Peach production in China

[3] The peach is indigenous to China, with its historical records traced from fossil stones in Wu County in Jiangsu province, during archaeological excavations.

Recent evidence indicates that peach domestication occurred as far back as 6000 BC in Zhejiang Province of China.

Peaches are mentioned in many ancient pieces of Chinese literature and art, such as Tao Yuanming's The Tale of the Peach-Blossom Spring.

In addition, the results of archaeological excavations in Banpo village, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province support references in ancient manuscripts to 17 different fruits, mostly deciduous and including peaches, beginning with Shi Jing, an ancient record of songs scripted in 1000 BC.

[1] Peach production is largely concentrated in northern, central to eastern and north-western China, although a significant part of the country grows them.

[6] Peach/nectarine production for the year 2010 (January to December) was reported to be 10 million tonnes from an area of 6,850 square kilometres (2,640 sq mi).

[1] Since 1959, the peach has also been grown under a protected system innovated by the Shandong Agricultural University which has substantially extended its marketing period.

Protected system practices involve the application of chemicals under controlled conditions, setting foliage limits, pruning during summer, girdling during autumn, creating drought stress, pruning roots and use of "dwarfing root stocks and dwarfing or semi-dwarfing cultivars", micro-climate control (temperature, humidity, light, water, CO2:O2 ratio, additional illumination, covering with transparent films and use of reflective lights on ground to control air and light in order to induce ripening and improve fruit quality), apart from many other techniques in use of fertilisers, pruning, irrigation, inter-cropping systems and humidity control.

Export of fresh white-fleshed melting peach has been a trend in recent years and processed products (such as canned, dried, sliced dry products, juices, tea, beer, fruit jelly and candies) are exported to Europe and the US.