Zhangjiakou

An environmental curator investigated a large cabbage export town using formaldehyde, which is the stuff that's used to embalm a body, to preserve the freshness of the leaves.

On August 22nd, a video titled Exposing Formaldehyde Cabbage claimed to have visited Hebei's Zhangjiakou, a major production area for domestic Chinese cabbage, and he went to investigate local planting, harvesting, and transportation conditions.

The video shows multiple transport vehicles parked in the cabbage planting area, large quantities of harvested veggies waiting to be loaded, and on-site workers were captured applying a dipping treatment to some of the cabbage awaiting transport, and containers suspected to hold formaldehyde solution also appeared in the footage.

Formaldehyde liquid was found also near multiple transport vehicles, which means immediately before they're loaded onto the truck, Something happens to it, right? Now, my immediate thought was like, oh, since we're now hearing about the investigation into cabbage, that probably means that cabbage at the moment is the safest food to consume in China.

They literally think that this is something that they can get because it makes them a little bit more profit, that they're willing to screw other people over.

Now, clearly, you have people excusing this, right? Or they're calling this a singular case.

On August 22nd, in the Hebei Zhangjiakou police investigation, they've already seized more than 10 barrels of the formaldehyde from that particular video.

And sure, now it sounds like police is involved, which means that accountability is back, right? Well, it's not.

And finally for today, Chinese authorities have launched a nationwide inspection campaign after videos apparently showing freshly harvested cabbages being dipped in formaldehyde solution caused widespread public outrage.

The footage recorded by a citizen blogger in Kangbao County in Hebei's Zhangjiakou City reportedly showed cabbage buyers treating vegetables with the banned chemical before loading them into unrefrigerated trucks for delivery to other regions.

Formaldehyde was allegedly used as a cheap preservative to maintain the appearance of the cabbages and reduce losses during transportation.

The Food Safety Office of the State Council, Ministry of Agriculture of Rural Affairs and State Administration for Market Regulation ordered local authorities to investigate, trace the affected produce and prevent it from reaching customers.

In many cases, the names have changed, but not all of them.

Today's Zhuolu is maybe an hour south of Zhangjiakou near the Hebei border with Shanxi.

The first of the five emperors was Shaohao, though as I said, there are scholars who might differ.

Shaohao was said to be the son of the Yellow Emperor and reigned in the twenty-five hundreds BC at his capital in Qufu, later on made famous as the birthplace of Confucius and the capital of the future state of Lu.

Other gentlemen in Peking who rendered us courtesies in various ways are Commanders I.V. Gillis and C.T. Hutchins, Dr. George D. Wilder, Dr. J.G. Anderson, and Messrs. H.C. Faxon, E.G. Smith, C.R. Bennett, M.E. Weatherall, and J. Kendrick.

In Kalgan, Mr. Charles L. Coltman arranged for the transportation of the expedition to Mongolia and not only gratuitously acted as our agent, but was always ready to devote his own time and the use of his motor cars to further the work of our party.

In Urga, Mr. F.A. Larson of Anderson, Meyer, and Company was of invaluable assistance in obtaining horses, carts, and other equipment for the expedition, as well as in giving us the benefit of his long and unique experience in Mongolia.

Mr. E.V. Olufson of Anderson, Meyer, and Company put himself, his house, and his servants at our disposal whenever we were in Urga and aided us in innumerable ways.

But somehow the very names Mongolia and Gobi Desert brought such a vivid picture of the days of Kublai Khan and ancient Cathay that my clouded mind refused to admit the thought of automobiles.

It was enough that I was going to the land of which I had so often dreamed.

Not even in the railway, when I was being borne toward Kalgan and saw lines of laden camels plodding silently along the paved road beside the train, or when we puffed slowly through the famous Nankau Pass and I saw that wonder of the world, the Great Wall, winding like a gray serpent over ridge after ridge of the mountains, was my dream picture of mysterious Mongolia dispelled.

I had seen all this before, and had accepted it as one accepts the motorcars beside the splendid walls of old Peking.