In recent years, the Gaoshan Villager Group under the Yiwu Village Committee of Yiwu Town has been committed to revitalizing rural areas through party building leadership, relying on its well-preserved ancient Tea gardens and rich Yi ethnic customs to develop rural tourism, which has become a new highlight for sustained income growth and development among local villagers.
Under clear blue skies and with the warm spring air, since mid-March, the first batches of Spring Tea have been harvested. Walking into the ancient tea garden of the Gaoshan Villager Group in Yiwu Town, Mengla County, one can hear the sweet Yi songs of the tea pickers echoing through the mountains. Early in the morning, the tea farmers carry their tea bags into the garden, skillfully filling them with fresh young leaves, their faces beaming with the joy of harvest.
Yang Fachang, a tea farmer from the Gaoshan Villager Group, said, “My family has over twenty mu of ancient tea trees. We are picking spring tea these days. In recent years, the price of tea has been getting better and better, and our lives are improving year by year.”
It is understood that the Gaoshan Villager Group is at an altitude of 1,200 meters, with a forest coverage rate of over 90% in its ancient tea gardens. This unique geographical environment and favorable climate conditions have nurtured more than 3,000 mu of ancient tea forests that are over a hundred years old. As one of the main production areas for Yiwu tea, the Gaoshan Villager Group also attaches great importance to enhancing tea quality, improving tea processing skills, and promoting tea brands, having successfully created well-known brands such as “Banana Forest” and “Languifang.”
He Jiwen, a tea farmer from the Gaoshan Villager Group, said, “The quality of tea is steadily improving, and profits are noticeably increasing.”
Wang Jianzhong, Party Branch Secretary of the Gaoshan Villager Group, said, “During management, we stop picking tea in summer and adopt a ‘wilding' approach to maintain the ecological environment of the ancient tea garden and protect the growth of ancient tea trees.”
Since 2023, the Gaoshan Villager Group has fully promoted the “Party Building + Rural Environment Improvement” initiative, with every household actively participating in the construction of “Clean and Beautiful Homes.” The thriving tea industry has transformed villagers' lives year by year. Currently, the annual per capita net income of the Gaoshan Villager Group reaches 38,000 yuan, and every household has built fashionable new houses. Two kilometers of the seven-kilometer ancient tea garden scenic walking path have already been constructed, and a new picture of an ecologically livable, prosperous industry, and beautiful environment is unfolding gradually. At present, the Yiwu Xiangming World-Class Pu'er Tea Industry Rural Revitalization Demonstration Park, covering more than 320 mu, has been established in the village, and the construction of the park roads has begun, bringing excellent development opportunities to the Gaoshan Villager Group.
In recent years, Yiwu Town has focused on the development themes of “solid foundations, thriving industries, beautiful environments, good living standards, stable border areas, and strong party building,” adhering to party building leadership, concentrating on the inheritance and development of red culture and Tea culture, closely monitoring the increase in tea production and quality improvement, exploring the integrated development of tea culture and tourism under party building leadership, and striving to promote the development of industries and income growth for the people.
Lu Jun, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Town Mayor of Mengla County's Yiwu Town, said, “Yiwu Town will firmly grasp the opportunity for the integrated development of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in the ‘Ancient Six Great Tea Mountains,' accelerate the progress of the Yiwu Xiangming Top-Tier Pu'er Tea Rural Revitalization Demonstration Park project, leading by example and expanding the impact, truly placing the development of Yiwu Pu'er tea industry at the forefront of the county and even the entire prefecture.”
Reporters: Wang Tao, Li Jian, Liu Bin, Luo Guihua