Nearly 8,000 hectares of ancient wild tea bushes and preserved cultivated tea gardens that date back more than 1,300 years on Jingmai Mountain in Pu’er explain why the place has been known as the kingdom of tea.

Local people have been treating tea as a natural treasure and taking efforts to promote tea culture. The ancient tea gardens applied to be a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site by the local government four years ago.

Ancient business

With a promotional event for tourism in Pu’er held in Beijing on Aug 25, and traditional local dance The Tribe of Va shown at the National Center for the Performing Arts at the same time, the Pu’er government introduced the once-mysterious Va ethnic group to the outside world.

The area involved includes three villages in Lancang county, where there used to be 15 villages. The area has 1,454 households with more than 6,000 people.

According to local records on ancient stele inscriptions in the Dai language, the Jingmai Mountain region has a tea growing history of 1,300 years and is home to one of the world’s rarely seen cultivated ancient tea gardens.

Regarded as one of the sources of tea culture, the area preserves nearly 2,000 hectares of tea gardens with more than 3.2 million ancient tea bushes, which produce more than 2.7 million tons of tea a year.

There are also more than 2,000 hectares of ecological tea gardens, with annual production of some 6 million tons.

Well-established policies

The world cultural heritage application has won support from the city and provincial government, despite its challenges.

It took eight years for the Grand Canal to become a registered world heritage, and 13 years for the Hani rice terraces in Yunnan.

The government of Lancang county has established many teams in its application committee, including the general office, the publicity group, the protection and management enforcement group, the policy and regulation makers, and an expert panel.

An administration center and a police station were also established in the region, and a tea garden monitor team was formed with 30 officials from local villages and townships.