Graduate village official helps tea farmers get rich

Jianxun(Left) teaches farmers how to pick tea. Photo by Zhang Tong

Changning County in Yunnan Province has producing tea for more than 1,000 years. In a roadside tea pre-processing workshop in Songshan Village, Wenquan Township in the county, a young man dressed in a white gown is busy baking black tea using traditional techniques. The strong scent of tea rises from the baskets. 

The young man is Li Jianxun, a university student-turned official in the village. Li Jianxun has had a deep love of tea since he was a child. While at university, he tooktea science, tea-making and tea art as elective courses and obtained the certificates needed to become an advanced specialist, taster and processor of tea. 

He didn’t expect that this hobby would become a “stepping stone” for him to get a job in Songshan Village. 

Since he arrived in Songshan Village in November 2015, he immersed himself in tea and spread to tea farmers new ideas and technological applications for planting, management, picking and processing. 

Regarding targeted poverty alleviation efforts, Li Jianxun is assigned the task of helping lift two poor households out of poverty in Songshan Village. In his spare time, he often visits the two households to guide them to grow tea with pollution-free technology and manage their bushes scientifically. When buying fresh tea leaves from these households, he adds 0.5 yuan per kilogramme on top of the normal price for pollution-free tea. 

Li Yinshu, a poor villager whom Li Jianxun is responsible for helping lift out of poverty, has three school age children. Li Yinshu’s family planted eight mu (0.53 hectares) of tea, but still could not make ends meet. 

“It’s a great thing that Mr. Li comes to help my family! He teaches us to plant, manage and pick tea. He also adds 0.5 yuan per kilo to the normal price for my tea leaves,” Li Yinshu excitedly expressed his gratitude for Li Jianxun’s help. 

In 2017, Li Yinshu’s family earned more than 24,000 yuan from tea, up nearly 4,000 yuan over 2016.

Editor: Wang Shixue