Page 8 - Yunnan Tourism Culture Times (91)

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Mushroom washer as a new profession

“洗菌人”应运而生

In Yunnan, the booming wild mushroom trade mushroom washing service. After using the ma-
has stimulated the development of many related chine for preliminary cleaning, mushroom washers
industries. Wild mushrooms are delicacies, but proceed to further wash the mushrooms by hand.
sorting and washing them can be arduous. When According to a mushroom washer surnamed
it is mushroom season, mushroom washers will Zhang, now that it is peak season, she washes
go into work. more than 300 kilograms of mushrooms every
Mushroom washers clean, slice, and pack day. By working from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., she earns
wild mushrooms for customers so that they are 900 to 1,000 yuan in a single day. “In August,
ready to be cooked or served. Mushroom washers which is the busiest month of the year, I can earn
only work seasonally, but they can earn as much up to 30,000 yuan,” she said.
as tens of thousands of yuan per month in one The income is attractive, but washing mush-
mushroom season. rooms is a seasonal profession, and mushroom
In the Mushuihua Wild Mushroom Market in washers are only in need for four months a year.
Guandu District of Kunming, Yunnan, washing Apart from washing, the shops also provide deep
equipment such as baskets and high-pressure water processing services such as frying, deep-frying,
jets can be seen in front of every shop that provides and dehydrating.

The digitalization of Yunnan’s wild

mushroom industry

云南野生菌的数字化之路

Online orders for Yunnan’s wild mushrooms the delivery of matsutake mushrooms. A care-
have soared in recent years. After customers place free mushroom delivery service model has ba-
orders on major e-commerce platforms, fresh sically taken shape, with third party companies
wild mushrooms are harvested and delivered to producing packaging materials and providing
the customers in a matter of two to five days. professional packaging service, postal system,
With the wild mushroom industry increasingly express companies and trunk airlines providing
digitalized in Yunnan, wild mushrooms are avail- whole-process cold chain transportation, and
able for both wholesale and retail sale. They are insurance companies providing claim settlement
sold through various ways such live streaming for damage or deterioration. For the vast majority
and restaurant takeaways. of cities in the country, matsutake mushrooms
At Mushuihua, China’s largest wild mush- can reach the customers’ tables within 48 hours
room market in China, merchants have gradually of ordering when they are still fresh and in good
shifted from traditional sales to digitalized sales. condition.
Here, a large number of mushrooms are sold According to a principal of Yunnan SF Ex-
across the country on a daily basis. press, SF Express has been engaged in matsutake
Huang Xie used to study in the United States. mushroom delivery for many years. The compa-
In 2016, she returned to Kunming and took over ny is playing an important part in making mat-
the operation and management of Mushuihua sutake mushrooms available across the country
from her father. “When the market was first built and even in the world. In the future, SF Express
in 2005, it had only 40 to 50 merchants and sold will explore new ways to promoting agricultural
just over 20 varieties of wild mushrooms. Today, development. By optimizing its strategic layout,
thanks to the Internet and new retail platforms, improving its service quality, and introducing
Yunnan’s wild mushrooms have become airborne advanced technologies, the company will seek
and are served on the tables of people all over the to coordinate all parts of the industry chain to
country,” she said. provide even better transportation conditions for
Yunnan Post and SF Express have already Yunnan’s agricultural products to go national and
developed tailored whole-process solutions for global.