After successfully packaging one province. with black-tile roofs ending in eves nic groups. bottle, I officially retired from my The Chishui River, which takes its that curl upward like talons. A specialist taught me how to sen- factory gig. name from its reddish color, in Ren- Moutai liquor is an 800-year-old sory evaluate the liquor. Turns out, It takes workers an average of two huai city’s Maotai town has long type of baijiu (“white” spirits) that’s the process is much the same as minutes. (I took much longer.) remained underdeveloped — seren- celebrated as China’s national tipple. sampling wine. They operate with a machine-like The assembly line at a Moutai liquor plant in Renhuai, Guizhou, dipitously, it turns out. The dearth of US president Richard Nixon and First, you sniff the aroma. speed and precision. The plant packages up to 150 tons of Moutai a day. CHINA DAILY NEW MEDIA CENTER other industries has safeguarded Chinese premier Zhou Enlai raised a Then, you assess the color. The hopes to automate and is currently the water’s purity. glass when the US leader made his longer the booze brews, the darker trialing a giant robotic arm used to Indeed, the Yangtze tributary’s historic visit to China in 1972. Mout- yellow it is. lift crates onto carts. Improved transportation and told me at a water-treatment plant. superb quality is hailed as the magi- ai is still served to foreign heads of You next swirl the glass to exam- But the company has already development have accelerated Mao- It has built 22 treatment facilities cal ingredient that conjures China’s state during banquets. ine the tears dribbling down the adopted other new technologies, such tai’s liquor industry. in 20 towns and villages, including most-famous firewater. The brand is internationalizing as side. as big data. For instance, it places sen- Travel from the town to Zunyi city nine specifically dedicated to purify- The air throughout the town is its exports increase. It’s now even And, finally, you taste it to detect sors in bottle caps that can be scanned now takes an hour compared with ing water used for liquor, he says. soaked with the smell of alcohol. It’s being used to concoct cocktails. such notes as fruit, honey and flow- with phones to prevent forgeries.

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