Chinese durian brokers threaten forests in Thailand
by editors@theworld.org (Patrick Winn) from The World: Latest Stories on (#704TS)
The Chinese love their durian, a thorny fruit with fanatical fans. In the Western imagination, durian is often exoticized as the world's most repugnant food. For China's upper-middle class, durians are the new truffles, or bourbon. As Patrick Winn reports, China now imports about $7 billion worth of durian, mostly from Thailand - proving to be a mixed blessing for the country.