Original subtitles

China, a country with varieties of geographical environment and climates

People work from day to night

As spring planting

autumn harvesting

summer cultivating

and winter storing

There is a tight schedule

existed in the cycle of season

and has maintained over thousand years

Compare to the agrarian age

people have gradually estranged from the nature

Nevertheless, by following the footsteps of their ancestors

and cooking their own foods

have become the unique cooking way of Chinese

This is the story of time

and is the secret of how Chinese get along with nature

Zhang Guang Cai Mountain?s broad ridge

is covered by snows which more than one meter deep

Deep into the spruce forests

logging team is finishing their last task

before the mountain closure

Li Shu Guo is their captain with 25 years of experience

This tree is falling

Let?s lay down that Ying door tree after this

Its falling downwards

Spring is coming

but the weather in here is still freezing

After the stored foods have exausted

His wife Qin Hong Zhi decided to purchase more at the foot of the mountain

At northeast of China, fish is a must for a hearty dinner

Corn tortillas can be put around

while stewing the fish

and when the delicious smell of fish came out

the corn tortillas are prepared for enjoying

At March?s night, temperature is 15 degrees below zero

This is the most appropriate temperature for making the frozen tofu

Low temperature helps the proteins and water contents

to keep separating from each other

Frozen water helps the tofu

become softer and more delicious

This is Li Shu Guo?s favourite food

7 to 8 kilometers away

there is a creek that never be frozen and can be used to stewing fishes

which is called Running water by locals

When hot water is poured into dried foods

its original characters are re-appearing

This is not only the side dish of stewing fish

but also is the major source of vitamin in winter

Your claws please

I?m back

Everything is good

Not bad

Fishes are seared rapidly with hot oil

Now they add stream water in

Half an hour later, is the time to put tofu in

Forzen tofu looks like a honeycomb

It has a plump look with enough soup

Let?s have dinner together

Cheers

Fantastic

After the stewing fish season

Winter is coming to an end

To the south of 2000 kilometers

Within the same season

The weather is unpredictable

At Tian Mu mountain, Spring thunder symbolise the growth of plants

Gao Bao Liang has noticed

the message sent by the nature

I wake up at 5 am, for 1 month long

I?ll dig bamboo shoots even during thunders

As it will grow rapidly to the bamboo

The first bamboo shoots right after the spring thunder

is called thunder shoots

They can be ate within 10 days

and after that, they will be bamboos

Thunder shoots have an extremely short guarantee period

They even show different taste after half a day

and on next day, its even not enjoyable

The couple works from day to night

They will collect 750 kg at the busiest period

Get ready, I?ll drop the shoots now

Deep in the mountains

Bamboo shoots have become the centre of a family?s daily life

From Cutting the stump

to removing the peel

and sheels

They will be prepared rapidly

from women?s work

Thunder shoots have a crisp taste

Regardless of how to cook it

It will becomes a tasty dish

Bamboo is originally from China

At Lin An, over 150 thousand people eat bamboo

The couple use tea heats

to cook another delicious food

Bamboo shoots is boiling with spices

and tear into finger wide

The fire leads to evaporations

This is the most popular tea snacks of Jiang Nan

and also is the most important incomes of the couple

A month after the thunder shoot season

The delicious story belongs to the mountain people

has just begun

Under the withered leaves

Bamboo shoots is growing

It roots are dug up

from the clay

Yellow arch is grew from

the deepest places

If we dug the yellow arch

We?ll only cook for our self

Its very tasty

This is the very rare yellow arch

They may only be found three or four in a mountain

But it taste more crisp

than any other shoots

It even has pear?s taste

Also, after the yellow arch is dug up

its qualities will degraded rapidly

From harvest to the processing, it must be measured in minutes

Bacon with yellow arch

This is the most common style of Gao?s family

They have a very different taste

between each other

Only need to steam for 7 minutes

the different taste between meat and shoots

start combining

This delicious dish of bamboo farmers

Is a lofty realm

of the Chinese diet

The ultimate food is

only prepared for the most hard working people

Shen Dun Shu a farmer of Shang Bao Village

He applied another way to know seasonal variations

Chinese Almanac, formed in 2000 years ago

it arranged 24 solar terms to guide the farmer

which according to the time change

and meteorological change

In March, Weather becomes warmer

People go seeding pumpkin and gourd

and waiting for its growth

April is the time of butterfly

People cut branches and used as a support of yam

In May, swallows start nesting

Gardens are waiting for fertilisation

After the summer, corns are ready to eat

Towel gourd and pumpkin can be harvested

Until September and October,

It is the time to sowing scallions

and waiting for its growth

Seasons

to seeding and harvesting seasonal

Chinese farmers get rich returns

with the experience of ancestors

Rice grows to five or six leaves

and they are ramets

There are several planting masters

living here

Seeding here, and here

His son is in Beijing

Thus Shen has called his daughter

to help the family

Shen Dun Shu believes that regardless of how far the children left from home

They should not forget their family and hometown

In spring, Plants are growing

Although it is still not the time for seeding

but nature has prepared a variety of wild herbs

At the waterfront of the Poyang Lake

There are full of wild celery and artemisia selengensis

Make it to Artemisia cake

Its not only tasty, but also is the taste of nature

At north hill

The habit to make pot magnolia has never changed

Steamed elm seeds meal is the first delicious food

over generations

Yanshan

An De Wen is waiting for

a cold spell in early spring

Toona sinensis should bloom at Guyu season

But in here they still not sprouting

Almost just over a night

an unusual fantastic smell come out

They need to be processed from morning

to afternoon

and continued for a week

Toons only need to grow for two or three days

It will be taste bad for just grow one more day

The thickness of the wild herbs are similar to chopsticks

they only grows at the back shade of this mountain

Toon elements emit an

unusual and full-bodied fragrance

Some people cannot stand it

But in the view of who love it

this is the taste of spring

China, is the only country in the world

that its people eat toons

The one that fried with wrapped egg

is called toona sinensis fish

It can also be chopped and fried with egg

or to make a tofu salad

All of them are the unique spring foods

Just one week

two toons

The leaves are still growing

But is no longer good to eat

For Ann

Spring has passed

Shang Bao, Seeds has grow new roots

Shen Dun Shu is waiting for a spring rain

Shen?s family decide to bring their most sincere expectation

to a kind of food

Rich of first year, added to chives

Fretted to green rice soup

Brewing the dried gardenia fruit

makes it look like clay yellow

The third layer is rice white

The last is the festive tomato red

cooked layers by layers

and repeated 9 times

The rice pudding made is called Jiu Ceng Pi

Green spring

Golden autumn

White rice

and prosperous days

For all the farmers on earth

This might be their most common aspiration

and the colour of it

Heading to the north

It is already summer

at the lower reached of Yangtze River

Qian Dao Hu, in the clean water

There is a delicious brewing

1 month ago, is the season of pine pollination

Dry pollen falling from male ball

and nourished the best fish in China

But for now, it is not the best time

to cook fish

Fishermen has their own targets

Seasonťin Chinese characters

Means to do the right things at right time

As the weather gets warmer

Snails migrated from deep water to shallow water

This kind of gastropod software animal

is the delicious food of waterfront residents since ancient times

Jiang Nan people is the master to eat snails

A gently suck between the lips and teeth

is enough

They will use toothpicks if necessary

Have another one

Snail does not taste good originally

People eat snail is for its feeling

and to enjoy the ?suck? process to eat it

However, the best snail

is hidden in the deep mountains

Kai Hua, located in Qian Tang Jiang

Between valleys

is the working place for Yu Yun Shan

Self made waterproof mask

clear the world under the water

Since become a snail catcher

Yu is the best person who knows seasonal variations

in here

This water snail captured by Yu Yun Shan

Is very tasty and contains a little bitter taste

His wife goes to trade snails at 5 am everyday

This snail with green shell

Can sell to a very good price

due to its quality and growth from clean water

Here, have a look

Some basil can raise fresh tastes

and usually served with snails

I will normally pick snails

until 3-4 am

Sometimes if my phone is ringing

at night

I will be very upset

Every time my daughter is coming back

I?ll cook this for her

As the different working time

Lunch is the only gathering time for this family

In daughter?s view

His father is sleeping over the whole summer

But what she doesn?t know

is that green snail is sleeping over daytime as well

Yu Yun Shan needs to catch his time

before the water temperature drops

This is his best harvest season

Dangerous work needs to be continued throughout the summer

Sunshine and the temperature are not only brings delicious

but also made a colorful world

With the ice melting

Plants are start growing

again

Plants keep growth and benefit from

photosynthesis

Different temperature

nourished variety kind of crops

Sugar accumulated under sunshine

Food dried to be stored

Lan islands

is a volcano island with 45 square kilometers

and is the place of Tao clans

From March to June is the flying fish season

The ocean will motivate

the heartbeat of men

In order to avoid predators

Flying fish has evolved a unique skill

They can glide above water

from fast swing their tail and

to get a great driving force

Swim hard, and close the mouth of nets

Relying on their co-operation skills

they will have a significant income

But in Ba Bu?s grandfather?s view

Their action is a disrespect to the sea

Flying fish is not only the Tao people?s food

but also is their belief

Excessive industrial fishing

used to have some bad effects on the environment

and is slightly alleviated until a few years ago

For planked boat, Tao people selected 13 kinds of wood

to elaborate unique boats

for their fishing flying fishes

Just 5 to 6 fishes

are enough for a family

for one day

They will only fishing more than that

at the end of each season

to make dried fish

They can be ate

off the fishing season

The process of dried fish is not complicated

After simple marinated and tied

they can be put under sun exposure for 3 days and are prepared to serve

Simple food with authentic life

Grandfather deeply understand the

best way to communicate with nature

Once again after the fishing

Sunshine and flying fish makes

a wonderful picture

This is the convention between the Tao people and the sea

Nature does not always have positive effects to the mankind

Hu Nan, wild sun

At Guan Shi town, fishponds are drying

He Lian Rong?s family

Faced with the dilemma of crop failure

This year?s drought has last for 40 days

Near 50 days now

They stop grouting as short of water

and that leaves only the wizened husk

In order to save 30 acres of paddy fields

He?s family has tried every method

to save their crops

Although the overall situations in China is still good

and have last for 10 years

but extreme weather in locals

still have a huge impact

for local farmers

Dried rice are burned

They have prepared to plant some dryland crops

But

the miracle appeared

Finally it is raining

We are so pleased

That can save some rice as well

In addition to the sunshine, plant is inseparable from water

Precipitation in China

Shows a decrease trend from southeast to northwest

Tu Lu Fan

Extreme drought

Is the hottest area in China

But the gravel Gobi does not destroy life

Melted water from Tian Shan brings life to there

Here is the sweetest place of China

Under the grape

Hari Dan ?s family is enjoying the harvest

We have 7 people

Our whole life is relying on these grape

Turpan, a place where always have less cloud

Enough sunshine

Let the grapes accumulate abundant sugar

As at night, heat is well dissipated

and that makes the sugar well preserved within grapes

The secret of sweetest grapes in China

is in this kind of huge temperature difference between day and night

Picked during daytime, hanged at night

Square holes

are not only prevent direct sunlight to grapes

but also make air flows easier

Every year in March

They will work in grape fields

We will keep checking the grapes

Several times

Just like our children

And now, they can have a rest

and to wait for temperature and time doing their jobs

1 month later

Sweeter grapes are prepared

Their Sugar content reached 30%

Iraq Bibra will use grape juice

to fabricate a food with high energy

Xinjiang nut cake

Boiled at 115 degrees for 4 hours

90 kg of grape juice concentrated to 30 kg syrup

Roasted walnut has a crispy taste

Well baked Xinjiang nut cake will be cut to smaller pieces

In other area of China

This food is called Qie Gao

This is not only the western style dessert

but also is the most important source of calories for locals

Xinjiang nut cake is finished

Turpan grapes

have reached another levels

Only have 20% of water content

and 60% of sugar content

this is the most famous

currant that can go through four seasons

A pot of hand pilaf

Is the best treatment for a busy year

This is Xinjiang?s unique yellow turnip strip

Mutton fat can help carotene to dissolve in the

intestines

under the assistance of the enzyme

and transform to the absorbable vitamin A

Tomatoes bring orange colour to the rice

With a small fire until the sauce is dried

The sweet and sour grapes can be served with lambs

It will not only making the lamb less oily

but also make the meal more tasty

As long as to have the most respectful attitude

to the nature and time

Every family

will have their sweetest rewards

Lets back to the story of summer

Only at mid summer

with water temperature exceeds 18 degrees

a kind of delicious food will breed under the water

The Yangtze River and Qing Ge Jiang intersect at Wuhu

Master Xu makes the flour into snowflakes

Pressing

Rolling

and cutting

Noodles are tasty and slippery

It is the most representative snacks of Wuhu

However, the best season

to have some Xiao Dao noodles

is on the very mid of summer

Under the warm water, Shrimp start breeding

4 to 6 cm in size of the parent shrimp

wrapped with thousands of grains

At slower flows

T-shaped tubular shrimp baskets from last night

is full of shrimps now

To get the shrimp reo by shifting with a bamboo basket

and 1kg of shrimp could collect 50g shrimp reo.

Days and months passed

Only about 8kg shrimp reo could be collected after working for a whole summer

They usually pour the onion-ginger sauce on those shrimp reo and steam them with

yellow wine. In order to get the shrimp reo dried, firstly dry them under the sun for

half an hour, and then cook them with a gentle heat

Eventually, sealed them

with some peeled garlic

in a hermetic bag

In the summer of the cities along river

after finished boiling sliced noodle

they pouring out the noodle in the bone soup

with Chinese onion and soy sauce on the top

100g noodles and 10g dried shrimp reo

The perfect mixture with shrimp reo and bone soup

in white color and tasty soup

makes a best reward for locals

in this hot and humid summer in Wuhu

which is called Sliced Noodles with shrimp roe

Your Sliced Noodles with shrimp roe is ready

For the means of time

Chinese people always have a unique expression

The process of breaking the cocoon into a butterfly

the cycle of a flower bloom and fade

the trees and grass grow and perish

they are all presenting the pace of the time

However, in the transforming of 4 seasons

Chinese people are still searching the secret of the food

The bladefish is the freshest in the spring in the warm water condition

it would be better to eat stewed chicken with bamboo in summer to avoid sickness

you should not miss the wonderful fish head in the autumn

In the winter, you must try the hot-pot with boiling stream

Even though, our lifestyles are more and more modern

but we can still feel the time is passing and the weather is transforming

through the food culture

on the top of the table

After spring and summer

the richest fish season of Qingdao lake is coming

Fishes are jumping up and down

in the wide eyes nets pulled by

dozen of

fishers

That?s the beginning of the enormous harvest

Chinese people believes that

if they abide by the agreement with the season

they will get the richest rewards from nature in the autumn

There are full of wonderful sweet tastes in the air

Wu jiang people harvest the sweet olive early

in order to get

the best taste of them

The acidity of the root keeps the flower?s color and smells fresh

They make sweet olive with salty sauce and sweet olive jam

in order to extend the fragrance of the flower from the end of the spring

until the winter

After a pouring in autumn

the birds? flying on the sky

remind yang fu xing

that it is the season

to harvest the most delicious food ever

This is lactarius

Each year, at the August of lunar calendar,

The wild goose fly from north to our place,

Those brown and umbrella-shaped lactarius

grow under

both pine tree and chestnut trees

They are delicious even they don?t look like one

Although lactarius are not as famous as before

but each year as soon as the season is arrived

Yang Fu Xing would climbing up to mountains

to gather these treasures

After stewed with chestnut shells and fried with dried chills

followed by put few slices of tender ginger in

That will give out a totally fresh and wonderful taste of the luctarius

and it smells similar to pine needles

Cook them until luctarius is drying

pour in a small amount of light soy sauce to make it salty and dark soy sauce to

make it colored, followed by stew them with a gentle heat for about 10 mins

and wait for the soup become thick

Finally, the luctarius jam is ready to be served

Although it doesn?t looks pure

but it does tastes wonderful

However, only half finished

until now

the sweet olive is ready to be used after a flurry of rain

no matter cook it as sauce or ingredients

it would be tasty

The best partner with chicken breast

is the fresh chestnut

tied lean meat, fried tofu and pork liver together

by chitling and put sauce to boiling it

That is the most delicious food in this season

In China, people normally eat thicker food in autumn

in order to compensate the losses of hot summer

and fighting for the upcoming winter

which is called ?tie qiu biao?

that?s a tradition in an agricultural society

The best food partner of luctarius

is the adult duck meat from more than 3 years layer ducks

who lives from hundreds miles away, at changdang lake

They makes the perfect

meat and mushroom combinations

by stewing luctarius and duck meat together

The sparkles made by same season?s ingredients

fire up the autumn

Chinese chef found lots of wonderful ingredients and combined them together

in the season transforms

by their richest experiences

and passed from generation to generation

Autumn is the season to harvest paddy rice

They need to be dried

on the ground for 2 weeks

The unique climate and soil condition

make the paddy rice

grows in rich-nutrition conditions

After rice shell has been peeled off

the grain is wonderful and hard

the color is bright and clean

This is the best grain in China

It has experienced 138 days long on growth period

Harvest is continuing

The temperature is below zero

3000 km away

After the harvest, shangbao

The wind in autumn is stronger

The third generation of Shen family

starts a new life journey

The new born baby is going to be a month old

It?s the time to host a party to celebrate

the full moon wine

According to the lunar calendar

in order to pick up a most fortune day

they need to prepare 5 bowls and 4 plates follows the traditional

The owner?s faith is showed on the amount of the meat they are given

This is the time to account for their incomes

They sowed seed in spring and waiting a whole summer

until the autumn

to get harvest

happily enjoy this season with their families

this is the harvest season for Chinese

Dongbei is the earliest place where enter winter

the snow is falling

land began to freeze

Li Shuguo Couple prepared their food

to get through the long winter

In winter

not only the land and crops are in sleeping times

but also is the time for busy people to come home and enjoy the joy of

reunion with their family to reward themselves

Before the Spring festival, more than hundreds of millions people

start their journey to home

They will bring simple luggage

and take the transport whatever they can take

to meet their family

for a reunion dinner on New Year?s Eve

This is the agricultural civilisation

left to modern China

Also

is the end of our story

Cheers

In xiangxi shangbao

the paddy field is ready for a new rowing seed cycle

In hunan hengyang

He Lian Rong?s family is looking forward to a new year

Flying fish season is arriving at Lan Yu

Ba Bu has took his grandfather?s work

Nowadays

everyone experiences

too much pains and joys

but they will always hid the pains

and get their happiness from their food

and deliver that attitude to the table over four seasons

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