Majoring in product design, they are studying at Huashang College Guangdong University of Finance and Economics, a private, independent college set up in 2004, in Zengcheng, Guangdong province.

The four were asked to design a product from scratch as part of a sixweek course in model design and production in December.

Guo says drinking tea is a cultural activity, so they decided to make a tea pet. Tea pets are actually small handicrafts stationed on the tea table, for either artistic appreciation or as cute toys to be doused with water, as people sit around with friends and socialize while sipping the brew.

Tea pets usually have auspicious meaning, such as fortune or good luck, the latter of which, as Guo notes, is illustrated by the lychee.

"Lychees are a calling card of Zengcheng, which are tasty and full, and as our college is based in Zengcheng, we wanted to honor the city in our design," Guo says.

Zengcheng is called the home of the lychee, a sweet, signature fruit from the Lingnan region that covers southern China.

Under the instruction of their tutor Zhang Zheng, the team drafted several shapes for the lychee after researching the fruit, from the pattern of its shell to the shape of the juicy fruit inside.

According to Ye, after finalizing their design on paper, they made a clay model.

"After making minor changes to the clay model, we finally arrived at our final product, which looks a bit more plump and vivid than real lychee fruit," Ye says.

"The material to make the tea pet is resin, and on the surface we use a macromolecule thermochromic material that will change color, when the temperature is higher," she explains.