Slow winter cabbage sales show Beijing is getting wealthier

Asian Economic News, Nov 13, 2000

BEIJING, Nov. 6 Kyodo

The arrival of trucks piled high with cabbage has marked the beginning of Beijing winters for decades.

And the tradition continues as residents lined up this week to buy some of the last crop of the common northern vegetable.

But lines no longer snake around the block, and a typical purchase is one or two heads rather than 100 or more as was common during ''cabbage weeks'' in the past.

The northern Chinese winter diet used to revolve around the ''master vegetable'' -- cabbage.

For variety, there was cabbage and pork dumplings, cabbage and tofu stew, cabbage fried with wood-ears and cabbage pancakes.

And for years the northern Chinese cabbage held its preeminent position by nature of its ability to keep through the winter months. Weighing 4 kilograms or more per head, the large, dense, thick-leafed vegetable is versatile and stores easily.

''We used to keep great piles of it in the hallways, enough to last through winter,'' recalled one Beijing resident. ''But it was a lot of hassle. We had to lay the cabbages out on the floor once a month to air them out and get rid of the bad ones.''

These days, though, cabbage is losing popularity to numerous other vegetables that are increasingly available -- and affordable -- in winter because of improved transportation and farming techniques.

In the mid-1990s, the ''patriotic vegetable'' went from being hoarded to a commodity that citizens were encouraged to buy to help support farmers.

But in 1995-1996, ''food tickets'' and ''grain booklets'' were phased out, along with quotas and rationing they enforced and now market forces have taken the lead role in determining diets.

''Good taste, nutrition and convenience are the criteria when people choose what they eat now,'' an editorial in the official China Daily said recently.

''This really is an improvement in people's lifestyle,'' said Beijing resident Su Lina. ''My husband never liked cabbage, so we stopped buying it as soon as we could afford to.''

Cabbage used to cost only a few fen, less than one U.S. cent, a kilogram and a fraction of the price of other vegetables, but prices have since evened out.

''We still buy cabbage occasionally,'' Su said, ''but only enough to eat right away...we are no longer worried about having enough to eat.''