Blockchain Chicken Farm and Other Stories of Tech in China’s Countryside

“The alluring title, Blockchain Chicken Farm, gives little hint of the extraordinary story of how industrialized agriculture has swept across rural China. Even with impressive attention to infrastructure and architecture, traditional images of villages are not destroyed, but they are assuredly redefined.

The term blockchain, fast gaining ground, describes the multiple databases feeding, into each other to supply unalterable permanent records of information and transactions.

Five billion chickens are consumed annually in China and the complexity of their farming-related in detail. The birds are delivered butchered and vacuum sealed, identified by their intact ankle bracelets that display a photograph, the weight, and the number of steps as identification to demonstrate authenticity and food.

Advances in pig farming are similarly impressive showing the change from earlier productivity. The option of raising numerous breeds has been reduced in a move towards conformity, where pigs are becoming designer animals. Fear of disease is one motivator, spread from snout to snout and transmitted even after death and through processed pork meat. Pork is the preferred meat and pigs receive exceptional treatment and care in the industry’s vast operation.

A third ‘story focuses on the extensive use of drones. Among several interviews the author conducts, one especially illuminating is with a young man whose rural education and community satisfaction with his community have prepared him for a responsible, and satisfying career.

Xiaowei Wang is a talented writer. The book is a joy to read, not only for her excellent account of industrial progress but also for describing the age-old custom of street food where people can still relax and enjoy each other’s company.”