A farmer and a tourist pick waxberries in Mashan. [Photo/wxrb.com]

The 2018 Wuxi Waxberry Festival was held in Mashan, a town in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, June 10. The yield of waxberries in Mashan this year is expected to reach 5,000 tons and will be sold through both online and offline platforms.

A waxberry is a subtropical fruit that is grown for its sweet, purplish-red flesh. Mashan Waxberry Festival has been held for the past 12 years and continues to grow, partly on account of the high quality of waxberries that are grown in in the town, which has won the national "one village, one quality" professional town award.

A girl enjoys a freshly picked waxberry in Mashan. The waxberry is a subtropical fruit that is grown for its sweet, purplish-red flesh. [Photo/wx.sina.com.cn]

According to Xu Ao'peng, a farmer with more than 0.67 hectares of waxberries, the picking period for the fruit arrived earlier than usual this year and will finish June 20.

"Thanks to strong sunlight and good rain, the taste and appearance of this year's waxberries are both better than in former years," Xu said. "Now is the best time to pick waxberries."

Mashan has a waxberry area that covers more than 800 hectares with 3,000 local farmers growing the fruit and enjoying annual incomes that can reach 35,000 yuan ($5,150).