Nanfeng Tangerine Orange

( kaleidoscope.cultural-china.com )

Updated: 2011-09-13

Nanfeng Tangerine Orange

Nanfeng tangerine orange has been named because it is sweet as honey. It has been planted since the Tang Dynasty or more than 1,300 year ago. Due to its good taste and economic value, the planting of tangerine orange prospered around the 15th century.

The name was officially written into the Government Records of Jianchang in the Ming Dynasty. According to Japanese experts, Japanese orange came from Nanfeng tangerine orange about 700 years ago, which indicates that Nanfeng tangerine orange has been famous at home and abroad some 700 years ago. Modern fruit tree experts believe that Nanfeng tangerine orange is representative among orange products, because of its superior quality over other varieties and mature planting technique at Nanfeng.

In modern times, Nanfeng tangerine orange has been in short supply due to its high economic value. The production scale has been expanded as a result of stimulated production. In 1999, there is a planting area of 11,200 hectares, and a total annual output of 120,000 tons.

In recent years, great efforts have been made in Nanfeng county to popularize the planting techniques for high quality and output of Nanfeng tangerine orange, improve its quality, create its brand and promote rapid development of production. By 2004, Nanfeng tangerine orange, with a planting area of more than 20,000 hectares, is characterized by a total annual output of 250,000 tons, a new high in history. Its current planting area and total output are 100, 25.7 and 3.7 times, and 500, 80 and 2.5 times as many as those in 1949, 1978 and 1991.

During the 11th Five-Year Plan period of China, 1,333.33 to 2,000 hectares of Nanfeng tangerine orange will be added each year to achieve a total area of 30,000 hectares and a total output of 350,000 tons, an increase of 50 percent and 130 percent over those in 2004. In 2015, the planting area of Nanfeng tangerine orange will reach more than 33,333 hectares, with a total output of 600,000 tons.