Edible wild mushrooms on sale on a market on June 26 in Kunming, Southwest China’s Yunnan province. Yunnan is known as the “kingdom of wild mushrooms.” Photo: VCG

A worker washes a basket of mushrooms in Kunming in 2017. Every June, heavy rain in Yunnan creates an ideal growing environment for a variety of mushrooms, drawing many people to work in related industries. Photo: VCG

A seller packs up mushrooms in Kunming in April 2020. A total of 882 species of edible mushrooms have been discovered in Yunnan, according to Guo Xiang, an associate researcher at the Kunming Institue of Edible Fungi. Photo: Kang Ping/China News Service, VCG

A farmer picks up edible mushrooms in Kunming in August 2021. That year almost 30 tons of wild edible mushrooms were sold in Yunnan, worth about 20 billion yuan ($2.97 billion). Photo: VCG

A person walks into a mountainous part of Kunming to pick wild mushrooms in August 2021. Photo: VCG

A farmer works in a morel cultivation base in Shangri-La, Yunnan, on Mach 17. Photo: IC Photo

An e-commerce livestreamer guides her viewers to buy mushrooms in September 2020 at the Mushuihua Wild Edible Mushroom Market, China’s largest wild mushroom market. Photo: VCG

Sellers lay out their mushrooms at the Mushuihua Wild Edible Mushroom Market in July 2020. The mushroom season usually runs until October. Photo: VCG