How China's Lychee Capital Sweetens Half the Nation

When you taste a lychee in summer, the sweetness in your mouth likely comes from Maoming, Guangdong. Because one out of every five lychees in the world is produced in this legendary "Southern Fruit Capital"!

Besides lychees, longans and bananas, beloved by Chinese people, are also specialties of Maoming. The city often ranks first in national production for lychees, longans, and bananas, with an annual fruit output reaching 4 million tons!

Maoming is more than just the "Fruit Capital of China." Located in Guangdong, its residents don’t all speak Cantonese; unlike the Pearl River Delta, which excels in light industry, heavy industry is its foundation (Maoming was China’s oil city before Daqing). It’s the highest-GDP city in Guangdong outside the Pearl River Delta, yet deeply traditional, hailed as "China’s Most Festive Place."

Today, Maoming is best known as a sweet fruit producer—after all, its annual 4-million-ton fruit output is too impressive to hide. Behind that sweetness lie a long history, unique natural conditions, and the passion and sweat of local farmers, all worth exploring.

The fragrant Guiwei lychee is a key variety of Maoming lychees.

The lychees cultivated by Maoming locals for over 2,000 years epitomize the city’s fruit legacy. In Genzi Town, Gaozhou—dubbed the "Lychee First Town"—the ancient tribute garden from the Sui and Tang dynasties still stands. Walking among millennia-old trees that remain fruitful today, one can’t help but feel a poetic connection to Su Shi’s era of lychee indulgence.

An 800-year-old Baitangying lychee tree in a Maoming orchard.

These precious ancient lychee trees preserve the authentic flavors of the past. Early-ripening Sanyuehong, the sweet-yet-tangy Feizixiao, crisp and sugary Baitangying, or the osmanthus-scented Guiwei—the common varieties alone dazzle consumers. These are just a fraction of Maoming’s 70+ lychee types.

The National Lychee Germplasm Repository is located in Genzi Town, Gaozhou, Maoming.

Maoming’s love for lychees permeates daily life. The ancient Gaozhou Lychee Festival has evolved into a harvest celebration with feasts and performances. Meanwhile, the Baomao Highway—a major north-south route passing through lychee-producing regions from Maoming to Chongqing—is affectionately called the "Lychee Expressway" by locals.

Maoming excels beyond lychees. Its longan (dried longan) cultivation spans over 700,000 mu, making it China’s largest production base. Countless longans become wedding treats alongside red dates and lotus seeds, or star in "Sanpaotai" tea, warming Northwesterners’ mornings with bread and stew.

Beyond staples, Maoming grows niche fruits like yellow olives and Sanhua plums. If a trendy fruit emerges at bubble tea shops, you might suspect it’s from Maoming.

Combined, these fruits contribute to Maoming’s staggering 4-million-ton annual output, solidifying its claim as China’s fruit capital—a testament to both local diligence and unique geography.

Maoming’s fruit output leads Guangdong by a wide margin.

Prosperous Guangdong is surprisingly mountainous, with plains covering less than a third of its land. Maoming, in the southwest, condenses this terrain: the Yunkao, Goulou, and Yunwu mountain ranges shape its hills and valleys. Plains support urban growth, while the sea offers future potential.

The misty mountains and glowing skies are breathtaking.

Mountains shield Maoming from northern cold while trapping abundant rain. Straddling subtropical and tropical zones, the city enjoys superb heat, rainfall, and sunlight—perfect for tropical fruits. Maoming’s produce dominates domestically and thrives globally.

Mountains made Maoming a fruit hub but isolated it geographically. Even today, holidays bring traffic jams on the Guangzhou-Maoming highway—hinting at ancient travel hardships to the Central Plains.

Separating raging waves from calm bays.

Ancient western Guangdong, bordering Southeast Asia, had a turbulent integration into imperial China. The Qin’s Lingqu Canal linked it to Lingnan, while Xiang and Nanhai Commanderies initiated governance—yet instability often brought detachment.

Lady Xian was the key figure in promoting long-term unity here. She was a local ethnic minority leader during the late Northern and Southern Dynasties, married to a governor, and became the de facto ruler after her husband's death. She could have seized the chaotic times to establish her own separatist regime, but instead actively promoted Sinicization and pledged allegiance to the central dynasty.

She left behind a stable and unified Gaoliang region (centered around present-day Maoming) and the teaching of "Only a good heart matters." Today, Maoming not only has over 400 Lady Xian temples but also hides the phrase "good heart" in its city emblem. In Maoming, echoes of history can always be heard.

Today, Maoming has created its city emblem inspired by the idea of a "good heart."

After local stability was achieved, waves of immigrants settled here in clustered communities, forming layered dialect zones that endowed each urban area with distinct customs. Not only do Cantonese speakers find the local accent amusing yet hard to understand, but even people from different dialect zones within Maoming often rely half on listening and half on guessing when communicating in their own dialects.

Drowning in a sea of "毋" (mou2), "冇" (maau5), "狂" (kwong4), and "戥" (dang6).

Besides mountains, another force shaping Maoming is the sea. Guangdong's terrain—high in the northwest and low in the southeast, with a southeastern coastline—resembles a scaled-down version of China, and Maoming's coastline condenses Guangdong's features. The largest fishing port in Guangdong, Dianbai Bohe Fishing Port, is located in Maoming.

Maoming's Bohe Port has fulfilled the dreams of countless Cantonese.

Fishermen and bountiful seafood at Maoming's Bohe Port.

Between mountains and sea, Maoming is actually a very young city. Her first identity was neither "China's Top Tropical Fruit City" nor "Guangdong's Top Fishing Port," but the "Oil Capital of South China," capable of extracting oil from rocks—a beacon of hope for New China's industrial development.

In the 1950s, China's oil production was extremely low, severely hindering industrial growth. Yet, Maoming's oil shale could be mined openly, even collected by local children to roast sweet potatoes. Maoming was once entrusted with the mission of lifting China's "oil-poor" label.

The cooling towers of Maoming's oil refinery reflect that era's history.

If you walk through the old petroleum neighborhoods in Maonan District and hear elderly people chatting in Northeastern-accented Mandarin, don't be surprised. Since the 1950s, hundreds of thousands of oil workers from across the country came to Maoming, many from Fushun, Liaoning—an old shale oil base. Thus, another wave of immigrants arrived, forming isolated pockets of Mandarin or even Northeastern dialect in Maonan District.

Witnessing the glory of an era.

Although later discoveries like Daqing and Shengli oil fields reduced the importance of shale oil, Maoming had already established a comprehensive petrochemical industry, supporting local economic growth. The main traffic arteries in Maonan District, where the city government is located, are still named "Oil City Road X," marking that fervent era.

As China's economy transitions, Maoming's petrochemical industry has shifted toward green practices, and the former open-pit oil shale mines have been transformed into ecological parks, becoming leisure spots for locals and photo destinations for tourists.

The now dreamlike ecological park.

Newcomers to Maoming are often surprised by its "fourth-tier city" urban development and decentralized layout. In fact, blessed by the gifts of plains, hills, and the sea, each district of Maoming has its own character, collectively supporting the highest GDP outside the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong.

In 2017, Maoming won the championship in CCTV's "Charming Chinese Cities" program, becoming a proud collective memory for its six million residents. To earn such honor, fruits, industry, and ports alone weren't enough—what truly mattered was Maoming's preservation of authentic local life.

"The Most Festive Place in China."

Maoming's vibrant local life is vividly reflected in its festivals.

From the Zhengyue Zhengqiong Festival at the beginning of the year, through the Huachao Festival during blooming seasons, the Tiaohuapeng Festival during autumn harvests, the Xiantai Furen Birthday in the eleventh lunar month, to making and eating "he" cakes on the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month, almost every month has its unique customs. The wealthy people of Maoming celebrate every possible festival, making their vibrant lifestyle the envy of nine-to-five workers trapped in monotonous routines.

A corner of Douzhou Ancient Town in Xinyi, Maoming.

Scattered ancient architecture adds charm to the lives of Maoming residents.

The most significant and distinctive festival is the Nianli celebration for the New Year. How important is Nianli? Locals say, "Nianli is bigger than the New Year." For this, urban workers pack their bags and return to their hometowns, as the most authentic Nianli experience can only be found in rural areas of Maoming.

Folk arts like Gaozhou woodcut prints.

The core of Nianli involves deity processions and grand feasts. Locals carry temple idols through the streets amid drumbeats, dragon dances, and lion dances, drawing crowds of villagers. The constant sound of firecrackers and the smell of gunpowder amplify the festive atmosphere. The feasts, known as "zuojiao," are lavish banquets. Together, they create a doubly joyful celebration.

Maoming still has plenty of young people who love participating in Nianli.

Each village holds celebrations for 1-3 days. To invite relatives and friends from neighboring areas and ensure lively festivities, different villages stagger their Nianli dates. Thus, the city-wide Nianli season runs from the second day of the Lunar New Year until late February. Many Maoming locals with large, scattered families have experienced hopping between villages during the holiday, feasting on rich dishes until they're overwhelmed.

From sticky-sweet "he" cakes to fresh seafood, from white-cut chicken with red envelopes to the ceremonial "three teas and five wines," Nianli showcases Maoming's abundant produce and unique traditions.

White-cut chicken at a Maoming Nianli feast.

The star of the feast, white-cut chicken, may seem identical to Guangzhou's version at first glance, but its preparation and flavor differ significantly. Tender meat and springy skin aren't paired with ginger-scallion sauce but dipped in umami-rich soy sauce, spicy sand ginger, and fragrant peanut oil. This reinvented dish delivers a bolder taste experience.

Maoming white-cut chicken embodies the local culinary ethos—unapologetically rich in oil and flavor, unapologetically joyful. Across the city, snacks like Gaozhou sweet potato cakes, spiny pufferfish skin soup, fried fish and oysters, cuttlefish cakes, giant yam dessert, "boji" steamed rice, and "shiguanzui" rice noodles highlight the skillful use of oil.

The most beloved is Maoming "laofen"—slippery wide rice noodles tossed with fragrant chive oil, garlic, and soy sauce, a hybrid of Cantonese rice rolls and Guangxi noodles. This humble dish, bursting with western Guangdong character, is the ultimate taste of home for countless Maoming natives.

Once obstructive mountains are now forest parks, serving as weekend getaways for locals. Uncrowded free beaches are perfect for post-work romance, relaxation, or daydreaming. Year-round fresh fruit, seafood from returning fishing boats, and Nianli celebrations during the New Year enrich daily life. Less hectic, efficient, or modern than the Pearl River Delta, life in Maoming is sweetly simple.

Maoming Municipal People's Government Development and Reform Bureau website

Maoming Municipal People's Government Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau website

Xiao Ping, Wen Qiuna. Research on the Development of Maoming's Fruit Industry [J]. Southern Journal, 2010:84-86.

Yin Qihua, Liu Gen, Ye Yingbang. Study on Brand Operations of Maoming's Specialty Fruit Industry [J]. China Collective Economy, 2016:61-62.

This article is original content from [Didao Fengwu].