Fruit highly esteemed in China (9)

I believe the answer is:

mandarins

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'china' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are nouns, they are not in the same form of the noun.

'fruit highly esteemed' is the wordplay.
'fruit' becomes 'mandarin' (mandarin is a kind of fruit).
'highly esteemed' becomes 's' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'mandarin'+'s'='MANDARINS'

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for mandarins that I've seen is " High-ranking officials or small oranges".)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Independent.

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