Fujian reaps good harvest of razor clams

Farmers in the coastal city of Ningde, Fujian Province, in eastern China, are celebrating a successful razor clam harvest. The shellfish is popular in Chinese cuisine and can also be used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Over the past few days, more than 5,000 mu (about 333.33 hectares) of razor clam fields in Xuyu Village of Ningde City's Xiapu County have now entered the peak harvest period. Razor clam farmers are all busy catching the clams to meet the market demand.

An experienced razor clam farmer can dig up one jin (0.5 kg) of the shellfish in as little as one minute. After a quick rinse, the freshly harvested clams are ferried to the shore by small boats, where they are sorted, packed into baskets, and loaded onto trucks for shipment to seafood markets nationwide.

"Basically we send off what we harvest on the same day, so that the clams can reach the market early the next morning," said Wu Kangsheng, a razor clam farmer.

Thanks to its optimal water and climatic conditions, the county is well-known for its high quality and great tasting sea food.

"It's currently the fishing moratorium, so the market demand is high. Each mu of pond can support more than one type of product, making it more resilient to risks and ensuring more stable incomes for farmers," said Wang Nailian, Party branch secretary of Xuyu Village.

According to local sources, Xiapu County has about 25,000 mu (about 1,666.67 hectares) of razor clam farming areas this year, with an annual output value of roughly 200 million yuan (about 29.42 million U.S. dollars).

A new high-speed railway, connecting Xi'an and Ankang cities in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, officially entered the joint commissioning and testing phase on Saturday with the running of the first testing train.

During the commissioning phase, the railway department will simulate the actual train operation conditions, and accordingly conduct comprehensive testing, verification and optimization of various systems such as track, roadbed, bridges and tunnels, power supply, communication, and interface matching, to promptly identify and rectify problems in equipment operation.

The Xi'an-Ankang High-Speed Railway is designed for a speed of 350 kilometers per hour. After it opens to traffic, the travel time between the two cities will be shortened from the current three hours to less than one hour.