Date palms take root in nation's arid river valleys

KUNMING — From the parched dunes of Arabia to the sun-scorched valleys of Southwest China's Yunnan province, the date palm, often dubbed "desert bread", has found a second home.

In late August, the wind sweeping through Yuanjiang county, Yuxi city, in Yunnan, carries the caramel-sweet scent of ripening fruit and the promise of a new harvest. Beneath a sky that seldom sees frost, rows of feathery palms rise taller than tractors, with clusters of dates glinting like lanterns against the red earth.

Dates are no ordinary fruit. Packed with nutrients, each tree can yield up to 200 kilograms and thrives even in the harshest conditions such as drought, blazing heat and saline soils.