Hunan is a national key tea producing area, producing Anhua black tea, Baojing golden tea, Guzhang Maojian, Jinjing green tea, Shimen Yinfeng, Nanyue Yunwu, Mulberry White Tea, Junshan Silver Needle, Jietan Tea and other famous teas, of which Jietan tea although the output is not large, but unique. In 1972, when Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka visited China, he mentioned Jietan tea to Premier Zhou Enlai, and it was later agreed that Jietan tea would be named "tea of Sino-Japanese friendship". With the improvement of planting technology and the excavation of ancient tea making technology, Jietan tea has slowly recovered. Nowadays, yuanling county in Huaihua City has ranked among the top ten ecological tea producing counties in China and is known as the hometown of China's ecological organic tea.
Unique cultural and economic value
Jietan tea, named after Jietan Mountain in Yuanling County, which originated on the banks of the Yuanshui River, should not be later than the Qin and Han Dynasties. The Hunan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology organized personnel to excavate a set of exquisite stone tea sets from the Warring States period at the site of the ancient city in Qianzhong County (now yaotou village in Taichang Township, Yuanling County), including a tray, two round teacups with wide mouths and a round-bellied teapot with a pointed mouth and a long handle, which is one of the earliest surviving tea sets in China.
The beautiful natural environment of Yuanling County
Jietan tea flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties. The "Tang Lu Yan Han Yuan Collection" records: "There are many teas in Yizhong, first with Jietan as the most, and then Jieting (in the area of Jieting Yi Village, Guanzhuang Town, Yuanling County) tea is prevalent." Jietan tea was later introduced to Japan with Tang envoys, international students, and monks studying abroad, and had a certain influence on the Japanese tea ceremony. Until now, Yuanling has left traces of tea history everywhere, and there are still more than 60 places in the county with tea as a place name.
From the geographical environment, Yuanling County is located in the north latitude of 25 ° -29 ° green tea golden latitude belt, Wuling Mountain, Xuefeng Mountain two mountains and Yuanshui "two mountains sandwich a water" unique environment to form a regional microclimate, all day long cloud and fog more moist, full of light without exposure, effectively inhibit the formation of coarse old tea fibers, the tea produced tea "taste fresh, tang strong, back to sweet". From the perspective of element composition, Jietan tea contains 4.33% amino acids, 4.46% caffeine, 26.62% of tea polyphenols, and water extracts up to 49.8%, 12.8 percentage points higher than the national standard, and is known as "the outstanding representative of China's high-end green tea". Among the existing 163,000 mu of tea bases in Yuanling County, 120,000 mu belong to alpine tea gardens, which can meet the organic tea standards, and some of them have passed the Japanese "JONA" and EU organic certification.
The folk culture of Yuanling County is quite rich, and the tea culture runs through the life of the Yuanling people and profoundly affects the surrounding areas. The Tang Dynasty Li Tai's "Chronicle of The Lands" records that yuanling has no shooting mountains and many tea trees, and the local people have festive and auspicious things, and men, women and children have the custom of singing and dancing around the big tea trees and reveling in the village. Similar to Yuanling, in the rural areas around Huaihua, Shaoyang and Loudi in southwest Hunan Province, babies should be bathed with tea after birth, marriage should be sung and tea, and old people should put tea leaves in their mouths after they die. Every year when new tea is picked, Yuanling will hold a solemn opening ceremony, worship tea ancestors, sing tea songs, dance tea dances, make new tea, and seek ancient methods, which add unique folk value to Jietan tea.
At present, Jietan tea has become a dominant characteristic industry in Yuanling County, with 163,000 mu of tea gardens in the county in 2020, an annual output of 13,000 tons, and a comprehensive output value of 1.8 billion yuan, driving 5,216 households and 18,357 people out of poverty, and increasing the average annual income of more than 800 yuan. Through the empowerment of the industrial chain, villagers can embed in the industrial chain through land leasing, capital shareholding, labor output, etc., so that the majority of villagers have work, money to earn, and have a head, effectively enhance the spiritual outlook of villagers; at the same time, by improving the tea-related interest connection mechanism, the collective economy of village groups can be strengthened, and the cohesion of rural grass-roots party organizations can be enhanced, which is also an effective way to consolidate the results of poverty alleviation, promote rural revitalization, and achieve common prosperity.
The current situation and dilemma of development
In 2020, the total area of China's tea gardens was 47.54 million mu, ranking first in the world, but the average single yield of tea gardens was less than 900 kg/ha, and the average single yield of tea gardens in the industry was not high. Although Jietan Tea leads its peers with an average tea garden yield of 1200 kg/ha, it is still insufficient. According to the current situation of the development of Jietan tea, the author summarizes the following problems.
First, there is production, but the fist is not hard. There are 124 tea-related enterprises and cooperatives in Yuanling County, with a total output value of 1.8 billion yuan in 2020, but there are only 5 tea enterprises with annual sales revenue of more than 50 million yuan, none of which exceed 100 million yuan, and the leading enterprises in Yuanling County are not strong. Jietan tea has a complete range of green tea, black tea, white tea, green tea, black tea, flower tea, etc., but it is both an advantage and a disadvantage, and the fist products are not strong. At present, the division of labor in the jietan tea industry chain is unclear, and it often follows others to take the low-end route, lacking the core competitiveness of the market.
Second, there are sales volumes, but the profits are not high. Jietan tea is divided into famous teas picked by hand before and after the Qingming Dynasty and bulk teas picked by machine in summer and autumn. At present, machine tea picking mainly provides tea raw materials for Unification and Master Kong, and more than 7,000 tons of raw tea will be sold in 2020, but the price is not high. Jietan tea exports are small, 1 ton of bulk tea only more than 1,000 yuan profit, mainly relying on export tax rebate subsidies. In terms of high-end tea handmade tea, the quality of the product is better and the unit price is higher, but the labor cost has risen year after year, which seriously squeezes the profit margin.
In June this year, the Hunan Provincial Government General Office in Maxipu Town, Yuanling County, Majia Village Rural Revitalization Task Force surveyed 150 villagers in Majia Village on the willingness to plant cash crops such as Chinese medicinal materials and tea, of which only 35 households showed that they were willing to plant tea, accounting for 23.3%. The main reasons are the lack of young and strong labor, the difficulty of land degeneration on a large scale, and the high requirements for tea enterprises. At the same time, in the face of the market downturn and the relative "shortage of migrant workers" under the background of the new crown epidemic, many tea companies also feel pressured.
Third, there is support, but limited strength. In recent years, Huaihua city and county levels have actively promoted Jietan tea to become a starting point for farmers to get rid of poverty and become rich, enterprises to increase efficiency, and increase fiscal income, but due to the impact of the work mechanism, it still needs to be strengthened. First, from the perspective of support funds, in 2017, Huaihua Municipal Finance took out 30 million yuan to support the development of Jietan tea, which made the entire Hunan tea industry vibrant, but after a year, it was difficult to continue. Although Yuanling County has invested some funds, but due to the large investment in poverty alleviation, environmental governance and other funds, it has not been able to squeeze out more funds to support the tea industry; second, from the perspective of support policies, the relevant departments have issued two provincial local standards of "Geographical Indication Product Protection Jietan Tea" and "Geographical Indication Protection Product Jietan Tea Processing Technical Regulations", and introduced product quality traceability management, but after the Jietan tea brand was integrated into the city's public brand, the city and county governments were not clear in the market supervision mechanism, and the market management was more chaotic; the third was from the perspective of advertising and publicity The city and county governments and some tea enterprises have successively invested some advertisements in CCTV, Hunan Satellite TV, Economic Television and network platforms, but due to limited capital investment, limited work energy and lack of system design, the final influence is limited.
Fourth, there is a brand, but there is still a long way to go. In order to achieve the development goal of Hunan tea industry of 100 billion yuan and accelerate the pace of "going out", the province has carried out brand integration across cities and counties, and created a regional public brand of "Xiaoxiang Tea", including jietan tea, Guzhang Maojian, Shimen Yinfeng, and golden tea, and strives to create an important growth pole of the 100 billion yuan Xiang tea industry. However, at present, the internal consistency between tea enterprises is not strong, and even the phenomenon of shoddy damage to the Jietan tea brand has occurred. The overall market share of Jietan tea in Huaihua's local market is only 20%, there is no realistic planning and design, the market direction is not clear, the product positioning is not accurate, and no perfect and orderly marketing channels have been built. In the development and construction of the tea industry in Yuanling County, most of the operators adopt the large household model covering the whole industrial chain of planting, processing, branding and marketing, and the tea enterprises invest too much in the front end of the industry, and the back-end brand promotion, marketing and talent team construction are obviously weak.
The five major grips are stronger and bigger Jietan tea
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Yuanling County plans to expand the tea planting area to 200,000 mu, with an annual output of 30,000 tons of tea, an annual tea traveler of 2 million person-times, a comprehensive output value of 5 billion yuan, and a per capita tea-related income of 8,000 yuan. In the future, Jietan Tea will achieve the output value target of 250,000 mu and 10 billion yuan, and is determined to create China's "No. 1 green tea". The author believes that if Jietan tea wants to quickly get out of the circle in the fierce competition of the province and the whole country, there must be more breakthroughs, and it can focus on the following five aspects.
First, start with product reform and increase its quantity. Through 3 to 5 years, the inferior tea plants in Yuanling County will be replaced with fine varieties at or above the provincial level with strong disease resistance, good yield performance and early ripening, laying the foundation for the improvement of yield; pruning tea trees that have been cultivated for many years, with low yield and aging tree potential, supporting water and fertilizer management, and increasing the green leaf layer; according to different mountain conditions and tea plant varieties, the density per mu will increase to 3,000 to 5,000 plants; and efforts will be made to improve the infrastructure construction of tea gardens in tea areas, establish and improve the tea garden management system, promote the certification of organic tea gardens, and realize the standardization of tea garden management , ecology, refinement, intelligence.
Ecological organic tea plantation in Yuanling County
Second, start from the process and improve its quality. Spring picking high standards of single buds and one bud and one leaf to make Jietan high-grade tea products, to win by quality; summer and autumn picking to one bud two leaves or one bud three leaves, made into affordable tea products loved by the people, as well as for the supply of materials for famous tea enterprises, with quantity subsidies; and optimize the processing technology, in accordance with jietan tea quality and technical standards, combined with national and provincial intangible cultural heritage declaration, fully explore the ancient traditional technology, improve the quality and taste of tea; focus on improving the comprehensive processing capacity of the main tea producing areas such as Guanzhuang, Madiyi, And Beirong, etc. Accelerate the renovation and expansion of the primary tea processing and refining processing production lines.
Third, start with innovation and lead the way. Establish the development concept of "innovation-driven and green development", increase strategic cooperation with Hunan Agricultural University, Hunan Provincial Tea Research Institute and national tea-related research institutes, and carry out key technical research based on the "Hunan Jietan Tea Engineering Technology Research Center", break through quality and safety bottlenecks, improve the output efficiency of tea gardens, and strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights and geographical indications. According to the market demand, innovate and develop small, fine, new and special products, so that the old industry can meet the new needs, and launch beauty tea, health tea, milk tea, tea dessert, tea shower gel, tea pillow and other related tea products. According to modern consumption habits and social development trends, establish a jietan tea image design and packaging standard system, rationally develop new forms of tea products; increase the technical training of personnel in the whole industry chain such as planting, picking, processing, etc., carry out tea artist skills training, cultivate tea art masters, strengthen the industrial foundation; enhance market competitiveness, and vigorously promote the industrial cluster development model of "leading enterprises + fist products + primary processing plants + planting bases".
Fourth, start with marketing and promote its reputation. Accurately grasp the consumption level, consumer psychology and consumption habits of target customers, and make a fuss about the word "high". Strengthen strategic cooperation with the China Tea Circulation Association and obtain the support of the China Tea Circulation Association; strengthen cooperation with the China-Japan Friendship Association and strive to be the designated tea for Sino-Japanese diplomacy; strengthen cooperation with China Agricultural University to participate in the formulation of new industry standards for green tea; strengthen cooperation with Chinese tea academicians to write authoritative tea quality research reports, and host the high-level forum of the highest specifications of Chinese green tea.
Actively expand sales channels and make a fuss about the word "special". Hire professional institutions to provide systematic and professional brand diagnosis and fashion design solutions for Jietan tea; create a net red effect through video numbers, vibrato, Kuaishou and other channels to carry goods; take advantage of the opportunity of the rural revitalization task force of the Provincial Government Office to be stationed in Yuanling, with the help of airports, high-speed railways, hotels and other places and opportunities to hold important conferences, government receptions, business exhibitions and other opportunities to vigorously promote Jietan tea; strengthen the docking with the Provincial Development and Reform Commission, the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and other provincial units, with the help of the "colorful Xiang Tea" publicity platform, actively carry out Jietan tea into the organs, Experience promotion activities for enterprises, communities, schools, supermarkets, teahouses, hotels, restaurants and so on.
Strive to excavate the historical heritage and folk culture behind Jietan tea. Correctly understand the intrinsic relationship between the development of the economic industry at the tangible level and the reconstruction of the intangible cultural order, and rely on mainstream media such as xinhua news agency and china central radio and television station to continue to host cultural activities such as the Jietan Tea Opening Festival, and carefully tell the story of Jietan tea, so that Jietan tea will not only become a well-known ecological tea at home and abroad, but also a unique cultural tea.
Fifth, we should start with grasping cross-border areas and increase their strength. Through asset restructuring, mergers, acquisitions, cooperation and other ways to integrate tea industry resources to promote the effective connection between tea-related research institutes and tea gardens, tea factories and other industries, so that the development factors such as production, education and research can be seamlessly docked; promote the cooperation between the first, second and third industries, and improve tea production and quality with the standard process of industry; strengthen tea tourism cooperation, use tea to help tourism, and revitalize tea with tourism, focus on building tea tourism projects such as organic tea industrial parks, tea estates, tea tourism towns, and healthy towns, and develop a series of projects to allow tourists to experience tea ceremony tea customs and build new tea tourism formats.
All in all, rural revitalization should seize the "bull nose" of industrial prosperity, take the brand road under the premise of party building, and retain the most beautiful nostalgia in the process of developing the economy and beautifying the environment, after all, culture is the ultimate root.