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For the first time, China's South Pole researchers can eat fresh
vegetables grown regularly, according to Wang Zheng, the grower, who came home
last month after a 400-day mission in Antarctica.
"Growing vegetables in Antarctica reminded me of The Martian, a
sci-fi movie about an astronaut who survives alone on Mars by eating potatoes
he grows there," Wang said on Friday. "I totally understand the main
character of the movie, I understand how he feels when he watches a small green
plant grow in a fragile man-made environment,'' said the 40-year-old doctor.
But he admitted that the conditions he faced in the Antarctic were much better
than those in the film.
Wang said the growth chamber(生长室)
at the Zhongshan Station, had only a low yield when it was established in 2013.
The amount was too small to make it possible for researchers to have vegetable
dishes. To increase the yield, he reduced the number of vegetable varieties and
focused on only some fast-growing ones, which makes the output stable. As a
result, during much of his stay there, at least one vegetable dish, such as
cucumbers, lettuce or cabbage, was served at every meal for a group of 18
researchers.
Wang, an orthopedist, said he knew nothing about botany or farming
before he arrived at the station in December, 2014. "I was given this job
probably because my office is next to the growth chamber, and as a doctor, I
had more spare time than others," Wang said. He considered many factors,
such as light, temperature and humidity. Light music is played in the
16-square - meter greenhouse around the clock. "Mild music is good for
vegetable growth," he said. "We also played Buddhist music, which has
soft melody."
"Growers before me did very good work. My job was to maintain the
chamber and keep everything working." Before the harvest, researchers had a very limited
vegetable supply—mostly
potatoes and cabbage, which taste awful after months of storage. "Because
of our success in growing vegetables, we can have fresh vegetables every
day," he said. "The Russian station is no more than one kilometer
away from ours. We even had enough vegetables to invite our Russian colleagues
for dinner."