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Witness History: Kiwi: How New Zealand hijacked China's fruit

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2612 Kiwi with blocks.jpg

26/12/2023 GMT

Kiwi: How New Zealand hijacked China's fruit

BBC World Service - Witness History, Kiwi: How New Zealand hijacked China's fruit

How the Chinese gooseberry became the kiwi and one of New Zealand’s biggest exports

In the 1950s, a New Zealand fruit export firm changed the name of the Chinese gooseberry to the kiwi and sparked a billion-dollar industry.

The kiwi fruit is synonymous with New Zealand in the minds of most European and American shoppers.

But the hairy fruit actually comes from China and was once known as the Chinese gooseberry. 

So how did New Zealand hijack a Chinese fruit and turn it into their biggest horticultural export? 

Former fruit exporter Don Turner tells Vicky Farncombe how his family named the kiwi fruit in the 1950s and created a global industry.

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