Salt – One of the “Seven Necessities in Daily Life”
The “Seven Necessities in Daily Life” (開門七件事) are firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy condiments, vinegar, and tea (柴、米、油、鹽、醬、醋、茶).
Salt harvesting is a process of extracting salt from seawater. The traditional method of salt harvesting involves pouring seawater into a pool allowing it to evaporate under the sun. The salt crystals left behind on the pool bottom will then be collected for use. In modern industrial production, salt is usually extracted using distillation or ion exchange methods.
The Lianyun Harbor (連雲港) region was a major producer of Anhui salt (淮鹽), Anhui being a major salt producing province since imperial time Figures 1 to 4 were taken in September 2016, showing the harvesting process in a salt mine in Lianyun harbor.
Source: Pan Wenlong (潘文龍) and Gong Wei (龔為), Old Trades of Jiangsu: A Glimpse《江蘇老行當百業寫真》, Phoenix Education Publishing Company, 2018. Permission to use the photos has been obtained.