Since May, Maoming city in south China's Guangdong Province, the country's largest lychee-producing region, has been filled with the scent of ripe lychees. In Baiqiao village, Genzi town, Gaozhou city, administered by Maoming, local officials and villagers have been busy selling, picking, packing, and delivering lychees to ensure they reach customers quickly.

A farmer smiles while holding freshly harvested lychees at Gongyuan orchard in Genzi town, Gaozhou, a county-level city administered by Maoming, south China's Guangdong Province. (People's Daily Online/Tu Sheng)

In 2012, He Dawei, a Baiqiao native, left his job in a big city and returned home to start a food business. Embracing innovation, he introduced technical equipment to support every stage—from lychee picking and preservation to processing, production, and packaging. His company now offers products like lychee juice, pastries, and wine, making lychee-based goods available year-round.

Over the next two years, two people—Lin Changzhen and He Qing—joined He Dawei. By tapping into e-commerce, cold-chain logistics, and deep processing, they helped local farmers broaden their sales channels and boost purchase prices for the fruit.

Farmers sort freshly harvested lychees at Gongyuan orchard in Genzi town, Gaozhou city, a county-level city administered by Maoming, south China's Guangdong Province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Yadie)

"Over the past five years, Baiqiao village has boosted its collective income from 1.7 million yuan (about $236,541) in 2022 to more than 4.32 million yuan in 2024. This year, lychee output is expected to reach about 13,000 tonnes in the village, with an estimated output value of 150 million yuan," said He Qing.

In 2024, Baiqiao village adopted a smart orchard patrol system developed by Sun Yat-sen University. Using drones, the system inspects 750 mu (50 hectares) of lychee orchards daily, improving efficiency by 500 percent over manual patrols. The drones now provide regular monitoring of all 6,800 mu of lychee orchards in the village, enabling fully standardized management.

Photo shows a basket of freshly harvested lychees in Gaozhou city, a county-level city administered by Maoming, south China's Guangdong Province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Shaoshao)

In 2024, Maoming Customs oversaw the export of 3,108.1 tonnes of lychees worth over 71.05 million yuan, an increase of 11.1 percent year on year in export value.

Tourists admire an ancient lychee tree at Gongyuan orchard in Genzi town, Gaozhou city, a county-level city administered by Maoming, south China's Guangdong Province. (Photo/Tu Tianxiang)

The lychee industry continues to thrive, drawing more young people back to the countryside. In 2022, Ding Guanzhou and Ding Guanyang, sons of Lin, returned to their hometown to start a business, using their skills to help local farmers sell lychees at better prices.

Inspired by their example, over a dozen college graduates have returned to pursue careers in e-commerce. During the summer, young village officials and dozens of university interns join a local company to work on marketing, lychee customization, and tourism services, injecting fresh energy into rural revitalization.

Lychee ice creams for sale in Genzi town, Gaozhou city, a county-level city administered by Maoming, south China's Guangdong Province. (People's Daily Online/Cai Ruizhi)

Tourists watch a cultural performance at the Baiqiao Service Area of the Baotou-Maoming Expressway in Gaozhou, a county-level city administered by Maoming, south China's Guangdong Province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Yadie)

Over the past five years, Baiqiao village has driven the growth of the lychee industry and rural tourism by establishing a village enterprise, creating a lychee-themed scenic area, and hosting study tours. Together, these efforts have helped boost Maoming's lychee industry chain to surpass 12 billion yuan in total output value.