On June 5th, Gree Refrigerator's "Geli 10,000-Mile Journey" grand challenge officially reached its final destination in Xi'an, with a concluding event held at the observation deck of Xi'an MixC. The journey began from the century-old ancient lychee forest in Doumen, Zhuhai. A transport vehicle, fully loaded with fresh lychees from the Lingnan region, traveled northward through five provinces and six cities, including Ganzhou, Changsha, Wuhan, and Zhengzhou. This seven-day, multi-thousand-mile challenge to preserve lychee freshness has now been successfully completed.
As the final stop of this event, Xi'an is not only the historical terminus of the Tang Dynasty lychee route but also carries the cultural memory of the Chinese people related to the famous verse about "a single rider raising red dust to make the imperial consort smile." When the millennium-old legend of lychees meets modern freshness preservation technology, Gree Refrigerator has delivered an innovative answer for the industry regarding preservation technology through a "sweet and fresh dialogue" across time and space.
A Millennia-Old Challenge Meets a Technological Solution
Since ancient times, preserving the freshness of lychees has been a persistent challenge for the Chinese palate. This delicate fruit, emblematic of the Lingnan region, has thin skin, high sugar content, and vigorous respiration, causing it to rapidly lose its optimal flavor once picked. As the great Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi described in his "Preface to the Lychee Painting": "If separated from the branch, its color changes in one day, its fragrance in two, its taste in three, and within four or five days, color, fragrance, and taste are all gone." These few words perfectly capture the difficulty of lychee preservation.
Precisely because of this, the journey between Lingnan lychees and Chang'an (modern-day Xi'an) left behind the most famous legend of fresh fruit transport in Chinese history. The line "a single rider raising red dust to make the imperial consort smile, none knew it was lychees coming" has made the story of Consort Yang and lychees endure for a thousand years. The recently popular film and television work "Lychees of Chang'an" also points to this history: the minor official Li Shande tried various ancient methods, including storing them in bamboo tubes, using double-layered ice cellars for transport, and branch grafting, all in an effort to transport fresh lychees over five thousand li to Chang'an. This shows the Chinese obsession with that "bite of fresh sweetness" has remained unchanged for millennia.
Today, the continuous development of science and technology has brought what was once a luxury exclusive to royalty into ordinary households. And Gree is a leader in this freshness preservation revolution.
Addressing the preservation challenges posed by lychees' thin skin, high sugar, strong respiration, and self-produced ripening ethylene, Gree specifically developed its "Lili Fresh" technology. Gree refrigerators equipped with this core technology can induce a state akin to "micro-dormancy" in lychees through precise temperature control, humidity locking, and light-oxygen respiration management. This slows down their metabolic rate and extends their optimal tasting period.
The latest test data shows that after being stored in a Gree lychee refrigerator for 10 days, the rate of good lychee fruit can still reach 98.4%. Meanwhile, innovative achievements such as the full-space sterilization system, -38°C ultra-freezing freshness-locking technology, and 3D dual-system refrigeration provide a more comprehensive solution for preserving a variety of household ingredients beyond lychees. The seemingly insurmountable five-thousand-li preservation challenge that once taxed Li Shande's mind and exhausted countless post horses a millennium ago is now easily overcome by the robust technology of Gree.
A Seven-Day, Six-City Relay: A Freshness Journey Spanning Thousands of Miles
Technology must prove its worth not just through lab data but also in the complex conditions of the real world. To validate the true capabilities of its lychee refrigerator, Gree launched the "Geli 10,000-Mile Journey" grand challenge.
On May 30th, this "freshness expedition" spanning ten thousand li officially commenced at the Royal Lychee Garden in Doumen, Zhuhai. Gree Electric Appliances,Inc.Of Zhuhai CMO Zhu Lei, the orchard owner, and Professor Shen Jiyuan from South China Agricultural University ventured deep into the ancient lychee forest to pick ripe Doumen lychees according to strict scientific standards. This batch of lychees not only represents over 800 years of Lingnan cultivation culture but also became the "ultimate quality inspector" for Gree refrigerators.
The freshly picked lychees, harvested in the early morning, were loaded onto a vehicle and set off northward along the historical lychee transport route, passing through cities like Ganzhou, Changsha, Wuhan, and Zhengzhou before finally arriving in Xi'an. Throughout the journey, Gree continuously documented the changing state of the lychees from branch to destination via live streams, in-store tastings, and city check-ins.
From passing through the Junmen Gate in Ganzhou to inviting consumers in major cities like Changsha, Wuhan, and Zhengzhou to taste fresh lychees on-site, the "Geli 10,000-Mile Journey" was not merely a formal re-enactment of the ancient courier route but a genuine nationwide public quality inspection tour. Having endured the long-distance jostling and temperature/humidity variations across thousands of kilometers, Gree demonstrated to the entire industry and consumers: if it can preserve the most delicate lychee to perfection, other food ingredients naturally pose no problem.
Xi'an Finale: A Taste of Freshness from Ten Thousand Miles Away
As the final stop of the "Geli 10,000-Mile Journey," Xi'an is both the endpoint of this challenge and the most culturally symbolic stage of the entire event.
On the day of the event, the observation deck at Xi'an MixC was transformed into an immersive experience space blending Tang Dynasty culture with modern technology, radiant and full of ancient charm. On this stage offering a panoramic view of the "Great Tang Never Sleeps City," Gree turned the grand finale into an all-day, immersive cultural feast.
At noon, the closing ceremony commenced spectacularly with the powerful Qinqiang opera performance "Lychees Fill Chang'an." The on-site immersive pop-up exhibition area quickly became crowded. Following the host's engaging introduction, the audience transformed into "lychee envoys" traveling through time, navigating the antique-style market with specially made "passport documents." Through six meticulously designed game checkpoints like "Overcoming Lychee Hardships" and "Returning Full of Freshness," people experienced the ancient and modern wisdom of lychee preservation amidst laughter and joy.
When the host led the online audience in a first-person perspective to witness the miraculous moment of "unboxing and tasting ten-day-old fresh lychees," those Lingnan lychees—having traveled thousands of miles over ten days yet remaining as plump, red, and juicy as ever—instantly ignited waves of amazement in the venue and interactive fervor in the live stream. Amidst enthusiastic applause, the Gree mascot "Ge Zai" solemnly presented the ten-thousand-li passport document, stamped with the seals of all five provinces and six cities along the route, officially sealing the seven-day, ten-thousand-li journey. Subsequently, guests jointly launched the "A Thousand Stores Offer Free Lychee Tastings" plan, sending this sweetness, perfectly preserved by robust technology across ten thousand miles, from Chang'an to thousands of households nationwide.
Afterwards, Gree Electric Appliances,Inc.Of Zhuhai executives, technical experts, and product hosts took to the live stream to explain in detail the technological essence behind this "freshness miracle." Whether it was the full-space sterilization system achieving a 99% bacteria elimination rate in 15 minutes, the -38°C ultra-freezing freshness-locking technology that increases freezing speed by 58%, or the 3D dual-system refrigeration with independent cooling/freezing cycles that completely prevents cross-odor, all showcased how high-precision industrial aesthetics empower modern high-quality living to the extreme. Interspersed were magnificent Tang-style dances like "Consort Welcomes the Lychees" and "Neichang Palace Music," where fluttering sleeves perfectly blended the hard power of modern industry with the soft power of traditional culture.
As night fell and lanterns lit up, the "Chang'an Night Banquet" began. Famous Xi'an delicacies were perfectly fused with creative lychee ingredients, presented together on stage. While savoring the "Taste of Two Cities with Lychees," the host, Gree Electric Appliances,Inc.Of Zhuhai CMO Zhu Lei, and on-site guests took the opportunity to skillfully introduce other exquisite Gree kitchen appliances like rice cookers, rice hullers, and enamel pots, showcasing Gree's comprehensive layout for contemporary healthy dietary ecosystems.
In the subsequent cultural dialogue, Gree Electric Appliances,Inc.Of Zhuhai CMO Zhu Lei and the guests turned their gaze to the broader river of history. From the millennium-old allusion of "a single rider raising red dust to make the imperial consort smile" to the Tang Dynasty couriers' preservation wisdom of storing freshness in bamboo tubes and ice cellars; from the arduous journey of Lingnan lychees across ten thousand li to the developmental breakthroughs in modern cold chain logistics and home storage technology, the guests collectively reviewed the Chinese people's persistent pursuit of that "bite of fresh sweetness" and witnessed how technology has gradually turned what was once "impossible" in the eyes of the ancients into today's everyday life.
At the end of the event, a unique "Chang'an Night Chat" brought the atmosphere to a peak of warmth and emotion. CMO Zhu personally gathered all the main creators on stage, sharing heartfelt, behind-the-scenes stories of the seven-day, ten-thousand-mile journey's preparation. These included the full support from local authorities at the departure in Doumen and the twists and emotions behind finding the century-old Royal Lychee Garden; and more amusingly, the heartwarming scene at the Ganzhou stop where a group of foreign friends tasted the lychees preserved in the Gree refrigerator and repeatedly exclaimed "Very Good." It is these behind-the-scenes moments that have converged to form the confidence of Gree Refrigerator in fearlessly taking on challenges.
Epilogue
From Tang Dynasty couriers galloping on horseback to deliver lychees to Chang'an, to today's Gree refrigerators using technology to guard the freshness from the branch, the Chinese pursuit of "freshness" has never changed.
When the Lingnan fresh lychees that once required flying relay horses can now maintain their sweetness across a thousand miles; when the preservation难题 that plagued the ancients is gradually being solved by modern technology, what people see is not just the advancement of a refrigerator product, but also a microcosm of Chinese manufacturing constantly pushing the boundaries of innovation.
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