Resting off the southernmost tip of China, tropical Hainan Island is renowned for its fruits. According to historical records, China has cultivated coconuts for over 2,000 years. Hainan produces plentiful coconuts, especially in the northeastern city of Wenchang, which accounts for 52% of the coconuts grown in China, and has been dubbed “coconut hometown.” A belt thick with coconut palms stretches 15 kilometers alongthe coast of the city’s eastern suburbs, the longest coastal artery of the tree in China. It includes over 500,000 individual trees producing an array of coconut varieties.

In Hainan, one can buy coconut milk everywhere. A coconut usually costs two to three yuan, but can be as much as five yuan in tourist areas. Vendors pierce the shell with a long sharp tool to create a hole for a straw, through which milk can be sucked out. Outside a factory, brown hills are visible from a considerable distance, and closer inspection reveals that they are piles of shells, towering above passing cars.

Further exploration unearths dense coconut groves flourishing like prehistoric jungles. Towering coconut palms along the roads rustle in the wind as their feather-like leaves shelter those below from the fierce rays of the South China Sea sun. From a speeding automobile, the trunks become a gray blur against a reddish backdrop, while dark green leaves above form an intricate net. With every turn of the head, it is impossible to avoid coconuts, whether it’s palms, fibers, shells, shreds, or the coconut itself.

The coconut groves are primarily comprised of old trees that have grown thick and tall over the years. Elaborate patterns in the grain of their bark are as impressive as the rings that testify to their years of growth. Quite a few casually curve and bend over time, the bark conforming to each adaptation.

In processing plants, coconut “meat” produces copra, milk powder, protein, coconut milk, shredded coconut, and oil, just to name a few of its plentiful byproducts. To extract such resources, the meat must first be separated from the second layer, known as the mesocarp, and then cut into small cubes by hand before they can be fed to a shredding machine. The majority of employees at the coconut plant are generally 40 to 50 years old. The factory forewoman explained that younger people prefer to work elsewhere because the job is tedious and the salary low.

Outside the main floor, several men were stripping copra (dried meat of the seed used to produce oil) from shells. They separated coconuts, shells, and copra into three piles according to color: gray indicates old coconuts, brown is the copra, and half-brown, half-gray is the split shells. Although the work may seem elementary, such a task is quite strenuous with only a simple tool. Sometimes the workers muster every ounce of strength to pierce the hard shells. If they don’t push with the angle exactly right, the coconut won’t budge. Those who make such a living with a knife depend on strength and experience every day.