Lychees reflect the resilience of Chinese market

Lychees, small, red, fragrant, juicy and fiercely seasonal, have become an unlikely economic protagonist. From trending make-up tutorials inspired by the fruit's ruby-red hue to surging sales in far-flung areas such as the Xinjiang Uygur and Xizang autonomous regions, lychees are more than satisfying cravings; they are opening a window to China's evolving consumption patterns and the quiet transformation of its domestic market.

Behind the sweetness lies something far more significant: a glimpse into how China's unified national market is reshaping logistics, boosting local economies, and turning perishable produce into a symbol of modern economic connectivity.

Lychees aren't new to the Chinese palate. But this year, they're experiencing a cultural and commercial renaissance. It helps that this is a bumper harvest year, when the fruit trees cover 7.52 million mu (501 thousand hectares) and the yield is expected to reach 3.45 million tons — double that of last year. But the story goes beyond supply.

Mid-season varieties like Guiwei and Nuomici have matured. Fashion icon Zhong Chuxi's "lychee look" has already made headlines. On Xiaohongshu, where Chinese Instagram meets Amazon, the fruit trended for weeks. People who'd never cared for lychees are now ordering them by the crate.

Even more remarkably, places like the Ningxia Hui and Xizang autonomous regions — hundreds of miles from any lychee orchard — have become major growth markets, with year-on-year sales jumping by more than 3.6 times. The old Tang Dynasty (618-907) joke — "one day it loses color, two days it loses fragrance, three days it's spoiled" — has been rewritten.

What has really changed is logistics. In the past, transporting lychees was a race against time. Today, their transportation demonstrates a master class in cold-chain strategy.

Thanks to national infrastructure upgrading, high-speed trains, and next-generation logistics platforms, lychees can now be transported thousands of kilometers away in just 72 hours without losing their color, fragrance and taste. A dedicated high-speed lychee express launched earlier this summer in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is a "depart-in-the-morning, arrive-by-lunch" miracle of planning, data coordination, and cold-chain strategy.

Logistics used to be the most expensive part of lychee transportation. Now, with unified market reforms lowering transport costs and integrating supply chains, that burden has eased dramatically. Consumers are enjoying lychees at lower prices. Farmers are seeing higher profit margins. And up above the heaven somewhere, a Tang Dynasty poet is probably smiling.

Behind every fresh lychee is a network of policy alignment and regional cooperation. The unified national market isn't just a slogan, for it has reshaped how products are transported and costs are calculated, and who benefits from it.

Local governments are coordinating to streamline transport inspections, greenlight cold-chain trucks, and prevent unnecessary delays. The result: fewer middlemen, faster delivery and better farm-gate prices. On social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu, lychee orchard owners are now directly selling to consumers thanks to digitalization.

In cities such as Shanghai, same-day order and next-day delivery services now allow consumers to enjoy fresh Guangdong lychees. The seamless transportation of lychees from the Greater Bay Area to the Yangtze River Delta region reflects a broader shift — as transportation improves, average prices drop and consumers benefit. Lychee-infused drinks have taken over tea shops. Lychee wine and juices are extending the product's life cycle. Summer tourists are flocking to not just Penang, Malaysia, for durian, but also to Maoming in Guangdong province for lychee-picking, visiting lychee-themed parks and attending lychee carnivals. The "Lychee Hometown Tour" was launched earlier this year along with a major festival in Gaozhou, Guangdong. The next step could be pairing the fruit with music festivals and pop concerts.

This is agri-tourism with Chinese characteristics, one that increases farmers' incomes, boosts local economies, and turns regional produce into national, even global, brands. Yet even in this booming market, structural issues remain. Many farmers still lack bargaining power. Middlemen and wholesalers still squeeze farmers' profit margin. Sure, e-commerce has been of help, but without scale or professional marketing support, many producers still struggle to derive full benefit from sales.

The solution lies in aggregation and smart partnerships. By developing a "cooperative-company-farmer" model, producers can seek a geographical indication tag and compete in the market as a bloc. In fact, institutions such as the Sun Yat-sen University are providing R&D support and marketing expertise, and developing processed products. This will help farmers to unlock the full value of lychees.

The journey of a lychee from a tree in Guangdong to a dining table in Shanghai is reflective of China's evolving economy, where technology extends products' shelf life and opens up new markets, and scale reduces costs and makes quality produce more widely accessible. As lychees become a summer staple across the country, they tell a bigger story about the resilience of the Chinese economy and the construction of a truly unified national market.

The author is a professor at Lingnan College, Sun Yat-sen University and deputy director of the Laboratory of Mezzoeconomics and Regional Industrial Coordinated Development.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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