The Hierarchy of Lychee Consumption in China: Why Does This Province Reign Supreme?

Finally, finally, the people of Guangdong have welcomed the season when the Baitangying lychees are abundantly available.

With crisp flesh and a refreshing sweetness, this is the favorite early-ripening lychee among Cantonese and the best in all of China during the same period. Even though Hainan's Feizixiao lychees hit the market a month earlier, giving northerners an early taste of lychee delights, in the eyes of Cantonese, only when Baitangying arrives does the true lychee season in Guangdong begin.

Baitangying, the sweetest among early-ripening lychees.

For Cantonese, lychee consumption starts with April's Baitangying, remains loyal to June's Guiwei and Nuomici, and ends with July's Xianjinxian and Gualü... When it comes to eating lychees, you'll realize that people differ—some see them as a "summer exclusive" to be enjoyed only a few times a year, while others indulge in an uninterrupted lychee feast all summer long.

If northerners don’t want Feizixiao, their only option is online shopping. Not only does the two-day delivery compromise freshness, but a box costing hundreds of yuan is something they can only afford to splurge on once a year. In contrast, Cantonese can easily buy cheap and delicious lychees right at their doorstep, have lychee trees in their own yards, or know friends with lychee orchards. Their concern about lychees is never the price but whether they’re "heaty" (in Cantonese eyes, "heaty" means上火, a state of internal heat akin to an "overheated condition").

Many Cantonese households have a few lychee trees in their backyards.

When it comes to eating lychees, Cantonese even have unique constitutions—some are warned since childhood to eat no more than three lychees a day to avoid overheating. But as the region with China’s highest lychee output and best flavors, Cantonese have even more extravagant ways to enjoy them, like steeping lychee skins in water or cooking lychee meat in chicken soup...

No one can outmatch Cantonese when it comes to eating lychees.

Guiwei, Nuomici, Gualü, Huaizhi...

After last year’s lean harvest and high prices, Guangdong has finally welcomed a bumper lychee year. This year, the province’s lychee output is estimated at 1.8 million tons, averaging 28 pounds per Cantonese. Nationwide, lychee production is predicted at about 3.29 million tons, meaning nearly half of all lychees on the market come from Guangdong.

For every two lychees in China, one likely hails from Guangdong.

But Guangdong’s lychee prowess isn’t just about quantity—it’s the diverse array of exquisite varieties grown on its fertile soil. As early as 1076 AD, Zhang Zongmin’s "Zengcheng Lychee Manual" from the Northern Song Dynasty documented 100 lychee varieties. Today, the National Horticultural Germplasm Repository—Guangzhou Lychee Branch—houses nearly 600 lychee germplasm resources, ranking first globally.

These many lychee varieties, scattered across Guangdong, follow the terrain’s rhythm, delivering months of uninterrupted lychee indulgence from April to July.

Guangdong’s lychee harvest follows a rhythmic cadence.

From late April, early to mid-ripening lychees from western Guangdong—mainly Maoming, Zhanjiang, and Yangjiang—start maturing, seizing Cantonese taste buds first. The highest-yielding varieties are Heiye, Baila, Feizixiao, and Shuangjian Yuhebao, but the tastiest are Gaozhou and Dianbai’s Baitangying.

Baitangying, the crown jewel of early-ripening lychees.

Once called Fengtangying, this variety has been cultivated in Dianbai County for 200–300 years. It reigns supreme among early-ripening lychees, boasting a crisp texture, high sweetness, and minimal acidity. This year’s bumper crop has made it even sweeter than usual.

By late May, the long-awaited mid-to-late-ripening lychees from eastern Guangdong—Dongguan, Huizhou, Jieyang, Shanwei, and Chaozhou—finally arrive. Nuomici and Guiwei, the stars of this season, ignite Cantonese lychee fever. Guiwei’s thick, crisp flesh carries a captivating osmanthus fragrance, while Nuomici is soft, juicy, intensely sweet, and long-lasting in aroma—both are Cantonese favorites. Asked which is better? Cantonese say: "We want both."

The osmanthus-scented Guiwei is a key variety of Maoming lychees.

By late June, Nuomici and Guiwei bow out, leaving next year’s harvest as the only hope. Fortunately, late-ripening lychees from central Guangdong—Conghua, Zengcheng, Huadu, Xinxing, and Yunan—take the stage. These are the most intensely flavored and often the priciest, like Guanyinlü, Gualü, and Bingli, whose auction prices reaching hundreds of thousands captivate the nation.

However, what people commonly eat more often is the Xianjinfeng lychee from Zengcheng. Named after being presented as tribute to Emperor Kangxi from Xian Village in Zengcheng, it has slightly thicker skin but large, tender, and smooth flesh with a unique honey-like fragrance, representing late-ripening lychees. After eating Xianjinfeng, it’s time to bid farewell to Guangdong’s lychee season.

Xianjinfeng, grown in Xian Village, was a variety once offered to the emperor.

How did Guangdong become China’s top lychee-producing province?

As China’s leading lychee-producing province, Guangdong is primarily responsible for making lychees widely accessible to the Chinese people.

Compared to Guangdong’s over 600 lychee varieties, northerners for a long time had only Feizixiao as an option, a variety not particularly favored in Guangdong. Recently, a popular post online claimed, “Feizixiao is just fooling northerners—Cantonese don’t even eat it.”

The lychees enjoyed by friends in the north,

are almost certainly Feizixiao.

Photo/PAOPAOANFANG, Image/图虫·创意

But don’t underestimate Feizixiao. Spanning thousands of miles between north and south, Consort Yang could taste southern lychees thanks to swift carriages delivering fresh lychees across mountains and seas. Today, northerners enjoy affordable and fresh lychees largely because Cantonese promoted Feizixiao cultivation.

The Feizixiao variety was documented around 1683 in Chen Ding’s *Litchi Chronicles*: “Sweet as honey, fragrant as orchids, thin-skinned yet thick-fleshed, with small bean-like pits and creamy, smooth juice,” noting its origin in Foshan. In terms of flavor, Feizixiao isn’t top-tier, but its thick rind makes it ideal for long-distance transport, allowing it to stay fresh longer than other varieties.

Visionary Cantonese recognized this trait and began promoting its cultivation. For instance, since 1988, Huazhou in Maoming has mass-planted Feizixiao, now boasting one of China’s largest Feizixiao bases with 170,000 mu (28,000 acres), ranking second nationally at the county level. Later, Feizixiao spread to Hainan, becoming China’s highest-yielding lychee variety, helping northerners enjoy lychee abundance.

Lychee harvest in Genzi Town, Gaozhou, Maoming.

Cantonese have cultivated lychees for millennia. *Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital* notes that during the Western Han, “King Zhao Tuo of Nanyue presented sharks and lychees to Emperor Gaozu.” Cai Xiang’s *Lychee Manual* also mentions Tang-era lychees: “Luoyang sourced from Lingnan, Chang’an from Bashu.”

Compared to Fujian and Sichuan, Guangdong’s large-scale lychee cultivation started relatively late, reaching significant scale only in the Qing dynasty. Ming-Qing transition texts state: “Annual merchants sell 70% water-branch and 30-40% mountain-branch lychees, packed in crates, bound with yellow-white vines…ships never cease.” Qu Dajun’s *New Guangdong Annals* records: “All Guangzhou’s embankments grow lychees and longans; some even abandon rice fields for them,” highlighting lychees’ popularity.

Today, Guangdong lychees are also exported abroad in large quantities.

How did Guangdong lychees rise to prominence historically? The answer lies in its unique mountainous climate. Lychees thrive in subtropical heat and humidity, and Guangdong’s long, hot summers with abundant rainfall, plus rare sub-zero winters, ensure safe overwintering. Its red soil and fertile riverbanks further enhance flavor.

Older lychee trees yield better fruit, and Guangdong preserves ancient trees well. Shuiping Village in Dalang Town, Dongguan, hosts a grove of 1,900+ century-old lychee trees, the oldest over 300 years. Maoming has the world’s largest contiguous lychee production base, with ~19,400 ancient trees, including a 1,930-year-old one in Luduan Village—the oldest known globally.

An 800-year-old Baitangying lychee tree in Maoming’s orchards.

Advanced cultivation, unparalleled geography, and abundant ancient trees make Guangdong China’s undisputed top lychee province.

Among factors affecting lychee flavor, freshness is key. Cantonese face no such worries—proximity ensures every lychee they eat is a day or two fresher than northerners’. Surrounded by superb lychees, Cantonese have invented countless ways to enjoy them.

Chilled lychees, the joy of Cantonese people in summer.

The most delicious lychees are those picked at dawn, then refrigerated for 3 hours. Cantonese believe lychees harvested in the morning, unexposed to the sun, have less "heatiness," and chilling enhances their flavor. If eating them plain feels monotonous, one can follow the Chaoshan tradition of dipping lychees in soy sauce.

Despite the abundance of lychees in Guangdong, Cantonese don’t indulge recklessly—they have their own philosophy: eating too many in a day causes "heatiness." What if you can’t finish them?

Extra lychees can be dried or used to brew lychee wine, preserving their flavor longer. Lychee flesh can also be cooked in chicken soup, infusing the meat with a sweet, delicate taste. Even the peels aren’t wasted—soaked in water, they’re a remedy for the "heatiness" from overindulgence.

During lychee season, a type of lychee mushroom grows in the orchards, boiled or steamed, another exclusive delicacy for Cantonese.

Though summer is scorching, a plate of chilled lychees is enough to cool Cantonese hearts. For this fresh delight, staying in Guangdong for life is worth it.

Cover image | Visual China