This is a magical leaf that exudes a rich and unique aroma that has been infiltrated for thousands of years; This is a mountain full of ecological wisdom, forest tea symbiosis, harmony between man and land, reflecting the simple wisdom of benign interaction between man and nature...
China's "Pu'er Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forest Cultural Landscape" inscription project was recently deliberated at the 45th session of the World Heritage Conference and inscribed on the World Heritage List, becoming the world's first tea-themed world cultural heritage. The number of World Heritage Sites in China increased to 57.
In the south there is Jiamu
The mountains are endless and verdant; The clouds are shrouded and the breeze is blowing.
Jingmai Mountain, with an average altitude of 1400 meters, is the most iconic ancient tea mountain in the Pu'er tea area of Yunnan.
In autumn, strolling in the ancient tea forest of Jingmai Mountain is like quietly reading a tea book. Located in Lancang Lahu Autonomous County, Pu'er City, Yunnan Province, this newly promoted World Heritage Site consists of 5 ancient tea forests, 9 ancient villages and 3 separate shelter forests, and is praised by scholars of tea culture in the world as "Tea Nature Museum" and "the origin of natural tea planting methods". Mountains and forests, forest tea, tea around the village, for more than a thousand years, the ancient story of human tea symbiosis has continued here.
A section of stone path with a slope of 20 degrees is the remains of the ancient tea horse road in Jingmai Dazhai (photographed on August 31). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li He
"Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forest is a typical representative of the world's well-preserved, large-scale and long-established artificially cultivated ancient tea forest, with a history of more than 1,000 years, of which the concentrated continuous area reaches 18,000 mu." Zhou Tianhong, deputy director of the Pu'er Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forest Protection Administration, said that there are more than 3 million old tea trees more than 50 years old, including more than 1 million ancient tea trees that are more than 100 years old, and the age of the trees is as high as 5600 years.
"It is a forest from afar, a tea forest when seen closely", I saw that under the tall trees, there were large ancient tea trees more than 2 meters high. Zhou Tianhong said that the Brown, Dai and other ethnic groups are familiar with the growth habits of tea plants, and use the natural ecosystem to breed tea and grow tea in the forest, showing a three-dimensional community structure of "the high place is the arbor layer - the middle is the shrub layer such as tea trees - the surface is the herbaceous layer", and the forest is also reserved for separation and protection between different ancient tea forests.
A view of the ancient tea forest of Jingmai Mountain (drone photo, taken on September 17). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Hu Chao
Follow the ancient tea forest down the hillside to Nuogang Ancient Village, which retains the traditional pattern and historical style of the Dai ethnic village of Jingmai Mountain. In the village, the dry-fence wooden houses are built along the mountain, and the walls and alleys can lead to the village. As laid out as Nuogang Ancient Village, there are 9 traditional villages distributed in the tea forest, with a total of nearly 5,000 residents, 530 traditional residential buildings, and 321 cultural relics buildings of national key cultural relics protection units.
The 45th session of the World Heritage Conference recognized that the "Pu'er Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forest Cultural Landscape" meets the World Heritage standards, and this unique ancient tea forest protection management system fully respects local climatic conditions, topographic characteristics and animal and plant populations, realizes the protection of cultural and biological diversity and the sustainable use of natural resources, and demonstrates the original tradition of complementary use of natural resources by the Brown, Dai and other secular peoples in the mountainous environment. The village and traditional residential buildings in the heritage components also reflect the understanding and utilization of the ecological environment in terms of site selection, pattern and architectural style.
Landscape is the body, humanities are the soul
From the 10th century to the 14th century AD, the ancestors of the Brown people discovered and understood wild tea plants, used the forest ecosystem, and explored the tea cultivation technology under the forest together with the Dai and other ethnic groups. "I will leave you cattle and horses, fearing that they will die in the event of disaster; I will leave you gold and silver treasures, and I am afraid that you will eat them up and use them up; So leave you only tea trees for future generations to use. This is the "Tea Ancestor Testament" passed down from generation to generation by the masses of the Brown tribe of Jingmai Mountain.
In the ancient tea forest of Jingmai Mountain, the spatial combination of forest-ancient tea forest-village, tea forest ecosystem similar to natural forest, special tea ancestor beliefs and secular ethnic culture have created a unique mountain living environment.
"Compared with terraced and farm-style terraced tea gardens, the Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forest is a distinctive traditional understory planting method and a maintenance method that makes full use of the stability of the forest ecosystem." Chen Yaohua, director of the World Heritage Research Center of Peking University, said that the mountain habitat of tea in forests, villages in tea forests, cultivated land and other production activities outside tea forests demonstrates the excellent ecological wisdom of ancient ancestors in rational and sustainable use of nature on the basis of understanding and respecting nature.
In the ancient tea forest of Dapingzhang in Jingmai Mountain, Dai girls picking tea leaves (photographed on September 14). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Hu Chao
On Jingmai Mountain and its surrounding areas, the Brown, Dai, Lahu, Wa, Han and other ethnic groups live in friendship and harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
The people here have formulated township rules and people's covenants, and regard ancient tea forests as part of their lives to protect, inherit and develop. For example, in the early days of opening up tea forests, villagers set up a separation belt around the perimeter; Tall trees in ancient tea forests shall not be cut down arbitrarily, and violators shall be punished; Birds and spiders control pests, dead leaves are used as fertilizer, and tea plants are not pesticides; Only seventy percent of the tea leaves are allowed to be picked...
In the ancient village of Nuogang in Jingmai Mountain, Dai tea farmers Anban selected to sort out tea racks (taken on September 14). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Hu Chao
The cultural landscape is "the common work of man and nature", Chen Yaohua said, the climate, soil, hydrology, local topography and other natural conditions of Jingmai Mountain are particularly suitable for the growth and preservation of large-leaf Pu'er tea, and the residents of Jingmai Mountain have accompanied tea in their long production and living practices, creating a series of tea culture including tea cultivation, tea serving, tea tasting, etc.
"The 'Pu'er Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forest Cultural Landscape' fills the gap of the 'tea' theme item in the World Heritage List, vividly shows the long history and outstanding achievements of Chinese tea culture, and highlights China's dominant position in the world in the field of tea origin, planting, trade and tea culture dissemination." This project is also a 'Chinese case' of 'living' cultural heritage protection. Li Qun, vice minister of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, said.
Tomorrow will be better
In 2010, the application of the ancient tea forest cultural landscape of Jingmai Mountain was officially launched. For more than 10 years, the level of protection management has been continuously improved. Since 2010, more than 1.36 million mu of tea gardens in Pu'er City have completed ecological management, of which 379,000 mu have been completed in Lancang County, which has greatly improved the quality of tea. Since 2013, the local area has successively implemented village cultural relics protection and display, fire protection and lightning protection and ancient tea forest monitoring projects. In the specific implementation, priority will be given to the use of traditional crafts and materials, the structure, characteristics and style of traditional dry-column residential buildings, and adaptive transformation and performance improvement will be carried out, so as to protect the authenticity and integrity of the inheritance and inheritance of the heritage while promoting the benefits of the local people.
A number of protection management systems have also been gradually established: a long-term mechanism for the protection and management of ancient tea forests, traditional villages and other elements has been established; Give play to the role of the masses as the main body, and promote the cultural inheritance, ecological protection and sustainable development of Jingmai Mountain as a whole; Plan "tea + tourism" and "tea + lifestyle" and other formats...
At the Princess Brown Tea Factory in Jingmai Mountain, Ye Xiang, a Brown girl, makes tea for customers (photographed on September 14). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Hu Chao
In Jingmai Mountain, in the daily life of villagers, tea is inseparable from weddings and funerals, discussing important matters, and resolving conflicts.
In Mangjing Village, Lancang County, Su Guowen, an elderly Brown tribe in his eighties, is committed to inheriting and developing national culture after retirement. In order to guide the villagers to actively participate, he compiled the "Mangjing Village Heritage Protection Learning Manual", which specifically mentioned how the tea industry should develop and protect.
Tea picking, stalling, finishing... Talking about tea, Ye Xiang, a 21-year-old Brown girl, is like a treasure. Inspired by the tea culture of her hometown, Ye Xiang returned to Jingmai Mountain after graduating from university and worked at the family's Princess Brown Tea Factory. She said that ancient tea gardens should be well protected, and culture should be passed on from generation to generation.
In Mangjing Village, Jingmai Mountain, Nankang, a tea farmer of the Brown ethnic group, makes roasted tea by the fire pond (pictured on September 14). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Hu Chao
In the ancient tea forest, set up equipment, brew new tea... Xian Jin, a 22-year-old Dai girl, sells tea live in the tea forest, and has sold 20,000 copies in less than a year, with sales of more than 800,000 yuan. "It is necessary to sell ecological good tea to various places, and let more people feel Jingmai Mountain." She said. In recent years, more and more tourists and tea merchants have come to Jingmai Mountain. The villagers earn a good income by selling tea, engaging in catering, and opening inns. At the end of last year, the per capita net income of 15 villages in Jingmai Mountain exceeded 20,000 yuan.
In the cultural activity room of Mangjing Village, Jingmai Mountain, Su Guowen (right), an elderly Brown ethnic group in his eighties, introduces ecological and cultural protection knowledge to villagers (photographed on September 14). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Hu Chao
Regarding the future protection and development of ancient tea forests, the relevant person in charge of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Yunnan Province said that it will adhere to protection first, planning first, and improve the protection management system and standardization; Encourage and guide villagers, especially young people, to engage in tea culture dissemination and tea industry development practice; Deepen effective utilization, standardize tourism development, promote the "living" of world cultural heritage, and better promote the integration of heritage protection into modern life.
Text reporters: Wang Changshan, Yan Yong, He Chunhao, Zhao Zhiqin
Video journalists: He Chunhao, Zhang Minxi, Zhou Yang, Tong Lu
Poster design: Jiang Zihan
Coordinator: Huang Xiaoxi, He Yuxin
Source: Xinhua News Agency