I frequently walk past King’s Pond on the north end of Cedar Hill Golf course, stopping to enjoy the interesting variety of birds congregated in and around the pond, including mallards, wigeons, wood and ring-neck ducks. When the weather starts to warm up during spring another resident of King’s Pond starts to reappear, the turtle. On a sunny day, I often see 7 or 8 of them lined up on the log float that’s anchored in the middle of the pond. The turtles are lazily sunbathing and warming themselves, sometimes with one turtle half resting on its neighbour in a friendly fashion. The other day I took a photo of one turtle who decided to sit on a rock near the foot path. Turtles usually bring a smile to my face whenever I see them.

This got me thinking about turtle lore in ancient China and how they were used and still used in traditional Chinese medicine.