The time for sinking your teeth into a juicy Beijing watermelon is finally here, an arrival heralded by a watermelon competition this past Wednesday. As with every year, Daxing district is holding their watermelon festival from May 28 to June 1, where people from all over the country gather for the first bite of the melon that's synonymous with the stuffy summer season.

Legend has it that these watermelons originated in the African desert and were later brought to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region via the Silk Road during the Han Dynasty, spreading to China's northeast around 1000 AD. In the area that would become Pangge town, Daxing district, watermelons flourished, and growing them is now the main industry. One of the most popular parts of the festivities is the watermelon competition, held every May 25, three days before the festival starts. First launched in 1988, every year planters assemble at the competition with their watermelons of different tastes, shapes, colors and sizes.

Apart from domestic breeds, some exotic types are imported from overseas, including the L600 from Japan, a small, sweet melon that's easy on the eyes. Some are for eating, others for display only. The watermelons in triangular shapes with molded patterns on the surface, or those with round or calabash-shaped bodies with pig heads all belong to the so-called work-of-art category. Experts from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences are responsible for selecting the "King of watermelons" based on appearance, size and taste. The last category is particularly scrutinized, with judging including the level of sweetness, fiber content and whether or not the flavor is off.

The owner of the winning watermelon, 74-year-old farmer Song Baosen, took home a prize of 10,000 yuan. Although the standard of judgment was the same, the scores for sugar content and weight this year were generally lower than before, due to the effect of this year's inconsistent weather. In spite of this, the winner still stood out from the rest with its weight of 24.35 kilograms.

On May 28, the opening ceremony of the 22nd watermelon festival will be held in Le Ping Yu ornamental melon garden, in Pangge town. By that time, fruit-picking activities in the nearby gardens will be officially opened to tourists, who can pluck melons with their own hands before returning home with their sweet fruits.

Directions:

Address: Pangge town, Daxing District

Tel: 8928-7833

Directions: Take Bus No. 937 from Nan Li Shi Lu subway station, or take Bus No. 943 from Yong Ding Men to the destination

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