Yunnan is one of the provinces with the largest scale of tobacco plantation.
When I was still a child,
our village mostly grew flue-cured tobacco.
Back then, every household owned a tobacco baking house.
Tobacco leaves are woven on long bamboo poles and hang over the tobacco baking room for baking.
When it comes to the time of harvesting tobacco leaves in winter,
the village was extremely lively.
Everyone who worked in foreign land all came over to help.
Of course, my father was also one of them.
In my memory,
the days of having my dad around
were always tainted with the faint smell of tobacco emitted from the tobacco-baking house.
We can always eat the steaming-hot sweet potatoes baked in the tobacco-baking house.
Afterwards, our village started to plant sun-cured tobacco on a large scale.
As time passes, no one planted flue-cured tobacco any more.
In the winter of western Yunnan,
one won’t feel cold
as long as there is sunshine.
Fresh tobacco leaves are woven and hang on the bamboo poles,
which takes only about ten days to be completely dry.
Each house may designate a special zone for drying tobaccos
We call it the tobacco field.
Tobacco leaves are dried out in the daytime and taken indoors at night.
When the tobacco leaves become completely dry,
they are particularly placed outside for one night.
Absorbing dews make them softer.
Early on the next morning, these tobacco leaves are taken back and sealed for storage.
Sometimes, merchants come to the village to collect tobacco leaves.
Some senior villagers also save some for themselves.
However, most dry tobacco leaves to sell in the town market.
Although these prices are not high,
they basically cover the annual expenses for a rural family.