"There are more than 30 ancient tea trees in Qixingguan District, nearly 70,000 of which are listed, and the tea age is up to more than 1,000 years, of which Taiji Village, Liangyan Town, has more than 70,000 ancient tea trees." As soon as they met, Li Xian, secretary of the Qixingguan District Party Committee of Bijie City, Guizhou Province, threw out a set of dazzling figures to reporters. With a strong sense of curiosity, we walked into the tea mountain in Taiji Village, Liangyan Town, Qixingguan District.
After a night of fresh rain, the tea mountains after the rain are mist, verdant and vibrant, and the mountain road rises and falls, full of tea trees.
Located in the hinterland of Wumeng Mountain, Taiji Village has no severe cold in winter, no scorching heat in summer, abundant rain, and the unique "horse blood mud" is rich in calcium, zinc, and selenium, which is an excellent soil for the growth of alpine ecological organic tea, giving birth to a unique ancient tea tree, and the local tea drinking culture is also extremely prosperous.
"However, many years ago, the development conditions here were backward, and the dried tea made by the villagers from the tea green tea trees of the ancient tea trees could not be sold at a high price, and most of them were kept for their own drinking. Some villagers even cut down tea trees for firewood. It is too difficult to turn tea into a 'tea industry' and into money in the pockets of the villagers. Li Deliang, a cadre of the petition department of Qixingguan District, who served as the first secretary of Taiji Village, recalled.
- The picture shows villagers in Taiji Village, Liangyan Town, Qixingguan District, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, picking ancient tree tea in April 2024. Photo courtesy of Qixingguan District Rong Media Center
In order to help the villagers open the tea road and develop the tea industry, in the 80s of the 20th century, the local agricultural department planned the tea-making industry for Taiji Village and provided a number of tea-making equipment, but the location of Taiji Village is remote, only mud roads, and when it rains, the vehicles that enter the village to transport goods may be trapped for several days and cannot get out, and the "difficulty in traveling" poured cold water on the first development plan. "If you want to get rich, you must first build roads". In 2013, Taiji Village had a road through the village, and tea merchants were introduced to transfer land to operate 500 acres of tea plantations, and the villagers seemed to see the changes that a small tea was about to bring to the mountain village. However, due to the limited management level, the management and maintenance effect of the tea garden was not good, and the "tea dream" of the village was once again disappointed.
On March 7, 2014, when General Secretary Xi Jinping participated in the deliberations of the Guizhou delegation at the second session of the 12th National People's Congress, he specifically exhorted to "pay close attention to the work of poverty alleviation and development, and do it again and again, so that the people in poor areas can continue to receive real benefits." The general secretary was concerned about Guizhou's tea industry and asked if Guizhou tea had its own brand.
The general secretary's concern is the driving force and guide for moving forward. In 2015, with the help of party committees and governments at all levels, Taiji Village established the Taiji Tea Planting Agricultural Machinery Service Professional Cooperative in Qixingguan District, leading tea farmers to protect ancient tea trees and once again embark on the road of developing the tea industry. In November 2016, Bijie Qixing Taiji Ancient Tree Tea Development (Group) Co., Ltd. was established, the company promotes the industry with science and technology, and further guides the ancient tree tea industry to intensive, standardized and branded transformation. The company also signed a cooperation agreement with local village-level cooperatives to encourage villagers to reasonably pick tea while protecting ancient tea trees, in addition to the normal payment of tea green purchases, and then to the total amount of tea purchased throughout the year to give rewards in proportion, 5% of the village collective, 8% of general farmers, and 12% of poverty alleviation households. The interest connection model of "company + cooperative + farmer" has gradually shown its advantages, driving tea farmers to embark on the road of increasing income and getting rich.
Xie Tao, the current general manager of Bijie Qixing Taiji Ancient Tree Tea Development (Group) Co., Ltd., is a native of Taiji Village, who went out to work after graduating from university, and came into contact with the local "Da Hong Pao" tea in Wuyi Mountain, Fujian, and couldn't help but think of the ancient tea trees in his hometown. "The naturally growing ancient tea trees are nature's gift to the people of Taiji Village, and the ancient tea in our village can be developed well!" Now, Xie Tao's wish is becoming a reality step by step. "At present, the company has 26 permanent employees, and at the same time, more than 20,000 people from more than 4,000 households in Taiji Village and surrounding villages are engaged in the ancient tea industry." Xie Tao said, "I am sincerely happy to be able to witness and participate in the development and growth of the ancient tea industry in my hometown. ”
- On April 19, the 2024 Guizhou Province "Taiji Ancient Tea Cup" 7th Ancient Tree Tea Processing Skills Competition was held in Taiji Village, Liangyan Town, Qixingguan District, Bijie City. Hundreds of players from 13 teams from all over Guizhou competed on the same stage, inherited the traditional tea processing technology, created an exchange and learning platform for ancient tree tea processing, and further boosted the high-quality development of the province's tea industry. The picture shows the contestants participating in the green tea processing project competition on April 19, 2024. People's photo by Chen Xi/photo
The development of the tea industry to the whole Liangyan Town brought the first change, is that the mountain is greener, the villagers not only no longer look down on the ancient tea trees that grow in the cracks of the rocks on the mountain, no longer cut trees to burn the fire for heating and cooking, but also take the initiative to protect the ancient tea trees, cultivate tea seedlings, green water and green mountains are the truth of gold and silver, the villagers understand at once.
"In the past, the fried dry tea could only be sold for about 10 yuan a catty, but now the purchase price of tea green tea before the Ming Dynasty reached 60-120 yuan per catty, and the purchase price of tea green tea in summer and autumn was also 30-60 yuan per catty." Speaking of the before and after comparison of the value of his ancient tea trees, Lu Chunquan, a tea farmer in Taiji Village, was full of emotion. "My family has about 3 acres of ancient tea trees, and my children work outside, so my wife and I are usually responsible for the management, and we can earn more than 30,000 yuan every year by relying on these ancient tea trees." Lu Chunquan said happily, "The company not only instructed us how to refine the management of ancient tea trees, but also distributed fertilizer to us for free." ”
On the eve of the Spring Festival on February 6, 2024, hundreds of villagers in Liangyan Town ushered in a great event: receiving the "year-end bonus"! Although the weather was very cold that day, the villagers were in groups of three or five, smiling and excited on their faces, and under the guidance of the staff, they signed in, pressed their handprints, and received bonuses...... The bonus is a cash reward given to the village collectives involved in the planting of ancient tea trees and the tea planting people in Bijie Qixing Taiji Ancient Tree Tea Development (Group) Co., Ltd. in combination with the economic benefits of the tea factory in 2023, in order to encourage tea farmers to continue to protect, manage and make good use of ancient tea trees. Liu Qigui from Qiaotou Village has relied on raising ancient tea trees over the years, and his family has successfully lifted himself out of poverty and lived a well-off life. "My family has more than 30 acres of tea trees, and today I received a bonus of 1,580 yuan from the company." Liu Qigui said, "After selling the tea green, I not only got the money for the tea green, but also received an additional bonus, which is really happy, and I have more confidence and confidence to manage and use the ancient tea tree well in the coming year." "Our village sold more than 40 yuan of tea last year, and according to the 5% reward, the village collective got a bonus of 20,000 yuan." Ye Shishuang, secretary of the Party branch of Qiaotou Village, said, "With this bonus, the village will continue to hire technicians to carry out tea tree management and guidance training in the coming year, continue to develop and grow the tea industry, continuously promote the income of villagers, and promote rural revitalization." A total of more than 130 yuan was distributed in this bonus, and more than 900 households in 13 villages in 4 townships and 9 village collectives received awards.
- The picture shows that in April 2024, in the tea workshop of Bijie Qixing Taiji Ancient Tree Tea Development (Group) Co., Ltd., workers are processing tea. Photo courtesy of Qixingguan District Rong Media Center
Relying on the Taiji Ancient Tea Base, development enterprises, professional cooperatives and local tea farmers, Qixingguan District continues to explore a new model of green development, harmonious symbiosis and common prosperity, and constantly improves the interest connection mechanism of "base + enterprise + cooperative + tea farmer", driving the masses to "hold together" to develop the tea industry, and the output value of tea has increased from less than 3 million yuan in 2020 to 40 million yuan in 2023, realizing industrial development to promote agricultural income and farmers' development to promote enterprise efficiency. Today, Taiji ancient tea has formed four series of nearly 30 products, with sales covering more than 20 provinces and municipalities across the country, and the ancient tea trees that have been silent for thousands of years are full of new vitality.
Green is the background color of Qixingguan, and tea is the treasure of green Qixingguan. In order to better protect ancient tea tree resources, at the end of 2023, under the promotion of the People's Court of Qixingguan District, the People's Procuratorate and other institutions, Bijie City issued a judicial protection order for ancient tea trees, expressly prohibiting the implementation of felling, transplanting, digging roots and other behaviors that destroy ancient tea tree resources within the scope of Qixingguan District, and guarding the "ancient tea green" with a judicial barrier. In 2023, Liangyan Town, Qixingguan District, will be named as the practice and innovation base of "Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" in Guizhou Province.
(Reporter: Cai Chunling Review: Li Yanling)