Goji, goji berry, or wolfberry has been an ingredient in traditional Chinese, Korean, and Japanese medicine, since at least the 3rd century AD. The plant parts are called by the Latin names lycii fructus (fruit), herba lycii (leaves), etc., in modern official pharmacopeias.

Since about 2000, goji berry and derived products became common in developed countries as health foods or alternative medicine remedies, extending from exaggerated and unproven claims about their health benefits.

China is the main supplier of goji products in the world, with total exports generating US$120 million in 2004. This production derived from 82,000 hectares farmed nationwide, yielding 95,000 tons

Ningxia goji has been cultivated along the fertile floodplains of the Yellow River for more than 700 years. They are sometimes described commercially as "red diamonds". The region has developed an industrial association of growers, processors, marketers, and scholars of goji cultivation to promote the berry's commercial and export potential. 

Besides Ningxia, commercial volumes of goji grow in the Chinese regions of Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Hebei.