So based on the strange leaves of yali I continued to investigate its heritage. The European shaped fruit was unique as well since typical Asian pears are round. This tree did not appear to be a typical Pyrus pyrifolia. Found out after using Wikipedia Pyrus × bretschneideri - Wikipedia to search it that it’s in fact a hybrid. I’ve not confirmed this with other sources yet but it does make sense to me now.
“ Pyrus × bretschneideri (or Pyrus × bretschneideri ), the ya pear or pearple or Chinese white pear [1] (Chinese: 白梨; pinyin: báilí ), is an interspecific hybrid species of pearnative to North China, where it is widely grown for its edible fruit.
Recent molecular genetic evidence confirms some relationship to the Siberian pear ( Pyrus ussuriensis ), but it can also be classified as a subspecies of the Chinese pear Pyrus pyrifolia .
Along with cultivars of P. pyrifolia and P. ussuriensis , the fruit is also called the nashi pear .[2] These very juicy, white to light yellow pears, unlike the round Nashi pears ( P. pyrifolia ) that are also grown in eastern Asia, are shaped more like the European pear ( Pyrus communis ), narrow towards the stem end. The “Ya Li” (Chinese: 鸭梨; pinyin: yālí ), literally “duck pear” due to its mallard-like shape, is one cultivar widely grown in China and exported around the world. Ya pears taste similar to a mild Bosc pear, but are crisp, with a higher water content and lower sugar content.”
-Pyrus × bretschneideri - Wikipedia
This makes sense to me because I’ve mixed up yali with harbin rootstocks growing in close proximity several times. The leaves are nearly identical.