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Lisa Lim

“Eating three hundred lychees every day, I would long live in Lingnan.” The sentiment of Song dynasty poet Su Shi towards this popular summer fruit is echoed by many across Asia today.
From Hong Kong to Hanoi and Maoming to Muzaffarpur, mounds of dusty-pink lychees can be found in wet markets and on the sides of streets at this time of year.
Their thin leathery skin peels easily to reveal luscious translucent-white flesh that covers a shiny seed and has a heady floral flavour.
Native to southern China and northern Vietnam, lychees appear in historical records in China as far back as 200BC.

A 2022 report published in the scientific journal Nature Genetics used DNA sequencing to theorise that the first lychees appeared tens of thousands of years ago in what is today Yunnan province in southwest China.
From there, seeds travelled down the Xijiang and Pearl rivers to the Pearl River Delta, spreading into Guangdong province, Guangxi, Hainan Island and Vietnam.
The lychee was domesticated – twice – with distinct lineages in Hainan and Yunnan provinces, and has long flourished in Asia’s subtropical regions.
The fruit was taken to Jamaica and the US state of Florida in the 18th and 19th centuries.
During the Tang dynasty (618-907), Yang Guifei, the favourite consort of Emperor Xuanzong (685-762), developed an obsession with lychees.
This prompted the emperor to establish a horse-relay system to continuously transport lychees hundreds of kilometres from the south of the kingdom to the imperial court, at the greatest speed possible.
This act of indulgence is documented in the New Book of Tang – an official history of the Tang dynasty – and also in Du Mu’s famous poem Passing Huaqing Palace:
From Chang’an looking back at the brocaded city Lishan
The mountaintop’s many gates open one by one
An imperial rider kicks up red dust and the concubine smiles
No one else knows he comes to bring her lychee.
European travellers did not encounter lychees until later.
Spanish bishop, explorer and sinologist Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza is the first European known to describe the fruit, in his 1585 book The History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China and the Situation Thereof, in which he wrote:
“[T]hey haue a kinde of plummes, that they doo call lechias, that are of an exceeding gallant tast, and neuer hurteth any body, although they shoulde eate a great number of them.”

French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat scientifically described and named the lychee for the Western world in his 1782 book Voyage to the East Indies and China.
Litchi chinensis is the sole member of the genus Litchi in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.
Its appellation derives from its Chinese name 荔枝. Pronounced laih jī in Cantonese, this is the source of its English pronunciation “lie-chee” – unsurprising given the plant’s southern Chinese origins, as well as early Cantonese-speaking migration.
While the reconstructed Middle Chinese pronunciation would have been lei tɕie (akin to “ley-chee-eh”), modern-day Mandarin lì zhī supports the alternative English pronunciation “lee-chee”.
English spelling variations in the 18th to 20th centuries included “letchee”, “lichee”, “leechee”, “li-chee”, settling on “lychee”, with “lichi” and “litchi” as less common spelling variants.
An alternative name, 离枝 meaning “leaving the branch”, is suggested by Han dynasty writer Sima Xiangru (179BC-117BC) in the classic poem Shang-lin-fu, alluding to lychees’ swift deterioration once picked and the need for harvesting with stalks attached.
Wordplay makes the lychee an auspicious symbol in Chinese culture, a motif depicted widely in art and ceramics.
The first character is homophonous with 利 lì “intelligent, sharp”, while 荔枝 is a near-homophone of 利子 meaning “interest in money” and “male heir” – paintings portraying lychees are a popular wedding gift.
Whether relishing lychee sodas in traditional Hong Kong-style cha chaan teng cafes or lychee martinis in trendy rooftop bars, delight in how one of the more popular of the 60 varieties of lychee bears the name Fei Tsu Hsiao – “imperial concubine’s smile” – and how this iconic fruit embodies the south, the summer and sumptuousness.


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Food and Drinks

Where lychees came from and why in Chinese culture they’re an auspicious symbol

Native to southern China and northern Vietnam, lychees appear in historical records in China as far back as 200BC. Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Lychee can be found in wet markets and at street-side stalls across Asia in the summer months. Photo: Getty Images

Spanish explorer Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza is the first European known to describe lychee. Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Lifestyle

Food & Drink

Chinese culture

The fruit’s Chinese name gave us the English word ‘lychee’, while wordplay bestowed upon it auspicious connotations


The fruit’s Chinese name gave us the English word ‘lychee’, while wordplay bestowed upon it auspicious connotations.


Vietnam

Cantonese

China

Language Matters

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

Where lychees came from and why in Chinese culture they’re an auspicious symbol

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The fruit’s Chinese name gave us the English word ‘lychee’, while wordplay bestowed upon it auspicious connotations

The fruit’s Chinese name gave us the English word ‘lychee’, while wordplay bestowed upon it auspicious connotations