Shanshan Liu

This project uses lugan, a mandarin orange cultivated in Yongchun, Fujian, to reconstruct the local yet global history of a rural community from the 1950s to the 2000s. Throughout its introduction, cultivation, and circulation, lugan was developed through the combined efforts of local farmers, returned overseas Chinese from Southeast Asia, and the PRC state. Following the journey of lugan from an agricultural novelty to a major cash crop and from a prized commodity to a cultural symbol, this project uncovers the intertwined histories of food, the everyday lives of peasants, development and modernity, as well as global flows of labor, capital, and knowledge.