[China Story] Tea gardens help lift Yunnan's border towns out of poverty

Located in the west of Yunnan Province, Tengchong sits on China’s famous Cenozoic volcano groups. The soil here is rich in organic matters and nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and trace elements, making it ideal for the growth of tea.

As one of the top 100 tea plantation areas in China, Tengchong has 24,710 acres of tea plantations, of which around 247 acres are certified as organic tea gardens, and more than 12,355 acres are certified as pollution-free gardens. In 2016, Tengchong black tea, green tea, oolong tea, white tea, dark green tea are local brands with China's national geographical indications examined and approved by the national trademark authorities.

Chen Yazhong, Chairperson of Tengchong Gaoligong Ecological Tea Co., Ltd. told reporters that she was thrilled when she found the ancient tea trees in the mountains 34 years ago. Starting from scratch, she is now running a company with 1,646 acres of tea plantations, employing workers from more than 50,000 households, directly benefiting more than 180,000 tea farmers. The company’s output reached 28.5 million US dollars, increasing local farmers’ annual income by around 9 million dollars.

  

Shao Cunfen is a tea farmer of Xinghua Village, Mazhan Township. She has been doing odd jobs for the company over the past years. According to her, the company raised the purchase price of fresh tea leaves, and advanced the cost for nursery stocks and organic fertilizers, largely relieving the burden of local farmers. 

“Tengchong teas are most unique among their peers,” said Xu Jiaobao, head of the Tengchong Agriculture Bureau, “the combination of characteristic plateau agriculture and tourism would rejuvenate our agriculture and increase farmers’ income.” 

By Cheng Sanjuan; Editor: Eric Wang