Rays of brightness on the side of the road.

I’m in the Ningxia Autonomous Region, an arid patch of western China largely populated by people of the Muslim Hui minority. Wherever we drove today, I saw fields and fields of sunflowers. Farmers grow the sunflowers mainly for cooking oil in this area. Perhaps it was the sunny weather. The fields were glorious.

Also, a common sight almost anywhere in China is of these three-wheeled trucks. They are slow road hogs, and make as distinctive a low-throated growl as a Harley motorcycle. Yet they are an inextricable part of rural life.

A familiar slow-moving Chinese species of road pig.