Squeezing eyebrows, wrinkling noses and pursing lips, that's how people from south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region react after they taste the gifted cranberries sent from chilly northeastern Heilongjiang Province. Although you can tell the fresh cranberries are sour from their facial expressions, they never complain, but raise their thumbs.
A resident receives a box of cranberries sent from Heilongjiang's Fuyuan City in a public square of Nanning City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, January 11, 2024. /CFP
Residents take photos of cranberries sent from Heilongjiang's Fuyuan City in a mall of Nanning City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, January 11, 2024. /CFP
The gift exchange was initiated after a group of 11 children from Guangxi, known as the "Little Mandarins" for their bright orange outfits, received a memorable welcome in Heilongjiang, where they recently joined droves of other tourists enjoying its fairy-tale ice sculptures and winter activities.
To thank the people of Heilongjiang for taking such good care of their "Little Mandarins" - a nickname popularized online during this winter's travel boom that refers to young tourists from Guangxi, citrus farmers from the region dispatched a shipment of mandarin to firefighters in Beiji Village in Heilongjiang's Mohe City.
To reciprocate this act of kindness, 100,000 boxes of fresh cranberries were sent from farms in Heilongjiang to Guangxi later. Residents of Heilongjiang expressed their astonishment on social media because they've barely heard that their hometown produces cranberries.
Working staff of Fuyuan's cranberry planting base boxes up cranberries before the fruits are transported to south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region , Fuyuan city, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, January 6, 2024. /CFP
In fact, Heilongjiang shares the similar weather as some famous cranberry-producing countries, such as the United States, Canada and Chile. Located in Fuyuan in the province, the cranberry planting area spans 4,200 mu (280 hectares), which yielded 3,000 tonnes of fruits last autumn, making the city the largest cranberry planting base in China.
To collect the fruit, the method called wet harvesting is used. The bog is flooded with water before the berries are to be harvested. The growers then use water reels to churn the water and loosen the cranberries from the vine. Each berry has tiny pockets of air that allow it to float to the surface of the water. From there, they're corralled together and loaded into trucks.
The successful large-scale cultivation of cranberries in Fuyuan breaks the impression that China's northeastern region is only rich in traditional crops such as soybeans and rice. Now, the ruby-red fruits have become a renowned specialty across the nation and beyond.