A Surprise In The Orchard

The wintry November of 2016 proved to be very special for a citrus farmer named Li Wenhua of Chengdu province in Southwest China. It was a warm perfect day to work on the farm. He took up his shovel and went inside the field to finish his work. He knew that the work was going to take his entire day and he was well prepared for that. However, what he was not prepared for was a big surprise that was coming his way. China is widely known for its rich past. That is the reason, the country comes up with astonishing discoveries each year. No need to say, the present of China is shaped by its amazing past. Li too comes across a thing of past but not a relic.

Caught The Disease?

Li was suspicious if his crops also had caught the disease. Though there were no signs of it, he decided to inspect all his trees closely. The trees looked perfectly healthy and fine. There were many trees in the orchid and checking them closely was indeed going to take lots of his time. He went ahead. Though China is progressing at a rapid speed, more than 40 million people of this country have an income of less than $350 per year. Not only that, over 500 million people are spending their lives in a daily income of  $5.50. The poverty still persists there in a terrible way.

Cultural Artifact?

It was a round-shaped, black colored object. Li could not figure what exactly was that as he had not seen something like this before in his life. He assumed it to be a medallion or pendant of a long gone dynasty. So, had he just found an antiquated object? Finding an ancient relic is not a big thing in that area. Many ancient objects had been discovered from its soil prior to this finding. However, this discovery was going to be different. Though initially, the thing did not interest him as he moved closer he noticed the weird design made on it. Surprisingly, it did not resemble any sign of past he remembered.

It Moved

The object continued moving. He bent forward to take a closer look at this weird object. The object was much more than that round shaped thing. Yes! That was just a part of it. It was a spider! Li took a while to realize it was indeed a spider. No need to say, Li had never seen a strange spider of this sort.

Chinese Hourglass Spider

The spider belonged to a rare species named Chinese Hourglass Spider. And it was the rarest of rare species that was believed to have gone extinct. Only five sightings have been seen of this rare species in the last 18 years. The spider made its first appearance in the 5th century. Imagine, from that day on, they have been spotted 18 times only.