Looking for pineapples on the Chinese mainland? Head to Guangdong Province in the south, and when you get there hit Xuwen County.
Xuwen is dubbed the "hometown of pineapples" in China and for a very good reason.
One in three pineapples sold in the country comes from this county, which sits on the southernmost tip of the mainland. There, farmers churn out nearly 700,000 tonnes of the spiky yellow fruit, according to Xinhua News Agency.
A hashtag of this factoid went viral on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, in March, attracting a whopping 200 million views in just two days and putting Xuwen on the map for many Chinese travelers.
In May, visitors to the Times Square in New York were also greeted by an ad about the tropical fruit from Guangdong, which promised "A burst of flavor in every bite."
But what makes Xuwen County a breeding ground for pineapples?
Two workers load ripe pineapples onto trucks in Xuwen County, south China's Guangdong Province, March 11, 2021. /CFP
A number of factors have come together to create an ideal place for high-quality pineapples: a humid tropical monsoon climate, abundant sunshine, iron-rich soil and local policy support.
In 2019, the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Department of Guangdong introduced a marketing system for pineapples grown in Xuwen and set up a special working group to make it happen.
They called it "12221" in reference to the five pillars that make up the policy: "one" database of agricultural products; "two" teams, namely purchasing agents and producers; "two" marketing areas, sales areas and production areas; "two" activities, helping buyers into the production area and agricultural products into the market; and "one" goal – rural vitalization.
Farmers pick pineapples in Xuwen County, south China's Guangdong Province, March 12, 2021. /CFP
The project aimed to distribute the fruit to bigger markets by finding buyers and upping the business sense of growers as well as using big data to guide production and sales strategies, according to Huang Jiatuan, who's in charge of agricultural and rural affairs in the county.
"[It] changed people's perspectives and helped farmers have better marketing awareness," said Liu Yicun, who used to be the deputy head of Xuwen County and was part of delegations to big Chinese cities to promote the local produce.
A staff introduces Xuwen Pineapple Big data System in Xuwen County, south China's Guangdong Province, March 11, 2021. /CFP
The county's output of the fruit was valued at 841 million yuan ($131.9 million) in the first quarter of 2021, up 34 percent year-on-year, according to the Chinese ministry of agriculture and rural affairs. The field purchase price per kilo in March crossed the eight-yuan threshold, the highest on record in more than 30 years.
And these sweet treats are also finding buyers overseas from Japan to Russia and further afield in Dubai, the UAE.
Farmers pick pineapples in Xuwen County, south China's Guangdong Province, March 12, 2021. /CFP
Pineapples have also attracted people from around the country to visit Xuwen, giving a boost to the local tourism industry.
Much like film locations became a calling card for different cities, the "local cuisine is an important factor in young tourists' choice of travel destinations," said Feng Rao, director of the Tourism Research Center of Mafengwo, a Chinese travel platform. It's common for young travelers, especially those born in the 1990s and 2000s to go on culinary journeys so their taste buds can explore new worlds, according to Feng.
