Contents
Fruit, 水果shuǐ guǒ, is a crucial dietary element that can bring rich vitamins, coarse fibers, and other trace elements to nourish the human body and benefit human’s health. Moderate intake of fruits can also help you keep a balanced diet daily. Because it can replace partial intake of fat and carbohydrates, it is helpful when people want to keep fit.
Climates and geographical features vary in different corners of the world, which will lead to various fruits choices in different places. What kind of fruits can you have among those hundreds of varieties when living and learning in China?
What kind of fruit grows in China?
China is a country with vast land and different climates. There are different regional fruits according to local climate and soil quality.
Tropical and subtropical fruits such as coconut, mango, pineapple, longan, lychee, grapefruit, banana, etc., are only distributed in southern China, for the lower temperature of north China cannot provide enough heat to grow these fruits. The southern province of Yunnan is famous as the Kingdom of variant tropical and subtropical fruits throughout the whole year. In Yunnan, fruits can also be cooked as a dish. The pickled spicy fruit is one of the dishes that you must try when learning Mandarin in Kunming, Yunnan.
Citrus, loquat, and other subtropical fruits can tolerate light coldness. However, temperatures around –9°C or even colder can still cause severe freezing damage to these fruits, so these fruits are generally only distributed in the southern part of the Qinling-Huaihe area.
The temperate zone north of the Qinling-Huaihe area is rich in temperate fruits such as apples, pears, persimmons, and grapes.
It is challenging to grow temperate fruits like apples in the northern areas of the Great Wall and northern Xinjiang area because of the extreme coldness on winter days.
In recent years, methods such as grafting and hybridization are applied more frequently; benefited from these techniques, apples have expanded in the further northern area of China currently.
Is fruit expensive in China?
Fruits produced in China are always sold at a reasonable price. There are many reasons why fruits are not expensive in China:
- China’s labor costs are low.
- The land suitable for growing fruits in China is vast, and the land cost is low.
- There are many farmers in China and many fruit growers, so the annual production amount of fruit is relatively high. But at the same time, the commercializing and industrializing processes of fruits are not easy in China. Therefore, during the harvest season, fruit growers generally choose to use the low price strategy to compete, leading to lower fruit prices.
- Organic fruits are not widely consumed in China, and the market for high-priced organic fruits is not large. The situation will be different if you’re willing to pay for organic fruits and imported fruits. The price for these imported fruits is much higher compared with locally planted ones.
Besides, you can always find the wholesale market to buy cheap fruit in great amounts when living in China. Convenient transportation and logistics service also make it easier to buy fruits at a good price in China.
Where to buy fruits in China?
A supermarket, fruit stores, a wholesale market for fruits, or fruit stands at the agricultural products trading market are all places that you can find good quality fruits.
The differences among these places for buying fruits mainly fall on the price, the quality, and the kinds of fruits you can have as options.
In China, you can also buy fruits by making orders on a food delivery App. Not only can fruits you purchase through the service provided by a food delivery app, but meals and other groceries can be bought through a mobile app. You will greatly benefit from the convenience of different useful apps on mobile when living in China. These smart apps will help you reach a different aspect of your daily life, so your transition here will also be smoother and easier.
What are the most popular fruits in China?
Some fruits are prevalent to see in China and also very welcomed by Chinese people.
Watermelons, apples, grapes, pears, mandarins, bananas, strawberries, pineapples, lychees, longan, cherries, mangos, papayas, grapefruits, and peaches are all popular fruits in China.
Some of the fruits are even more popular than others for they can be used as cooking ingredients of Chinese cuisine. Many popular Chinese dishes are cooked with fruits, such as the pineapple used in the dish of sour-sweet spareribs, the papaya salad, candied sweet banana/apple, fried bananas, and spicy pickled fruits in Yunnan and Guangxi provinces. With the unique intelligence of Chinese culinary philosophy, the fruits are fully interpreted in Chinese cuisine.
Chinese vocabularies for fruits
Now it’s time for us to learn some general words about fruits in Chinese!
Taking above mentioned popular fruits in China as instances.
Watermelons 西瓜 xī guā  | Apple 苹果 píng guǒ | Grapes 葡萄 pú táo |
| Pears 梨 lí | Mandarins 桔子 jú zǐ | Orange 橙子 chéng zǐ |
| Bananas 香蕉 xiāng jiāo | Strawberries 草莓 cǎo méi | Pineapples 菠萝 bō luó |
| Lychees 荔枝 lì zhī | Longan 龙眼 lóng yǎn | Cherries 樱桃 yīng táo |
| Mangos 芒果 máng guǒ | Papayas 木瓜 mù guā | Grapefruits 柚子 yòu zǐ |
| Peaches 桃子 táo zǐ | Passion Fruit 百香果 bǎi xiāng guǒ | Dragon Fruit 火龙果 huǒ lóng guǒ |
| Blueberry 蓝莓 lán méi | Cranberry 蔓越莓 màn yuè méi | Raspberry 树莓 shù méi |
| Cactus Pear/Tuna 仙人掌果 xiān rén zhǎng guǒ | Cherimoya/guanabana 番荔枝 fān lì zhī | Mamoncillo 蜜果/西班牙青柠 mì guǒ /xī bān yá qīng níng |
| Cashew 腰果 yāo guǒ | Uvilla 灯笼果 dēng lóng guǒ | Lima 青柠 qīng níng |
| Carambola 杨桃 yáng táo | Durian 榴莲 liú lián | kiwi 猕猴桃 mí hóu táo |
Besides learning the Chinese vocabulary of fruits, you can also try learning how to say vegetables in Chinese and how to say meat in Chinese at the same time.
More free videos for Chinese learning and practice can be found on Keats School’s website. You can also follow Keats School on other social platforms to enjoy daily Chinese Character learning and interesting tips for Mandarin study.
Facebook: @keatschinese
Twitter: Learn Chinese
Quora Space: Keats Chinese
Tumblr: keatschinese
Instagram: keats.school
YouTube: Keats Chinese School
WeChat Channel: Keats Chinese
