A thousand-year-old lychee tree in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province comes back to life with its fruit hanging all over its branches. Photo: Sichuan Guancha

A thousand-year-old lychee tree in Southwest China's Sichuan Province comes back to life with its fruit hanging all over its branches. The fruit of this 1,500-year-old lychee tree is so rare that it last bore fruit 11 years ago.

This ancient tree has a trunk circumference of 5.6 meters and a height of 16 meters. In 1958, it was identified by experts that it was planted before the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and its fruit had previously paid tribute to the emperor from generation to generation. Although thousands of years have passed, it is still luxurious.

In 2019, Sichuan provincial government identified and announced it as a first-class ancient tree and listed it for protection by the local government.

The tree, which had been fruitless for so many years, was suddenly full of lychees this year, which was a big surprise, local villagers said.

"I am so proud that we still have such an ancient tree with such a long history, and I really want to taste the sweetness of lychee a thousand years ago," said a netizen from Sichuan Province on social media.

This is not the first time an ancient lychee tree has been found in Sichuan, with others dating back more than 1,270 years.