What are the latest production areas for figs in China?

The fig is native to the Mediterranean coast, distributed from Turkey to Afghanistan. It was introduced to China from Persia during the Tang Dynasty. Fig production areas in China are mainly distributed across Xinjiang, Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Shaanxi, Sichuan and other places. In North China, figs are mainly concentrated in the coastal cities of Qingdao, Yantai and Weihai in Shandong; in Jiangsu Province they are mainly distributed in Nantong, Yancheng, Danyang and Nanjing; in Fujian Province concentrated cultivation is mainly in Fuzhou; and there is also a certain area in the suburbs of Shanghai. Xinjiang's figs surpass the whole country in both yield and quality. Although figs are widely planted in China, there are very few concentrated contiguous stands, making them a rare fruit variety.

In addition, there are several kinds of figs in China. The Wenguang fruit of the Hebei region, the Tianxian fruit of the Sichuan region, and the Zuoduzi of the Guangdong and Guangxi regions are all called figs; in reality, it is simply that their flowers are hidden and not easily seen. Similar plants also include the rubber tree, banyan tree, bodhi tree, creeping fig and others.

The fig tree likes sunshine, warmth and a relatively dry continental climate. It is fairly drought-tolerant, not cold-tolerant, not wind-resistant, likes fertilizer, is not very strict about soil requirements, is fairly salt-alkali tolerant, but is not waterlogging-tolerant. The fig is currently one of the fastest fruit trees to come into production in the world, and is also an excellent ornamental plant. It not only provides dense shade, but its leaves contain a special fragrance that is fresh and pleasant, and it has few pests and diseases. It can filter harmful gases such as sulfur dioxide, sulfur trioxide and benzene from the air, making it a suitable tree species for urban greening.

The fig is a multiple fruit formed by the development of the receptacle and other floral organs. The fig's receptacle curls inward, wrapping the flower stamens up like a stuffed bun; in fact, the whole fig is a single flower. Figs are spherical, oval, pear-shaped or loquat-shaped. The skin color can be yellow, green, light red, red-brown, deep purple and so on, and the flesh is pink, deep red or creamy yellow. When you break a fig open, you see many cluster-like structures and small seeds; those are the seeds set after pollination. Those that set seed are pistils, and those that do not set seed are stamens.

Almost every new shoot of the fig can become a fruiting branch, and almost every leaf axil is a fruiting site, with fruit gradually setting and ripening from the lower part of the branch upward. In spring, as new buds unfold their leaves, a young fruit grows at the base of each leaf stalk, finally forming the “summer fruit”; as the new shoot extends and grows, receptacles also form progressively from the base upward, growing into the “autumn fruit”. The autumn fruit is borne on the new shoots that grew that year, while the summer fruit is borne on branches formed the previous year. Around the end of the fifth lunar month (after the summer solstice), the fruit retained over winter from the previous year ripens; in mid-seventh month the fruit set for the first time that year ripens; after the ninth month the second set of fruit ripens; and the remaining unripened fruit must overwinter and ripen in the second year. This is one characteristic of the fig.