Dianzi Long Jujube

Dianzi Long Jujube

Dianzi Long Jujube is a protected geographical indication product.

　　Dianzi Long Jujube is a specialty of Dianzi Town, Shanting District, Zaozhuang City, Shandong Province. Named after its place of origin, it is also known as "Shanting Long Jujube" or "Zaozhuang Long Jujube." Dianzi Town is a well-known jujube-growing hub, boasting a favorable production environment and a long cultivation history. The jujubes produced here are large in size, bright red in color, and sweet, fragrant, and tender in taste, earning widespread acclaim. They have successively won honors such as "Famous Brand Agricultural Product," "Olympic Recommended Fruit," "Organic Food," and "National Games Designated Food."

　　　Dianzi Town is located at the southwestern foot of the Yimeng Mountain area, featuring unique hilly brown soil conditions and a climate environment that is particularly suitable for jujube cultivation. Dianzi Long Jujube has developed its premium quality through long-term cultivation in this distinctive geographical setting. The fruit is plump and large, cylindrical in shape, bright red in color, crisp and sweet, and rich in nutrients. It has high nourishing and medicinal value, earning the reputation of being a "natural vitamin pill." It once won the gold award for best product at the Beijing International Agricultural Expo. A local folk rhyme goes: "Eating three jujubes a day keeps aging at bay."

　　Historical Origins

　　　　Dianzi Town belongs to Shanting District and has over 1,300 years of history and tradition in jujube cultivation, with records dating back to the Sui and Tang dynasties. According to the "Records of Natural History," it is noted: "In the late Sui Dynasty (615–618 AD), General Qin Qiong brought jujube seedlings during his eastern campaign to Donghai County and planted them here, naming them Long Jujube." The cultivation of Shanting Long Jujube flourished during the Tang and Song dynasties and reached its peak in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The "Shandong Forestry Annals" also record: "During the Song Dynasty, jujube tree cultivation was already quite popular in Shandong." The famous female Song Dynasty poet Li Qingzhao wrote in her "Jujube Beating Spectrum" about the Long Jujube from Teng County (Shanting District was originally part of Teng County before 1983), indicating that this superior variety of Shandong jujube—Long Jujube—had been cultivated since the Song Dynasty into an ecologically adapted main variety, larger in fruit size, thicker in flesh, and better in quality than its original imported counterpart. According to the "Teng County Annals," during the Song Dynasty, locals had the custom of using jujubes as betrothal gifts between men and women. During wedding ceremonies, jujubes and chestnuts were thrown at the bride, symbolizing "early establishment of a family" or "early birth of a child" through their homophonic meanings. Historical records indicate that between 1573 and 1620 (during the Ming Wanli era), Zhang Juzheng inspected Teng County and found the taste of Long Jujube to be excellent, leading him to allocate substantial funds to encourage the development of jujube orchards in Teng County. He also presented Teng County Long Jujube as tribute to the emperor, who praised it as "the best jujube under heaven, the king of all fruits." The "Teng County Annals" state that by 1585 (the 13th year of the Wanli era), there was a scene where "thousands of jujube trees grew on the mountain lands, and the mountain people relied on them for sustenance." Ming Dynasty tax regulations stipulated that sixty-seven ingots, five strings, and four hundred and twenty wen of jujube fruit taxes had to be paid annually. The 1941 edition of the "Teng County Annals" records: "Jujubes and pears were planted everywhere on the eastern hills, purchased by locals and resold to the south." During the 1950s and 1960s, the region enjoyed a bountiful harvest scene described as "Dianzi’s jujubes, Shuiquan’s pears, and Xuzhuang’s persimmons filling the markets."

　　Production Situation

　　　　Zaozhuang is named after jujubes, and Dianzi Town is the city’s only relatively concentrated, highest-yield, and most ecologically favorable production base for Long Jujube. Together with the Yizheng District’s Ten-Thousand-Mu Pomegranate Garden, it forms the unique landscape of "the world-renowned jujube garden in the north and the world-renowned pomegranate garden in the south." Leveraging this distinctive fruit industry, Dianzi Town has scientifically implemented the construction of a national agricultural tourism demonstration site for ten-thousand-Mu Long Jujube and a national Long Jujube agricultural standardization demonstration base. In 2010, 60,000 new mu of jujube orchards were developed, including 30,000 mu of productive orchards, yielding 5,000 tons of jujubes annually. At the same time, jujube orchard tourist attractions were developed, establishing more than 30 sites such as the "King Jujube Tree," "Jujube Expo Garden," "Ten-Li Jujube Corridor," "Two Flowers and One Jujube Ecological Agriculture Intercropping Demonstration Garden," "Thousand-Mu Jujube and Peach Intercropping High-Yield Garden," "Natural Jujube Product Supermarket," "Green Trees and Red Mansions," "farmhouse stays," "picking gardens," and "Stone Shears Cutting Clouds," forming an ecological agricultural tourism area integrating base production, technological demonstration, sightseeing tourism, catering, and shopping. In the early 21st century, the Zaozhuang Changhong Fruit Product Development Co., Ltd. was established, producing over 20 deeply processed and selected products such as raw jujubes and Shengli Jujubes. These won the gold award for best product at the International Agricultural Expo, the Shanghai “Jiufa Cup” Bestselling Award for Rare and Special Agricultural Products, and the registered “Changhong” trademark was named a Famous Trademark of Shandong Province. The selected raw jujubes and Shengli Jujubes were honored as “Olympic Recommended Fruits,” generating annual sales revenue of over 20 million yuan.

　　　According to the "Protected Geographical Indication Product Regulations," after review by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China, it was decided to implement national geographical indication product protection for Dianzi Long Jujube starting March 16, 2011 (Announcement No. 33 of the Administration in 2011).

　　Place of Origin Scope

　　　　The place of origin scope for Dianzi Long Jujube is the administrative region governed by Dianzi Town, Shanting District, Zaozhuang City, Shandong Province.