Country for PR: China
Contributor: Xinhua News Agency
Wednesday, June 10 2020 - 10:00
AsiaNet
Featured tea industry contributes to rural revitalization in Chaozhou of China
CHAOZHOU, China, Jun. 10, 2020 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/--

Recently, the first International Tea Day witnessed an online promotion event 
in Chaozhou city of Guangdong province, China. 

Chaozhou boasts a Fenghuang Mountain hidden in mist, where villages of 
Fenghuang Town locate. As tens of thousands of tea farmers are busy shuttling 
through local tea gardens, people here, though live deep in the mountain and 
were once so poor that townsfolk from their neighborhood always tried to avoid 
contact with them, are quite well off now. All the mystery however, lies in the 
oolong tea named Dancong (meaning single cluster) planted here all over the 
mountain.

According to the Information Office of the People's Government of Chaozhou 
Municipality, Chaozhou integrates tea cultivation with cultural tourism to 
improve the standardized cultivation and the modern management level of tea 
gardens. With a large number of tourists comes increased comprehensive benefits 
of the Fenghuang Dancong Tea. The tea is planted in single cluster, picked and 
processed separately. With enduring fragrance, a sweet and mellow taste, and a 
nice aftertaste, it has been highly praised by tea drinkers.

Chaozhou, a well-known historical and cultural city, has been seeing an influx 
of Chinese and foreign tourists, with its time-honored history, unique and 
prosperous culture, exquisite craftsmanship and beautiful scenery. In this 
city, tourists can try Kung Fu tea with lingering fragrance and flavor, admire 
handicrafts such as the Chaozhou embroidery and ceramics, visit Guangji Bridge 
and other places of historical interest, and feel the unique charm of Chaozhou 
culture.

In recent years, the Fenghuang Dancong Tea industry has developed rapidly and 
become one of Chaozhou's dominant agricultural industries. Fenghuang Town, with 
its tea plantation area exceeding 70,000 mu (about 4666.7 hectares) and an 
annual output value of about 1 billion yuan, is the core production area of the 
tea. 

Apart from the traditional cultivation, tea farmers have also responded to the 
call of the government for industrial modernization, seeking new ideas and 
changes. Huang Yuanzhi, a "post-1980s" tea farmer, is from a family where nine 
consecutive generations have been engaged in tea cultivation. Different from 
the traditional cultivation and wholesale mode of the previous generations, 
Huang hopes to adopt scientific planting and management methods, improve the 
quality of the Dancong Tea and build a century-old brand, on the basis of 
inheriting the ancient tea trees and production skills left by his parents. 

At present, the construction of the Provincial Modern Agricultural Industrial 
Park for Fenghuang Dancong Tea is stepping up. The tea trading market is also 
being planned, with a tea cultural space and other functions such as intangible 
cultural heritage inheritance, skills training for Kung Fu tea. The tea has 
made the people here rich, and Fenghuang Town has embarked on the road of 
prospering agriculture with science and technology and enriching farmers with 
industries.

"The tea industry in Fenghuang Town, apart from pursuing quality development, 
consolidating and improving the primary industry, shall also make for 
integrated development by connecting with the secondary and tertiary 
industries," said Huang Zhigang, Secretary of the Party Committee of Fenghuang 
Town, confidently introducing that by creating a unique town featured with tea 
and tourism, the secondary and tertiary industries will also be improved. Tea 
gardens are turned into parks, and farmers become investors. In this way, 
ecology is well protected, farmers' income increased, and rural characteristic 
industries revitalized. 

Source: The Information Office of the People's Government of Chaozhou 
Municipality

Image Attachments Links:

   Link: https://iop.asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=364939

   Caption: Tea leaves drying in the Provincial Modern Agricultural Industrial 
Park for Fenghuang Dancong Tea, Chao'an District, Chaozhou City, Guangdong, 
China (Aerial photo).