SWEET, juicy and large. Songjiang’s Cangqiao crystal pears have won not only national awards but also the hearts of Shanghai fruit lovers.

Small wonder that so many people are heading for the Cangqiao Pear Festival, which began this month. The harvest season continues through the middle of September.

Unlike the classic pear shape, the Cangqiao variety is perfectly round and can weigh more than 250 grams. Its flesh is snow white and delicate in flavor. It’s been crowned the “king of pears” in many taste competitions.

The mouth-watering sweetness is considered a highlight of the summer fruit season. And according to traditional Chinese medicine, pears can help dispel body heat and nourish the lungs, making it an effective treatment for coughs and asthma.

Cangqiao pear orchards on Fuyong Road along the northern bank of the upper Huangpu River have six registered brands that are popular on the market. An early maturing variety comes into season in late June.

The others ripen in succession through mid-September.

These pears thrive after local orchardists and agronomists spent more than 10 years of seed selection, grafting and crossbreeding to adapt the fruit to Shanghai’s climate and environment. The result is award-winning pears.

The cultivation is closely monitored, from tree blooms and pruning to composting and harvesting.

Each pear is labeled after picking, allowing anyone to trace its origin by scanning the label.

But this festival isn’t only about tasting pears. Visitors can also enjoy local operas and live show in the orchards.

Families are invited to adopt a tree and join the Pear Club for a fee of 510 yuan (US$76), which entitles them to all the pears a tree bears. (That usually adds up to about 70 pears a year.)

For shutterbugs, the festival also hosts a pear photography contest.

From July 6 to October 6, Cangqiao pears will also be on sale at the Songjiang Quality Agricultural Center, 270 Xinsongjiang Road, and at Senxian Hall at 900 Sanxin Road N.

The delectable fruit is also available for ordering by smartphone on official WeChat accounts “荟源生鲜”.



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