The Story of Yang Guifei Eating Lychees: A Concubine's Smile, Unknown to All That It Was Lychee
Three thousand treasures embodied in one Yang Guifei was born in Sichuan (originally from Shanxi). From a young age, she loved to eat lychees from the Sichuan East region. Later, she discovered that lychees from Guangxi and Guangdong had a better taste. The imperial court would specially arrange for the best lychees to be offered from the Lingnan region to be enjoyed by the Guifei every year.
Guangxi Lingshan Nucleus-Free Lychees
Due to Tang Xuanzong's love for Yang Guifei, he would certainly try his best to satisfy her preferences. Eating lychees, and specifically fresh lychees – this important issue was brought to the fore. At the time, lychees from the prolific producing region of Lingnan were transported over approximately 2100 kilometers to Chang'an, and this was a significant distance.
Lychees are difficult to preserve, and in the Tang Dynasty, before modern transportation tools existed, the difficulty of sending fresh lychees from the south to Chang'an on horseback is immense. However, in order to please Yang Guifei, Tang Xuanzong did organize a team to ride fast horses from Lingnan for seven days and seven nights, using relay methods to transport lychees to Chang'an for her to enjoy.
One red beauty, a concubine smiles, no one knows it is lychee coming. Fast horses; a lychee drips with fresh juice; Yang Guifei's seductive and alluring smiles… This is an advertisement for a lychee beverage.
In those days, Yang Guifei wanted to eat lychees, it was a matter of Tang Xuanzong's words. Although the journey was long and difficult, it was not a problem. Furthermore, as the Empress's wife, she needed to eat lychees, and for a place producing lychees, it was a huge trust.
It's a pity that the people transporting the lychees suffered.
Nowadays, lychees are transported by plane to the Guifei.
Great writer Su Shi has a poem called 'Lychee Sigh', which describes the scene of Yang Guifei eating lychees. The poem sighs: 'Flying carts cross mountains, rivers, and seas, the branches and leaves are fresh as if newly picked. A beautiful concubine breaks her complexion, startling the dust and blood to flow for a thousand years.' Repeatedly crossing mountain ridges and rivers, running at high speed, and repeatedly rushing, causing 'dust and blood to flow,' many people risked their lives to deliver lychees to the palace, which were then as fresh as newly picked.
