My car packed with too many clothes, an extremely terrified cat and a live Kombucha culture, I headed west to my summer field site. Oddly enough, my summer field site is also where I grew up. The endless waves of grain remind me of my labor-intensive childhood detasseling corn,1 walking beans2 and bucking bales.3 I …
As the snow retreats and the days grow longer, I am again turning my attention towards summer fieldwork. I have fond memories of relaxing by the pool and spending time with my friends and family during high school and undergraduate summer breaks. However, during graduate school and for most academics, summer has become the only …
The second part of my project involves DNA extraction from my soil samples. For that, I travel to Nanjing and work in the lab of Dr. Fang Wang in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Soil Science Institute. Nanjing is only about an hour from Shanghai, which makes my presence much less of a novelty, as …
As we drive through the rural Chinese country side visiting village after village, I notice a pattern within Chinese agriculture that is paralleled in Chinese culture, and that is quite different from anything I’ve experienced in America. They literally use everything — and between rice paddies are planted to soy and the medians between roads …
My fieldwork in China started off rough. After the sparkle of the first week – being an honored guest, attending lavish dinners and getting private tours – wore off what remained was me, our research team of five and a project that had some serious American bias hiding within it. The soil analysis for my …
So if you remember from previous blogs, my research project is attempting to find differences is in the soil-microbial community between corn, rice (grasses) and soy (a legume). Global soybean trade, specifically soybeans from Brazil and the USA, are being imported by China; these imports are cheaper than domestically produced soybeans, thus driving out China’s …
It’s May. I am sitting in my studio apartment, looking at old take-out Chinese boxes with disgust and attempting to pack for my field season in China. In only one bag. How many pairs of socks should I pack? How much instant coffee does a summer of data collection in Asia require? Can I really …
After being in China long enough to maneuver public transportation and understand a few basic phrases in Chinese, I was ready to head out and see the sights. After all, Beijing is home to some of the oldest cultural and historic relics, such as the Forbidden City built in 1406 and occupied by the Ming …
Ironically, after almost two weeks in China I still haven’t had any tea. I have dined in homes and in restaurants, with young and older people but have not encountered this elusive cornerstone of Chinese culture. However, I have encountered many products made from soybeans (黃豆). After being harvested from the field, 85 percent of …
I am learning how to fail honorably. I traveled half way around the world to study the Chinese language and make connections that would be helpful throughout my graduate research. Much to my surprise and a little to my dismay, the most applicable skill I am learning from this journey is how to fail. Like …