In the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula there is a very strange country, most of the people here do not have any serious work, even can not afford to eat, but they are men and women, young and old, the indispensable thing is to eat a few leaves a day, delicious to the point of not stopping! This country is Yemen.
Yemen
Entering the territory of Yemen, the streets and alleys can be seen everywhere vendors, while doing business while chewing "leaves", chewing in the mouth, and the hands can't wait to stuff it in, the cheeks are particularly round, the expression is also very comfortable, just like Chinese men get together to smoke as natural, generally the first time they come to this country will unconsciously be attracted to them.
So what is it that the people of Yemen eat this "leaf", and how can it have such a great charm? What kind of country is Yemen?
(i)
Originally, the leaves in the hands of Yemeni nationals were a type of tea, commonly known as Qiao Tea, also known as Arabic Tea or Chat Grass.
This plant likes moist soil, plenty of sunshine, so it is mostly distributed in tropical and subtropical Africa, Ethiopia, and China's Hainan, Guangxi and other places, this tea can be harvested in the first year of planting, the price is also very high, so farmers in many places will change crops to Qiao tea to obtain higher income.
Grow tea
The reason why Qiao tea is expensive is inseparable from its characteristics, this tea contains a large amount of stimulant cathinone, long-term use will stimulate people's central nervous system, resulting in a beautiful, ethereal illusion.
In fact, it is what we call drugs, because of its high addictiveness, Qiao tea has been included in the list of contraband and even drugs in many countries, and it is listed as a second-class soft drug by the World Health Organization.
So knowing that this is a drug, why are Yemeni people so keen on chewing qiao tea? Don't they have a little worries? All this has to start from the origin of Qiao tea.
Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, is one of the few ancient civilizations in the world that is known to be, with a written history of more than 3,000 years.
In the early days, in order to relieve fatigue and hunger, people often picked a piece of Qiao tea leaves to eat, and when some people were sick and tortured to death, they often used Qiao tea to alleviate it.
Therefore, since Qiao tea was discovered by people, it is considered to be a sacred herb and a spiritual medicine to save sentient beings. Over time, people learned a long time later that Qiao tea is a highly addictive soft drug, but for the people of Yemen, these are no longer important!
Eat Qiao tea
Yemen is a country that has been riddled with strife, beginning with the end of centuries-long colonial rule in 1962.
In 1990, North and South Yemen achieved reunification, originally thinking that the country could end the war and enter the normal development track, but in the following decades, Yemen gradually became poorer and more impoverished, chaotic, and even became a backward country forgotten by the world under the influence of religious contradictions, government corruption and frequent interventions of other countries.
How much hope is left for the people who have been living under artillery fire all year round?
From their attitude to Qiaocha, we can get a half-understanding, from government officials to ordinary people, who have completely lived a rotten life.
Get up in the morning to chew qiao tea, and then start the day's work, to prepare for work at about two o'clock in the afternoon, and then chew qiao tea, eat or not eat is not important, whether there is love is not important, whether the country is still not important, people live a day must have qiao tea, this is the whole of life!
Yemen is going through war
Interestingly, when the rich people in Yemen repair the house, they will also prepare a special tea house, and the lighting and ventilation conditions in this room must be the best, even if they do not live for children, they must be used to party and chew tea, just like the domestic relatives and friends party.
When yemenis gather, prepare fresh and tender tea, add a cup of mineral water, sit on the floor, chew lightly, and happiness will come.
Compared with cigarettes and betel nuts, the price of drugs is relatively high, and although some people ignore its damage to the body, they will still be discouraged because of the price.
So what about the price and market of Qiao tea? Is Yemen, where the whole people use drugs, a hidden country of local tycoons?
Speaking of the strength of Yemen and the living conditions of its people, it is really not flattering.
Yemen is roughly the size of a Sichuan province, but on the arabian peninsula in a large desert, Yemen has more than 1.4 million hectares of moist, fertile, and extremely suitable land for farming, which is an inherent advantage of the country, and with abundant sunshine, Yemen has become one of the few countries on the Arabian Peninsula suitable for farming.
Grow tea
But Yemeni people are too Buddhist, children as young as a few years old, as old as 60 years old, can not go to school, can not go to work, a lifetime of marriage is not managed, but do not chew tea can not be.
But the price of Qiao tea is high, rich people have to spend tens or even hundreds of dollars a day to buy fresh Qiao tea, but the common people are not so free, they often work all day to earn 2 US dollars, luxury is to spend 1 US dollars to buy some dry Qiao tea leaves, chew up the taste is very poor, it is better to directly soak water to drink.
Generally when chewing tea, people's thinking is very active, looking at their unblinking look, in fact, the brain cells are constantly running, at this time, whether it is talking about national events, or gossip and nag, they are full of spirit.
When chewing to the fullest, everyone will also compete with each other to see who chews faster and more, this kind of gathering is something that ordinary families can't afford, because friends and relatives chew together and chew together, and if they are not careful, they will consume half a year's income of yemeni people.
The recently announced national GDP of Yemen totals about $28 billion, while Yemen's per capita GDP is only about $800, making it one of the poorest countries in the Middle East.
However, the people do not think so, they are confident and Buddhist, and they do not care about the rise and fall of the country.
Yemeni nationals chew tea
In order to "resurrect" the national economy, Yemenis wantonly planted qiao tea to sell, but it did not come to fruition but brought about a greater existential crisis! What kind of tortuous experience did the ancient civilization that was once prosperous become an international poor country?
(ii)
Yemen has a subtropical arid climate, with scarce precipitation and severe desertification, and could have grown coffee beans or cotton on a large scale to ensure self-sufficiency while exporting and selling them.
But the port of Justice has abandoned its own country's agriculture.
The reason is that the land that was originally suitable for growing grain products, they wantonly planted Qiao tea, in the case of Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, fresh water resources were scarce, 80% of the water source was used to irrigate Qiao tea, naturally the food crops that were originally relied on for survival were wasted, and then heavy imports of wheat and rice were needed to solve the domestic food crisis, which is also one of the important reasons why Yemen is getting poorer.
Poverty in Yemen
The huge domestic qiao tea market allows farmers to see business opportunities, qiao tea harvest two seasons a year, and the price is expensive, mainly home-grown qiao tea can be chewed casually, when eating rice is not a problem, the so-called fish and bear paws can not be both, qiao tea is good, but the price behind it is also very large.
Qiao tea not only needs moist and fertile soil, but also has very high requirements for sunlight and moisture, and the rest is good to say, the water source is indeed a bit difficult.
Yemen's freshwater resources are scarce, especially in the capital Sana'a, many reservoirs are in a state of perennial dryness, once reaching the point of extreme water shortage, and the depletion of water resources is also a problem that Yemen has had to face in recent years.
Even so, people are willing to buy water at a high price to water the tea, and they will not consider the problem of gain and loss at all. In addition to wasting water resources, the cost of growing qiao tea is far more than that.
Qiao tea is different from ordinary crops, circular planting is not a problem, people gradually found that as long as it is the land where Qiao tea has been planted, it is more difficult to grow food crops.
It can be said that the cultivation of Qiao tea has to sacrifice fresh water and land resources, and what results do the people get after much trouble?
Sell qiao tea
First of all, the number of qiao tea is increased, the price is relatively stable, Yemen's rich people can naturally chew fresh qiao tea every day, as for the limited conditions, it is not a problem to buy two packs of qiao tea with a daily wage, but what follows is the food crisis.
Yemen's total population is more than 30 million, the country's rice is completely imported, while more than 90% of the wheat needs to be imported, and the little money earned by growing qiao tea is simply not enough to make ends meet. Since the cultivation of qiao tea has caused the economy to continue to regress, won't the government formulate measures to rectify it?
Instead of caring, the government will join the ranks of chewing tea.
It is said that Yemen's civil servants also chew tea when they go to work, chewing while holding meetings, not only thinking clearly, but also very excited in the brain, and sometimes encounter difficult problems and chew some clever tea to solve it.
But once you stop, it's not so good, just like a person with a big smoking addiction who suddenly quits smoking, if you don't chew the tea, you will be depressed, even depressed, irritable or collapsed.
In the lively streets of Sana'a, there is often a very strange situation.
In the morning, people are still operating normally, but at noon, there are few residents who prepare lunch, and there are few merchants selling food on the street, around one o'clock in the afternoon, the merchants selling Qiao tea begin to make preparations, and there is a long queue at the door, people rush to buy the freshest Qiao tea, and after buying it, they will dance happily and go home happily.
Even in order to chew tea, I often arrive late for work.
Studies have shown that Qiao tea not only contains a large number of stimulants, but also some ingredients will cause serious damage to the gastrointestinal function of the human body, so people who chew Qiao tea for a long time will have anorexia.
People are iron rice is steel, a meal does not eat hungry panic, but for them, two days without eating is no problem, Qiao tea to continue life is not exaggerated at all.
There are also some people who inexplicably dance their teeth and claws on the street and quarrel with others, which is a drug addiction attack. Asking why the government does not take corresponding measures to stop Qiaocha, just like not letting the people on the mainland smoke, deep-rooted ideas and habits are not something that can be changed overnight.
Even on the battlefield, Qiaocha is a very important part.
It is said that during a civil war, the soldiers of North and South Yemen ceased to fight many times, but it was time to chew tea! Such a strange country, the people of Yemen have abandoned themselves like this?
Baptism of war
(iii)
With a history of more than 3,000 years, Yemen is one of the birthplaces of Arab civilization.
The Meyn, Saba and Hermiyer dynasties were founded, and were once known as the richest and happiest countries in arabia.
Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, is also a rare historical city in the region, and has always been a fortress city and religious and trade center in the Arab region.
Since the 16th century, with the continuous expansion of the world trade map and the changes in the international situation, Yemen's superior geographical location and port conditions have quickly become a territory that makes Portugal, Britain, the Soviet Union and other countries look at the tiger, and has successively become a colony of various countries, and Yemen has opened a long and humiliating colonial rule, which is also one of the important factors for Yemen's lagging development.
In the 1960s, with the establishment of its own republic, civil unrest began in the country, riots broke out in South and North Yemen, all heads of State were killed, and in 1990, North and South Yemen were finally unified.
But the good times were short-lived, and four years later, there was another civil war in the country, during which religious conflicts continued, coupled with the participation of other major powers, Yemen's road to becoming a strong country and enriching the people can be described as a difficult step.
War-torn
When you come to Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, you will find many abandoned temple buildings, most of which were invested and built by Arabs, and later uninhabited because of the war, and now they are uninhabited and have no grass.
Some people say that after going to Sana'a, and then coming to rural China, they all feel that the countryside is very prosperous, which is not an exaggeration, the domestic struggle is continuous, the people naturally cannot live and work in peace and contentment, most people spend their days doing nothing to chew tea, government officials are doing nothing, what else is the people struggling for?
Mainly even if you go to work, the salary may not be available, and if you have a boss today, you may not necessarily be there tomorrow.
The city in the fire is always full of too much uncertainty, so the attitude of the Yemeni people is that there is wine in this day and drunk in this day, tomorrow is sad and tomorrow is sad, the more drug is used, the more slack, the more want to take drugs, so vicious circle, have to get by, even if the end of the world comes, the day before must chew tea.
However, in Yemen can chew casually Qiao tea, in China can be a drug, drugs are harmful, absolutely a tumor in society, the mainland's attitude to drugs is to resolutely resist and crack down, zero tolerance, never tolerate.
Since 2013, a tea called "khat" has emerged in the drug market and has quickly become a sought-after commodity, and drug addicts can not only chew directly, dry the leaves and grind them into powder, but the effect is similar to heroin.
Chewing tea has become a habit
Later research found that this khat tea is actually Yemen's chatt grass, drugs are large, highly addictive, and then the state will be chalt grass as a psychotropic substance for control, and at the same time included in the criminal law", "anti-drug law" of the drug category, and planting, selling, eating, etc. are drug abuse, drug trafficking.
In fact, the state's severe crackdown on the chatt grass can be regarded as a wise move, the gentleman is easy to deal with, the villain is difficult to prevent, and there are always people who try their best to infiltrate drugs into the Chinese market.
In early 2014, a young man from Ethiopia brought in large quantities of Chat grass, evaded customs inspections several times, and was finally found at Hangzhou's Xiaoshan Airport, arguing that the chatt grass he was carrying was for personal consumption and did not know that the chat grass was a prohibited item in China.
Soldiers also chew tea
But smuggling new drugs and provoking mainland laws is bound to escape the punishment of the law, no matter which country you are, as long as you commit crimes in China, you will be greeted by stainless steel bracelets and iron rice bowls.
Finally, after trial, the foreign man was sentenced to 6 months in prison and fined 30,000 yuan.
Although the state has clearly stopped the chatt grass, there are always criminals on the verge of crime crazy temptation, in the following years, there have been many cases of chatt grass smuggling, of course, once investigated, the law will not be soft!
Tea in the mainland has a history of thousands of years, and most of the tea has the effect of clearing heat and detoxification, in recent years, with the improvement of people's awareness of health, tea has become one of the internationally recognized health drinks.
However, Yemen's Qiao tea directly subverts people's perception of tea, which contains a large number of stimulant ingredients, which will cause great harm to the human mental and reproductive systems, and will increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.
The harm of drugs is well known, and the shielding or connivance of drugs is actually contempt and cruelty to the anti-drug police, so no matter what kind of drugs and in what form they are peddled to us, we have the right and obligation to say no decisively!