Editor's note
Yunnan is the origin of tea plants in the world and a veritable tea province. Yunnan's tea is not only a leaf, a taste, but also the taste of life and endless hope. In 2023, Yunnan formulated the "Three-Year Action for Yunnan Province to Strengthen Industry (2022-2024)" to help promote Yunnan's transformation from a "tea province" to a "tea strong province". A leaf, a cup of tea, hides the world, contains endless treasures.
Yunnan has many famous tea-producing areas, Baoshan, Lincang, Puer, Banna, Dehong... Different geographical environments bring different flavors of tea. The grass and trees contain gold, and the fragrance floats in the world. Yunnan.com plans to launch a series of reports on "Please Have a Cup of Tea", taking you into the famous tea producing areas in Yunnan, tasting the flavor of Yunnan tea, and understanding the stories behind tea leaves in various places.
There is Jiamu in the south, and Yunling produces good tea. Yunnan ancient tree tea is rich in resources and is known as the "Ancient Tea Garden Natural Museum". Menghai County, located in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, is recognized by the international tea industry as the center of the world's tea origin and the well-known main production area of Pu'er tea, and is known as "the first county of Pu'er tea in China".
Menghai has excellent natural conditions, with mountains and mountains, ravines and water, and is a home full of greenery. Pu'er tea here gathers the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, absorbs the essence of the sun and the moon, exudes the beauty of nature, and enjoys the reputation of "fragrant ten miles away, flavorful in a cup". Menghai is home to six major tea mountains, Nannuo Mountain, Brown Mountain, Badagu Tea Mountain, Mengsong Ancient Tea Mountain, Pashagu Tea Mountain and Hekaigu Tea Mountain, creating the first place in Pu'er tea planting area, output, output value and taxation.
Gold leaves increase income and become rich
Aerial photo of Ban Zhang Organic Tea Garden Fuhai Tea Factory Photo courtesy
In Menghai, every family grows tea, and every household picks tea and makes tea; The four villages and eight villages of the small city are filled with a faint tea fragrance, and the stories of the wealth of the Chashan people can be heard everywhere. Located in Mengxiang Village, Mengxiang Township, Menghai County, the Mannuo Dazhai Villagers Group has a history of more than 400 years, and over the years, the Mannuo Dazhai Villagers Group has focused on the development idea of "one heart, four gardens, one ring and one belt", based on the development reality, and embarked on an industrial development road of "enterprise + party branch + cooperative + farmer", and realized the large-scale and brand development of the tea industry. In 2021, the output value of the tea industry of the villagers' group in Mannuo Dazhai reached more than 26 million yuan, and the per capita net income of villagers reached more than 50,000 yuan. Tea not only holds the nostalgia and feelings of the locals, but also becomes a golden leaf for getting rich. Menghai County takes the vigorous development of "one county and one industry" as an important starting point for building a world-class "green food brand", takes the rural revitalization strategy as the main line, relies on a good ecological environment, carefully lays out "one county and one industry", fully promotes the green food brand construction of Pu'er tea industry, focuses on enhancing the brand influence of "Menghai Tea Menghai Taste", makes tea a new driving force for the county's economic development and the leading industry for border villages to increase income and get rich, and puffs up the "money bags" of the people of all ethnic groups. By the end of 2022, the total area of tea in Menghai County was 905,900 mu, the output of gross tea was 38,300 tons, the comprehensive output value was 16.003 billion yuan, and the tax revenue was 447 million yuan.
Today, Menghai County has made the tea industry a "magic weapon" to promote the prosperity of people of all ethnic groups, moisturizing this water and soil and this people.
Develop in conservation
Workshop Fuhai Tea Factory Photo courtesy
This year, Xishuangbanna Prefecture proposed to focus on the implementation of "eight major projects", of which in the protection and utilization of ancient tea resources, it will adhere to the principles of protection priority, scientific management, orderly development and sustainable utilization, and achieve coordinated development of ecological benefits, economic benefits and social benefits. To protect ancient tea plants and promote the high-quality development of the tea industry, the people of Menghai have been taking action.
With the fame of the old Ban Zhang ancient tree tea brand, the number of people visiting the old Ban Zhang Village group of the Ban Zhang Village Committee of Brown Mountain Brown Nationality Township in Menghai County is increasing, but all foreign vehicles have been stopped and inspected one after another. According to Yang Jinhua, deputy secretary of the party branch of the old Ban Zhang Village Group, there are three reasons why foreign vehicles cannot enter the village. First, there is no extra open space near the ancient tea garden to park; Second, it can reduce the impact on the production and life of villagers; The third is to prevent people from privately bringing tea from outside into the village, confusing it with old Ban Zhang tea leaves, and affecting the quality of old Ban Zhang tea. Under the guidance of relevant professionals of the local government, the Lao Ban Zhang Village Group collectively funded the construction of the old Ban Zhang Ancient Tea Garden to visit the plank road, which effectively avoided the problem of ecological damage after the ancient tea garden was trampled.
Over the years, the awareness of "development in protection, protection in development" has gradually penetrated into the hearts of local villagers. The 10,000-mu tea garden is nature's most abundant gift to the locals, and generations of Menghai craftsmen have always used their original intention to protect the precious heritage left by these ancestors.
It's time for tea brigade fusion
Picking Fuhai Tea Factory Photo courtesy
Located in the eastern part of Menghai County, Gelanghe Township, with a forest coverage rate of 66.87% and an ancient tea garden with more than 100 years of age of 22,500 mu, is known as "ecological valley and the hometown of tea source", and has jurisdiction over five village committees in Nannuoshan, Suhu, Pazhen, Pasha and Pagong. In recent years, the township has made full use of the natural endowments of beautiful mountains and rivers and dense tea forests, vigorously developed the integration of culture and tourism, and achieved good economic and social benefits. Taking Nannuo Mountain of the "Six Ancient Tea Mountains" as an example, the tourism factor industry has begun to take shape, and ancient tea gardens such as Moonlight Village have been developed, attracting more than 10 well-known domestic "Internet celebrity homestays" and hotels such as Zhulu and Nanshan Yin to settle in, while some villagers spontaneously operate farmhouses, supporting the construction of tea garden trails, observation decks, bubble houses, tourist toilets, tourism signs and other facilities, initially with a certain tourism reception capacity. Speaking of the future development direction of Langhe Township, Shi Zhuyong, deputy secretary of the Langhe Township Party Committee, believes that it is necessary to anchor advantageous resources such as characteristic tea tourism, ecological travel, ethnic customs, and 10,000 mu of tea gardens, accurately carry out investment promotion activities, and increase the introduction of private capital. Focusing on the resource characteristics of Nannuoshan Village and the advantages of the tea industry, relying on the strong brand effect of "Pu'er Tea", condensing regional characteristics, planning and designing the brand image of Nannuoshan Village, and at the same time using new media marketing methods, the Nannuoshan Tea Tourism Integration Project will be disseminated, creating a super IP of Nannuoshan Village to achieve high-quality and rapid development.
Nowadays, visiting the ancient tea mountain in Menghai has become a tourist choice for many people, hiking the sea of cloudy tea, visiting the cloudy tea mountain, staying overnight in a tea estate, quietly tasting a cup of tea, this charm inherited for thousands of years will definitely make tourists linger.
Whether it is tea or the tea industry, the new story of Menghai Pu'er tea is continuing to be written. "There is tea in the forest, there is a village in the tea, and in the tea village, the tea village is integrated." A harmonious symbiotic picture of ecological beauty, industrial prosperity and people's prosperity is unfolding.
Yunnan Net reporter Guan Yuanmin
Poster design by Duan Xiaozhao
Part of the source: Yunnan Daily, Xinhuanet, Xishuangbanna News Network, Menghai Pioneer Public Account