Lychee Water Jasmine Honey, a fine gift from the shallow hills of Meinong

The Red Lychees of Chaoyuan Temple

He sniffed it first, and there was a delicate fragrance; then he licked it, and a honey-sweet juice spread across his taste buds; he bit off a small piece, ah! That hard-to-describe aroma, sweet with the faintest hint of sourness, filled his whole mouth. How could any fruit taste this good? He ate several in a row. But he did not keep it all to himself; he saved half to take back for his three older sisters to eat. - Kuliangkeng, excerpted from "Evergreen Homestead"

In his novel "Evergreen Homestead," Zhong Tiejun wrote of the joy the protagonist Zhang Qingshi felt tasting lychee for the first time as a child, and also recorded the history of lychee cultivation in Meinong Shuangxi, which began at Chaoyuan Temple (called Xuanyuan Temple in the novel). Because the hillside land was to be expropriated for a reservoir, the protagonist of the story deeply lamented the lychee grove he had poured his heart into planting.

Lychee was a shared theme in the writings of father and son Zhong Lihe and Zhong Tiejun. Zhong Lihe's novel "Mountain Fire" describes people's superstition that setting fire to the mountain could end drought and bring sweet rain. In the novel he wrote: the older brother stroked a fruit tree already burned black, looked up, and said with regret: small-seeded lychee; the best variety! The lychee in the novel was an important crop replanted by Zhong Lihe's father and Zhong Tiejun's grandfather, Zhong Zhenrong, after coffee investment failed at Lishan Farm.

The Red Lychees of Chaoyuan Temple

He sniffed it first, and there was a delicate fragrance; then he licked it, and a honey-sweet juice spread across his taste buds; he bit off a small piece, ah! That hard-to-describe aroma, sweet with the faintest hint of sourness, filled his whole mouth. How could any fruit taste this good? He ate several in a row. But he did not keep it all to himself; he saved half to take back for his three older sisters to eat. - Kuliangkeng, excerpted from "Evergreen Homestead"

In his novel "Evergreen Homestead," Zhong Tiejun wrote of the joy the protagonist Zhang Qingshi felt tasting lychee for the first time as a child, and also recorded the history of lychee cultivation in Meinong Shuangxi, which began at Chaoyuan Temple (called Xuanyuan Temple in the novel). Because the hillside land was to be expropriated for a reservoir, the protagonist of the story deeply lamented the lychee grove he had poured his heart into planting.

Lychee was a shared theme in the writings of father and son Zhong Lihe and Zhong Tiejun. Zhong Lihe's novel "Mountain Fire" describes people's superstition that setting fire to the mountain could end drought and bring sweet rain. In the novel he wrote: the older brother stroked a fruit tree already burned black, looked up, and said with regret: small-seeded lychee; the best variety! The lychee in the novel was an important crop replanted by Zhong Lihe's father and Zhong Tiejun's grandfather, Zhong Zhenrong, after coffee investment failed at Lishan Farm.

The Red Lychees of Chaoyuan Temple

He sniffed it first, and there was a delicate fragrance; then he licked it, and a honey-sweet juice spread across his taste buds; he bit off a small piece, ah! That hard-to-describe aroma, sweet with the faintest hint of sourness, filled his whole mouth. How could any fruit taste this good? He ate several in a row. But he did not keep it all to himself; he saved half to take back for his three older sisters to eat. - Kuliangkeng, excerpted from "Evergreen Homestead"

In his novel "Evergreen Homestead," Zhong Tiejun wrote of the joy the protagonist Zhang Qingshi felt tasting lychee for the first time as a child, and also recorded the history of lychee cultivation in Meinong Shuangxi, which began at Chaoyuan Temple (called Xuanyuan Temple in the novel). Because the hillside land was to be expropriated for a reservoir, the protagonist of the story deeply lamented the lychee grove he had poured his heart into planting.

Lychee was a shared theme in the writings of father and son Zhong Lihe and Zhong Tiejun. Zhong Lihe's novel "Mountain Fire" describes people's superstition that setting fire to the mountain could end drought and bring sweet rain. In the novel he wrote: the older brother stroked a fruit tree already burned black, looked up, and said with regret: small-seeded lychee; the best variety! The lychee in the novel was an important crop replanted by Zhong Lihe's father and Zhong Tiejun's grandfather, Zhong Zhenrong, after coffee investment failed at Lishan Farm.