PureInsight | July 1, 2007
[PureInsight.org]
Thousands of pieces of red cherries, a ball of yellow crystal.
The internal heat in the throat disappeared instantly,
The crack of ice and snow sounded between the teeth.
Talking about Shao Ping clearing the rich in Changan,
Who would like to compete for being the premier in the Han Dynasty?
[South Song Dynasty] Wen Tian Xiang: "The Watermelon Poem"
Another summer has arrived and, at the entrances of many supermarkets,
various kinds of watermelons are nicely displayed, which has become a
landmark. I remember that when I was a child, my father always took me
to the local ground stall to buy watermelons. He could tell whether or
not the melon was ripe or had mushy pulp just by thumping them.
Nowadays any melons in the supermarket are good because of the perfect
control of growth and harvesting, which avoids the process of choosing
by customers, but the fun for it has also been missed.
The watermelon is sweet and juicy and is a very good fruit for summer,
so it is called the King of Melons. The watermelon is also named the
Summer Melon or the Cold Melon. In The Comprehensive Book for Agriculture
by Xu Guangqi in the Ming Dynasty it says: "The Watermelon (Western
Melon) was named after its origin in the western region." Li Shizhen
recorded in the Ben Cao Gang Mu: "Hu Jiao got the melon seeds in Hui
He, so it was named the Western Melon. The watermelon was introduced to
China in the Five Generation Dynasty. Now they are planted in both the
south and north." The reason for naming it the Cold Melon probably is
because of its cold nature.
The watermelon is not only a popular fruit in summer, its juice and
skin can also be used as medicines. The Ben Cao Gang Mu says that the
watermelon "can relieve thirst and heat, cure a dry and painful throat,
help urination, is good to constipation and resolves alcoholism". The
Traditional Chinese Medicine calls the watermelon skin the jade cloth
with sweet taste and cold nature, which can cure a swollen throat and
apotheosis. The root and leaves of the watermelon can be used to treat
diarrhea and intestinal inflammation. The seeds of the watermelon have
a warm nature and are good to generate saliva in mouth, which benefits
the lungs and intestines.
A Chinese old saying says: "You don't need medicine if you always eat
watermelon in the summer," which also tells of the benefits of
watermelon.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2007/6/25/44536.html
