The first time we heard about Qinghao Straw, or the sweet wormwood, was from a news article published in 2011. This article explained that Artemisinin, found by the Chinese medical researcher Tu Youyou, who won the Lasker Medical Research Awards, was extracted from Qinghao Straw. When we first saw the Qinghao Straw in YouYang, it seemed to be ubiquitous: in the houses,in  the yards, on the roads……

After our astonishment a local resident told us that a big packet of Qinghao Straw can be purchased for only 5 RMB. Planting Qinghao Straw requires a lot of labor, but it is sold so cheaply. So we naturally began to think about the farmers’ welfare and the difficulty they have to bear to make a profit. How can we protect their efforts? Who cares about them? What can designers do to improve their lives?