Taizhou is one of the original places of waxberry, a kind of Chinese specialty. The planting area in 1992 was 118,100 mu (78.73 sq km) in the traditional planting places, including Songshan and Xunqiao in Linhai city and Yaoshan and Dongao in Huangyan district, with the output of 19,000 ton, ranking No. 3 among Taizhou’s fruits. Waxberry mainly includes water waxberry, carbon waxberry, dark waxberry, white waxberry, Xiaozao waxberry, Dazao waxberry, Chida waxberry, among which Dongkui waxberry is the most famous one.

Dongkui waxberry {Photo/en.zjtz.gov.cn}

Dongkui waxberry, also called Jumei, is a rare and large-fruited late-maturing type at home and aboard. Its single fruit weights over 20 gram and the biggest is even 42 gram, over 2-3 times bigger than the common one. The purple, flesh-thick and juicy Dongkui waxberry is rich in such nutrients as protein, fat, sugars, calcium, iron and vitamins, with the edible rate up to 94 percent. It is also beneficial for thirst quenching, digestion, neuritis treatment and scurvy prevention.

In 1964, Wu Gengmin, a famous contemporary horticulturist, gave a name to it. In 1983, it was unanimously considered to be the best in the country for its fleshy fruit and high quality. In 1985, it was selected for display at the national high-quality agricultural product fair. Representatives of such countries as Japan, the USA and Hungary viewed Dongkui waxberry as being highly admired for its quality and uniqueness. During trial sales in Hong Kong in the 1980s, the price of Dongkui waxberry was over 1.5 times higher than that of the common one.