Maoming, Guangdong Province is the largest fruit production base in China and the world litchi production base. The city's fruit planting area is more than 4.3 million mu, of which litchi area is1765,700 mu, which is more than twice that of India (843,000 mu), the second largest litchi producer in the world, and about equal to the sum of litchi areas of other countries except China. The annual output of litchi accounts for 25% in China and 20% in the world.

Maoming has a long history of planting litchi, which has been more than two thousand years. In the Tang Dynasty, Maoming litchi became a tribute to the imperial court. There is an old litchi garden named Gong Yuan in Baiqiao Village, Genzi Town, Gaozhou. The litchi dedicated to Yang Guifei in the Tang Dynasty came from this garden. Besides Gong Yuan, there are many litchi forests in Maoming. Since ancient times, many villages have been named after "litchi", such as Lizhidong Village in Hejiang, Lizhigen Village, Lizhitang Village, Lizhilie Village in the Middle East of Huazhou, Zhenlong in Xinyi, Lizhidong Village in Xincheng, Lizhidong Village in Gaozhou and Changzhou.