Gold Soil Bai Yulian,

Food is the survival basis of human beings as well as a cultural carrier, and the common research object of natural science and human science. There are numerous historical data and works about food. Among numerous foods, lotus has extremely rich symbolic meanings incomparable with other foods. However, there hasn't been any research on sociological or anthropological perspective of lotus up to now.This paper attempts to reveal the development and status quo of Xuan lotus through detailed ethnography description with Liucheng Town, Wuyi County, Zhejiang Province as the field and the local specialty Xuan lotus as the research object. This paper discusses how Xuan lotuses take root in this land, starting from the geographical environment of Liucheng Town and the planting history of Xuan lotus. Then, it turns to the production link of Xuan lotus and analyzes the uniqueness of Xuan lotus production. Hand processing needs a large number of labors, thus limiting the output of Xuan lotus on the one hand, but it is also the biggest selling point on the other hand, because it can alleviate the anxiety of urban consumers about food safety. The persistence to hand processing is inseparable with the local simple social environment. In the sales link of Xuan lotus, purchasers in the market, lotus peasants and three local specialty stores in Liucheng Town were investigated and this paper analyzes the parallel relationship between purchasers, the vertical relationship between purchasers and lotus peasants, and the crossing relationship between purchasers and the government, and points out that cooperation and opposition exist among each relationship but they finally achieve balance. In the last chapter, this paper states that the lotus has become a scenic spot supported by the government and obtained new development opportunities since the symbolic meanings of "lotus" conform to the national awareness of "incorrupt government". However, through the field survey on the scenic spot and tourists, it can be seen that the development of lotus is too rough, which hasn't appropriately combined with the local conditions and customs and cannot meet the requirement of tourists. How to excavate the charm of Xuan lotus and benefit more lotus peasants needs further thinking.The natural environment has provided the development foundation of Xuan lotus, but the development track of Xuan lotus is determined by people's choices which are restricted more by social and historical factors than by natural factors and meanwhile affected by personal emotions and national ideology.