>
>Here I can only disagree: it's the most common term used in Mandarin
>
>> The second and more common
>> word is transliterated as "fan qui," whose direct translation is "foreign
>> eggplant,"
>
>fan qie, for the second, and I doubt it is the most common.
>Now it is correct that qiezi means eggplant, but the translation you
>suggest for fan (foreign?) sounds pretty strange to my ears.
>My Chinese is quite rusty, but I would appreciate if you could explain
>haw you got there


The organization I run (www.globaled.org) operates programs in the PRC and we
have a staff member who is Chinese. Then, we work closely with the Chinese
community in New York, and they say the same thing. And then the title of the
Mandarin language version of my previously mentioend tomato book is "fan qui."
That's it.

>
>> although it is also sometimes translated as "western eggplant." It
>> tends to be used by southerners.
>
>western eggplant would become xiqie: never heard it, but it could be a
>local usage
>> >
>> I'd greatly appreciate the source for the above information. I looked for
>> Chinese export information through FAO, and did not locate much.
>>
>From personal experience (I spent several years working in China): be
>sure a large European company tried to import bulk processed tomatoes
>from there since 1986; if what you need is written information that you
>can quote, I would not look into FAO records. Chinese Provincial
>Authorities publish regularly import/export statistics: they are not
>particularly prized for their accuracy, but still, better than nothing.
>I am also aware of Italian newspapers (this must be a sub-italian
>thread!) that reacted outreaged, a short while ago, learning that their
>tomatoes could have came from the Far East. But that has happened,
>surely, long before. If you need more details I would be glad to help
>you privately: the address is valid

The huge growth of the tomato industry in the PRC has occurred in the past five
years (according to FAO statistics). It is extremely unlikely that tomatoes
grown in the PRC would be shipped to another country for processing. In the US,
the time from picking to processing is measured in minutes and hours. Tomatoes
are picked, transported to a factory, processed, and stored, bottled or canned,
and boxed (and often shipped) usually within 2-12 hours of picking.

It is, of course, possible to pick green tomatoes in China and ship them almost
anywhere before processing. But the taste is less than satisfactory. They would
not meet US standards and I'd doubt that they'd meet EU standards either.

All the evidence I've been able to locate suggests that the Chinese
(particularly in the South) now eat plenty of tomatoes. They are consumed raw
with salt added, which seems to me to be so... un-Chinese.

Andy Smith