Mountain with well-preserved ancient tea trees in SW China's Yunnan thrives on tea and tourism

Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er city, southwest China's Yunnan Province, with its Cultural Landscape of Old Tea Forests being recently inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, sees a robust development of tea and tourism.

A local villager picks tea leaves in Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er city, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Photo/Huang Xinghong)

Jingmai Mountain, where Bulang and Dai ethnic groups inhabit, is renowned for its dense forests of well-preserved ancient tea trees. The mountain with 15 villages and 1,586 households received a total of 280,700 tourist visits from January to August this year.

Ye Gong, 22, is a local resident. After graduating from college, Ye went back home and started to run her family business with her parents. "My family has more than 150 mu (10 hectares) of ancient tea trees and ecological tea gardens. Tea had been my family's main source of income before 2022," she said.

Ye Gong shows her homemade Pu'er tea. (Photo/Huang Xinghong)

Ye's family started to operate a hotel and work on catering, too, last year, and the business is very brisk. "I am now planning to organize study tours featuring Pu'er tea and work on livestreams in the hope of expanding tea sales and enhancing the reputation of Jingmai Mountain," she said.

Ye added that as the popularity of Jingmai Mountain increases, the tea and tourism markets see bright prospects, with more young people remaining in the village.

Photo shows the traditional dwellings of the Dai ethnic group in Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er city, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Photo/Huang Xinghong)

The Cultural Landscape of Old Tea Forests of Jingmai Mountain became China's 57th UNESCO World Heritage Site and the world's first tea culture World Heritage Site on Sept. 17.