Musang King is 'Hao Chi': Students viral on China's social media

'Hao Chi' or delicious, is the word used by a group of Chinese national students to describe their first taste of the Malaysian King of Fruits, the durian, at the Durio Tour @Raub 2020 programme held recently.

They were served the “Musang King” durian, a variety originally known as “Raja Kunyit”.

Undoubtedly, the students, who are among five international students from China, five social media influencers and two representatives from the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the tour, loved the taste of the Musang King durian from Raub, Pahang.

Some of them captured the experience on video and shared it on their China social media platforms, namely Douyin, WeChat, Weibo and Bilibili.

One of the students, Hai Cheng Deniz, 25, who is taking Southeast Asian Studies at Universiti Malaya, said he could not wait to share the experience on his first taste of the durian with his family and friends back home and to get them to come to Malaysia for its real taste.

"We do not have Musang King durian in China, we import it from Malaysia and I can tell you that the taste of frozen and fresh durian is totally different.

"The golden yellow flesh, strong smell and sweetness of fresh Musang King durian is definitely exotic. I was told that to know whether a Musang King durian is good or not, it can be detected from its smell,” he told Bernama.

Another student, Yujiali, 23, described the taste of durian taste as “delicious soft milky cheese”.

"The tour provides me with a fantastic experience, with lots of information on durian. In China, I only saw products like candy and ice cream made with durian. The label says it is made with durian, not Musang King durian.

“It tells here that the durian has its own standard price, which is expensive, but having tasted it, the Musang King is worth the price,” she added.

Musang King durian, which is originally known as Raja Kunyit, originates from Tanah Merah, Kelantan. It is oval shape and the colour of its skin is light green. The fruit weighs between two to three kilogrammes.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry (MAFI) marketing and export division secretary, Khalid Ibrahim said the video posted by students who participated in the Durio Tour helped in promoting the Malaysia durio-tourism.

“The students have hundreds of thousand of followers and I believe the video made by them will be viralled. Durian lovers will definitely love it,” he said.

The Durio Tour @Raub 2020 programme, organised by MAFI through the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) and Education Malaysia Beijing (EMB), took the participants to Dataran Durian, Zamri Othman Agro Farm, Lembah Temir Resort and PHG. Ever Fresh Food (M) Sdn Bhd.

-- BERNAMA