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Wee Kek Koon

Native to Southeast Asia, durian is a highly divisive fruit. Some people love it, while others cannot stand being in the same room with one.
A lot of this comes down to biology and culture.
The fruit’s (in)famous smell comes from sulphur compounds. Genetic variations in olfactory receptors mean some people detect more of the sweet, custardy notes, while others are overwhelmed by the strong stench of week-old garbage.
Culture matters too. In Southeast Asia, most of us grew up being told that the durian is a fragrant, delicious and expensive treat. So the idea that durian is the “king of fruits” has been internalised and is seldom challenged.

But for those encountering it for the first time, the smell can be akin to rotten food.
Durians are highly prized in China, and the country has become the world’s largest durian market. Many Chinese love the flavour, but I suspect some crave it only because it is expensive.
A new logistics hub in northeastern China is being set up to speed up deliveries of Southeast Asian durians to consumers in that part of the country. In August, Liaoning Port Group, operator of the Dalian sea terminal, began building the Dalian Northeast Asia Fruit Transit Centre, alongside launching a “durian express” shipping service that could halve shipping times from Southeast Asia and handle up to 10,000 containers of durians annually.
Northeastern China, home to about 100 million people, has lagged behind the south and east in durian consumption because of its distance from major entry points such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Long before China’s love affair with the “king of fruits”, the Tang dynasty statesman Zhang Jiuling (678-740) immortalised the lychee as the “fruit without equal” in his celebrated work, Lychee Rhapsody.
But alongside the fruit’s prestige lingers the unsavoury tale of Yang Guifei (719-756) and her craving for lychees, which was supposedly symptomatic of the profligacy that marked the beginning of the decline of the Tang dynasty (618-907).
The legend goes that Emperor Xuanzong ordered fresh lychees to be rushed to the imperial palace in Chang’an (present-day Xi’an) to please Yang, his favourite consort, at great cost.
Over the centuries, many have assumed that the imperial consort’s lychees came from the subtropical Lingnan region, which encompasses modern-day Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan.
Riding nonstop on the swiftest horses, the journey from Lingnan to the capital Chang’an took about a week. Without modern refrigeration, lychees spoil in a few days, especially during summer when the fruit is in season.
Hence, a high-speed and no doubt costly system involving multiple men, horses and relay stops had to be mobilised to ensure that lychees from China’s deep south were delivered to northern central China still fresh for the beautiful consort to enjoy.
Some scholars now argue that the lychees that were delivered to Yang were not from Lingnan, but from a place called Fuzhou (present-day Fuling, in Chongqing), where lychee trees also thrived. From there, it was three days to Chang’an on horseback, just within the fruit’s fleeting window of freshness.
Their arguments are supported by written records from that period, which mention that the capital’s lychees were supplied by Fuzhou.
The counterargument against Fuzhou lychees cites the practice of shipping lychees still attached to branches or even planted in pots, so that the fruit could ripen en route. Sometimes, lychee branches were even grafted onto banana stalks to preserve freshness.
Whether Yang Guifei’s infamous lychees were from Lingnan or Fuling, Guangdong or Chongqing, they are forever associated with the decadent excess that weakened the empire from within.


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Lessons from China's history

How China’s new ‘durian express’ recalls emperor’s efforts to sate consort’s lychee love

Durian is native to Southeast Asia, but China is now the world’s biggest market for the “king of fruits”. Its new “durian express” system will transport more of the fruits to northern China faster. Photo: Getty Images

Customs staff check imported durians at Youyiguan Port in Pingxiang, in China’s Guangxi Autonomous Region. Photo: Xinhua

Liaoning Port Group, part of which operates the Dalian sea terminal, began construction of the Dalian Northeast Asia Fruit Transit Centre in August.

How China’s ‘3 Departments, 6 Ministries’ system worked, and its Ministry of War’s role

US President Donald Trump hands a signed executive order to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth renaming the Department of Defence as the Department of War in the Oval Office of the White House on September 5, 2025. An arm of the government dedicated to war also existed in imperial China. Photo: AP

A plaque reading “Pete Hegseth Secretary of War” is seen at the Pentagon in Washington after US President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Defence to be renamed the Department of War. Photo: Reuters

An illustration depicts the Manchu imperial court in Beijing in 1850, a time when the “Three Departments, Six Ministries” system would have been in full effect. Photo: Universal Images Group via Getty Images

After Fan Bingbing’s Malaysia award, China’s history of honorary titles and medals

=== PHOTO CAPTURED ONLINE=== Chinese actress Fan Bingbing’s Malaysian culture-inspired datukship attire was designed by Melinda Looi. Photo: Instagram/melindalooi

Chinese actress Fan Bingbing receives the Darjah Pangkuan Seri Melaka order during a  ceremony in Melaka, Malaysia, on August 24, 2025. Photo:  Facebook.com/edison.chan.58323

Fan can now be referred to as Datuk Fan Bingbing when she is in Malaysia. Photo: Instagram/melindalooi

The Imperial Order of the Double Dragon medal from the Chinese Qing dynasty (1644-1912). Such awards and honours ended after the fall of the Qing dynasty. Photo: Shutterstock

Shaolin Temple scandal would have led to far harsher reactions in ancient China

Shi Yongxin (pictured here in 2006), the former abbot of China’s Shaolin Temple, is facing an official investigation for financial and sexual misconduct. China Photos: Getty Images

Shaolin students perform at a Shaolin Temple to welcome guests during the 9th Zhengzhou International Shaolin Wushu Festival in Zhengzhou, China, in 2012. Photo: AFP

Shaolin monks practice martial arts at a Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng city, in China’s Henan province, in 2021. Photo: Xinhua

Shaolin students perform during the Zhengzhou International Shaolin Wushu Festival at Dengfeng’s Shaolin Temple in 2010. Photo: Reuters

Winning mahjong strategies, from keeping an eye on the other players to playing mind games with your own hidden tiles

What are the simplest ways to win mahjong? We take a look at how to figure out the strategies of the other players and how to psyche your opponents out. Photo: Antony Dickson

With hand A, you can win with dot tiles one, four or seven. Photo: Antony Dickson

You can win with dot tiles two, five or eight in hand B. Photo: Antony Dickson

Hand C is an example of a special hand in which the player has 13 chances to win as only a pair is missing. Photo: Antony Dickson

Lifestyle

Chinese culture

New system to get durians to northern China faster reminds of how lychees were rushed to Emperor Xuanzong’s favourite consort at great cost


New system to get durians to northern China faster reminds of how lychees were rushed to Emperor Xuanzong’s favourite consort at great cost.


China

Food and Drinks

Food and agriculture

Durians in China

Chinese history

History

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


Column

Reflections

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}New system to get durians to northern China faster reminds of how lychees were rushed to Emperor Xuanzong’s favourite consort at great cost

New system to get durians to northern China faster reminds of how lychees were rushed to Emperor Xuanzong’s favourite consort at great cost