How China's Yellow Croaker Capital Holds the Key to the World's New Energy Future
You may not have heard of Ningde in Fujian, but wherever there are cities, there are batteries produced here. When you actually come to Ningde, you will find that the "golden age" of eating seafood and escaping the summer heat here has just begun.
At the beginning of August, the East China Sea opens for fishing, and Ningde welcomes its most beautiful season. The fishermen of Ningde set out to sea in fishing boats equipped with all kinds of gear, such as beam trawls for shrimp, pot traps, and light purse seines. The ordinary people of Ningde are also planning whether the seasonal crabs are plump enough, whether to steam them or cook them in porridge, ready to taste the freshness of the first net of summer.
The people of Ningde are not only skilled at catching seafood and eating it, but also at farming it. The large yellow croaker is the pearl of Jiangnan dining tables. Imagine if salted vegetable and yellow croaker soup or sweet and sour large yellow croaker disappeared—how much freshness and elegance would be lost from Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine? Today, 8 out of every 10 large yellow croakers on Chinese dining tables come from Ningde.
Ningde, Fujian’s most low-key treasure city: its eels swim into Japanese ryotei restaurants; at the midpoint of the southeast golden coastline, there is the world-class deep-water port Sandu Ao; Xiapu has "China’s most beautiful beach"; Fuding white tea has broken out of Fujian and gone global. This city deserves to be known by more people.
Limited land? The people of Ningde cultivate the ocean!
The rushing Yellow River and the thick loess soil nurtured Chinese civilization and also left an indelible continental cultural imprint. However, in the southeastern corner of China, Fujian Province is a window into China’s maritime civilization, and Ningde is located at the northernmost end of this window.
Part of Ningde’s more than 300 islands.
Ningde is located at the border of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, sandwiched between the two powerhouses of Wenzhou and Fuzhou. If Fujian Province is "80% mountains, 10% water, and 10% farmland," then Ningde is "90% mountains, 5% water, and 5% farmland."
To outsiders, Ningde seems exceptionally cramped, lacking the conditions for agriculture and population聚集. But for the people of Ningde, the world here is vast because they cultivate the ocean.
Lacking land, Ningde is inevitably bound to the ocean. The endless ships of Sandu Island, the bizarre rock formations of Doumao Island, the lush meadows meeting the blue sea and sky of Dayu Mountain Island... Ningde’s islands are not only numerous but also each has its own unique scenery.
Photo/ Love-to-wander Qitao Kid
305 islands surround 178 harbors here, forming a semi-enclosed structure that makes Ningde itself a tranquil large harbor. Among them, Sandu Ao, encircled by islands and peninsulas, is the most superior. It has deep, calm waters, is ice-free and silt-free, and covers a water area of 714 square kilometers, making it a rare deep-water port in the world.
Since ancient times, generations of fishermen have set sail from this tranquil harbor to harvest the essence of the East China Sea and South China Sea. "January: mantis shrimp just turning red; February: clams filling the beaches... August: ribbon fish dancing... December: abalone plump and tender." Ningde seafood can be enjoyed from the beginning to the end of the year.
Scenery of marine aquaculture in Ningde.
There are many people better at fishing than Ningde fishermen, but few are better at fish farming.
Xiapu, the hometown of seafood, is home to China’s largest tidal flats, selected by Chinese National Geography as China’s most beautiful tidal flats. It’s so popular that it has become a side job for local fishermen to increase their income. For just twenty yuan, they will strike a pose to fulfill photographers’ dreams of人文大片, while their main occupation has made it China’s "hometown of kelp" and "hometown of laver."
Sandu Ao is another side of Ningde floating on the sea. Fishermen farm fish, shrimp, crabs, shellfish, and laver in rectangular fish rafts, creating "neighborhoods" and "roads." It is precisely because fishermen "unceasingly cultivate the sea" that the ocean has a chance to recuperate, and seafood does not become a luxury beyond the reach of the masses.
Fishermen weave the ocean with aquaculture zones.
Large yellow croaker (yellow croaker) has tender and firm flesh with delicious and rich fish oil. Since ancient times, it has been synonymous with seafood in the hearts of gourmets. Just as Zhangjiakou’s "kou蘑" actually mostly comes from the Inner Mongolian Plateau, Shandong is only a distribution center for large yellow croaker in the north. Eighty percent of the "Shandong specialty" large yellow croaker comes from Ningde. Sandu Ao’s Guanjing Yang is China’s only inner bay spawning ground for large yellow croaker and is the "hometown" of large yellow croaker.
Countless literati have left poems about it. A simple Song Dynasty line, "Yellow croaker come out of Haimen, even servants eat their fill," depicts the abundance of large yellow croaker, so plentiful that even servants grew tired of eating them. However, due to overfishing, wild large yellow croaker nearly became extinct in the 1980s. This delicacy, enjoyed by Chinese people for thousands of years, might only be found in ancient books.
The revival of large yellow croaker began in Ningde. Local researchers started "cultivating" the delicate fish in aquaculture rafts. Since then, the price of large yellow croaker has continued to decline, finally making it an affordable delicacy for the masses—only slightly more expensive than pork. Braised large yellow croaker has thus become a nostalgic taste of home for Ningde natives living away, evoking complex emotions with just one bite.
Different types of seafood require different aquaculture techniques.
During the fishing season, fishing boats fill both seas, while during the fishing ban, seafood is still "cultivated" in rafts, making year-round seafood supply nothing out of the ordinary for the people of Ningde. This back-to-basics attitude toward seafood means that it is no longer a delicacy requiring careful preparation in Ningde cuisine, but rather a common flavor found in everything from cold dishes to staple foods.
Blood clams and mud snails are lightly blanched and then mixed with scallions, ginger, soy sauce, and garlic vinegar; cleaned sand worms are boiled and set aside, creating a cold dish that might startle tourists but is exceptionally delicious. Crabs are sliced, placed on taro, sprinkled with seasoning, and steamed, resulting in a taro-crab dish that serves as both a staple and a hearty main course. Ningde’s seafood is bold, simple, and respectful of the natural flavors of the ingredients.
A treasure city nestled among mountains, connecting Zhejiang and Fujian
At the end of the Yanshan Movement tens of millions of years ago, Ningde’s peaks clustered together, forming ranges such as the Donggong, Jiufeng, Taimu, and Tianhu Mountains. While Baishuiyang and Taimu Mountain are world geological heritage sites to global tourists and spiritual symbols to Fujianese, to the people of Ningde, they are simply great spots for weekend outings.
Shaped by volcanoes, rivers, and oceans, Ningde boasts a condensed landscape of geode granite formations, volcanic rock地貌, river erosion地貌, water features, sea erosion地貌, and geological disaster relics. Ningde is internationally recognized as a "world-class national geopark."
The towering sea-eroded rock of Xiapu Haiwei Cape standing in the sea.
The代价 of Ningde’s beautiful scenery is that the sea meets the mountains, leaving little plain land. Fuzhou has the Min River running through Fujian, and Quanzhou has the vast Jin River basin—both cities benefit from alluvial flats and deltas formed by major rivers between layered mountains, providing space for development. In contrast, Ningde only has the Jiaoxi and Huotongxi Rivers. As their names suggest, these rivers have small water volumes and short lengths, making it impossible to expect them to create plains for Ningde.
Treasures are often hidden deep in the mountains, and Ningde’s treasures must also be sought in its hills.
The secluded Jiudu Village nestled in the mountains.
Sea breezes turn into rainfall among Ningde’s mountains, creating a hot and humid local climate, though the hills remain relatively cool. Ancient towns like Huotong, Yecuo, and Dujia Village… seem endless in the cool mountains of Ningde. The rugged terrain limits transportation between Ningde and the outside world, preserving traditional local dwellings like frozen-in-time utopias.
In these villages, you can find Southern Fujian-style houses centuries old, as well as arched roof bridges with nearly a millennium of history. Southern Zhejiang and Northern Fujian hide the largest number of covered bridges in China. Seemingly remote, Ningde actually serves as a bridge for cultural exchange between Wu and Min cultures.
The recent fire that destroyed Wan’an Bridge, the longest wooden arch covered bridge in China, was a heartbreaking disaster. Fortunately, Pingnan County in Ningde still preserves the traditional craftsmanship of wooden arch bridge construction, offering hope for the bridge’s eventual restoration.
There are still many covered bridges in China.
And there is still hope for the revival of this craftsmanship.
Design / F50BB, Ren Dong
Hidden in the valleys connecting Fujian and Zhejiang is the secret mountain ethnic group—the She (shē) people. Half of China’s She population lives in Fujian, and half of Fujian’s She people reside in Ningde. They preserve cultural artifacts full of ethnic characteristics, such as dragon staffs, ancestral charts, and phoenix attire, while also retaining historical imperial examination papers and an accent close to Hakka.
Figure 1: Daily life of the She people. Photo / Chen Yanuo
Figure 2: String puppet performance in the ancient ancestral hall of Xipu, Shouning County. Photo / Lu Xinsheng
The mountain ranges hinder population exchange, while the sea serves as a bridge for it. The interweaving of mountains and sea makes the Ningde dialect exceptionally complex. While the local language is predominantly Eastern Min, the town of Sansha in Xiapu County, located almost at the northernmost tip of Fujian, speaks Southern Min. In this place where the folk saying "sailing ships and galloping horses risk three-tenths of their lives" is passed down, the most revered deity is still Mazu. In addition, there are also Hakka and Puxian dialects spoken in Ningde, forming unique linguistic islands.
The Huotong line lion performance, a national-level intangible cultural heritage.
Similarly, traditional customs vary across different urban areas of Ningde. For example, while Fuding, Zherong, and Gutian pay New Year visits on the second day of the Lunar New Year, Fu'an considers it taboo to do so on this day.
The hot, rainy climate and undulating terrain have also endowed Ningde's mountainous areas with abundant resources. From Fuding white tea, with Mount Taimu as its spiritual landmark, to the Jiaocheng late-ripening longan representing the first sweetness of autumn, and then to Gutian snow fungus. The people of Ningde, nestled among the mountains, bring these treasures out of Fujian.
How was the world's new energy highland forged?
Behind the "Shangri-La"-like scenery lies long-term滞后 development. Ningde was once mockingly called the "fracture zone" of China's southeastern "Golden Coast."
Even more terrifying, this area was once coveted by Japanese pirates, with Hengyu Island temporarily seized and Ningde County looted. Ningde became one of the areas most severely harassed by Japanese pirates. The Qi Family Army's capture of Hengyu Island marked the first victory against Japanese pirates in Fujian. Since then, Ningde's role as a crucial coastal defense stronghold in the southeast has also influenced its economic development.
It is a city striving for development amidst the valleys.
After all, the sea-oriented people of Ningde cannot live in the sea. For development, they chose to reclaim land from the sea, creating industrial zones like Donghutang and Xipitang through land reclamation. Without land reclamation, the headquarters of CATL would be submerged in the sea today.
After transformation by the infrastructure fanatics, natural barriers have become thoroughfares.
After the reform and opening-up, like other cities along China's southeastern coast, Ningde's industry started with OEM manufacturing. However, compared to Wenzhou to the north and Fuzhou to the south, Ningde had no advantage in terms of population or geographical location. What Ningde could offer was full sincerity in attracting investment. This is precisely why CATL, today's global leader in the lithium battery industry, came to Ningde.
Under the skyline of this third-tier city, don’t be surprised to see modern electric taxis filling the streets. Today, Ningde has gathered four leading industries: lithium battery new energy, stainless steel, new energy vehicles, and copper materials. It has transformed from Fujian's "laggard" into its top hard tech city.
The proportion of new energy vehicles is extremely high locally.
Engineers from all over the country have brought a fast-paced lifestyle to Ningde. They typically live in dormitories or near the factory areas, working early and late, rushing about to strive for their own future and that of the world's energy. In their leisure time, they have popularized boiled fish, which is clearly not a Ningde dish, and rediscovered the tranquil and ethereal Dayushan Island, making the city's character more diverse.
The lives of old Ningde residents have not become hectic due to the influx of tech companies. In the old urban areas of Jiaocheng and Xiapu, they still enjoy a down-to-earth lifestyle: eating savory and crispy Guangbing for breakfast, tender Fuding meat slices for supper, and riding bicycles to enjoy the sea breeze.
The Mindong spirit is interpreted as "water dripping wears through stone" and "the weak bird flies first," summarizing the history of Mindong's relentless efforts to change its destiny, from land reclamation to industrial cultivation and investment attraction. At the same time, the people of Ningde have preserved the most valuable traditions and the most comfortable way of life. The era belonging to Ningde has just begun.
Header image photography | Uncle with a baby face
Uncredited image sources | Visual China