CHONGQING, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The first batch of Malaysian shelled frozen durians Tuesday arrived in Chongqing Municipality, dubbed China's 3D magic city for its mountainous terrain.
Following the approval of imports of Malaysian shelled frozen durian into China in May, Chongqing became the first city in the inland area to import high-quality Malaysian shelled Musang King durians.
Previously, only packaged durian flesh were imported from Malaysia.
The shelled durians were picked after naturally reaching maturity and quickly frozen at a temperature of minus 200 degrees Celsius. They are then cold-chain transported before reaching their destination to lock in the flavor.
The durians arrived via the new western sea-land transportation channel -- they took a ship from Malaysia to the port of Beibu Bay in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, before embarking on a rail trip to Chongqing. The whole journey took about 10 days, 20 days shorter than before.
All the shelled durians have been preordered, reflecting the smelly fruit's high popularity among Chinese foodies.
Located in the hinterlands of the western regions, the new western sea-land transportation channel connects the Silk Road Economic Belt from the north, the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road from the south and the Yangtze River economic belt.
Traders say they plan to import more products from Southeast Asia, South America and Oceania via the new transportation channel given its logistical advantages.
