With sweet white flesh covered by a red, roughly textured outer shell, the delicious and juicy lychee is a sign of the arrival of summer in Guangzhou. Various varieties of lychee are on sale in the city now, and many districts hold lychee festivals and cooperate with online shopping platforms to promote sales.
Nansha district
With about 25,000 mu (about 16.7 square kilometers) of lychee orchards in the district, Nansha boasts two cultivar lychees -- Guiwei lychee and Nuomichi lychee. Guiwei lychee is known for its fragrance of the osmanthus flower and its sweet flavor. The Nuomichi lychee is renowned for its thick, juicy flesh.
"The expectation is for a yield of about 150 kilos per mu this year, which is an excellent harvest for lychee," said a lychee farmer in Nansha. "The retail price for Guiwei is 24 yuan per kilo, just half the price of last year's."
About 120 stalls are set up in Huangge town (黄阁镇) in Nansha district for onsite lychee purchase. Online stores are also accessible for buyers to order lychees for delivery, make a booking for lychee picking, and customize a unique lychee tree for next year's harvest picking.
Conghua district
Conghua is a famous lychee zone and the largest lychee producing area in Guangzhou. Guiwei lychee is available now in Conghua, but Huaizhi lychees, a famous late-ripening variety, won't hit the market until about mid-July, being the last type harvested in Guangdong province.
A lychee festival is held from June 23 to July 26 in Nanping village (南平村), Conghua district, offering free lychee tasting activities for visitors. The district also cooperates with the online retail giant, Suning, to provide direct delivery of freshly picked lychees.
Zengcheng district
Occupying about 200,000 mu (about 133.3 square kilometers), lychee orchards in Zengcheng district are particularly noted for their vast varieties of the fruit – over 70 in total. The Zengcheng Gualu lychee, one of the top varieties in the district, fetched a record price of about US $67,000 at an auction back in 2002 for a single piece of fruit weighing about half an ounce. The exorbitant price was attributed to the rarity of the tree named Xiyuangualu (西园挂绿), which is estimated at over 400 years old.
The district also cooperates with many online shopping platforms, such as Sfbest, zhx-mall, and Benlai Fruitmart.
Baiyun district
Nuomici lychee and Huaizhi lychee in Longgang village (龙岗村), Baiyun district, are on the market now. A lychee-picking tour will be offered through the end of June.
Author: Annie
Source: Silk Road Post