Currently, in the vast tea gardens of Jufeng Town, Lanshan District, Rizhao City, the scenery is lush and verdant. Row after row of tea bushes spread out, and the vast expanse of tea fields stretches as far as the eye can see.
From August 9 to 11, the highly influential Fifth China Tea Tourism Conference, a significant event in the national Green Tea industry, was held here. Over one hundred experts, scholars, representatives from the tea tourism industry, and tea merchants from across the country gathered to jointly paint a blueprint for the high-quality development of the tea industry. During the opening ceremony on the morning of August 10, Lanshan District was designated as the “Core Origin of Rizhao Green Tea,” and an agreement was signed for the formulation of a series of group standards for Rizhao white tea. The China Tea Association also released the second batch of new tea-themed travel routes. This marked the first time that the China Tea Tourism Conference was hosted in a northern region.
Why was the conference venue chosen to be Lanshan District? Wang Qing, President of the China Tea Circulation Association, provided the answer: Lanshan District has focused on the cultivation of tea varieties, quality control, and brand building, leading the way for new tastes in northern teas. Northern green teas are becoming the “new nobility” among teas. Meanwhile, Lanshan District has become a pioneering county in the integration of tea and tourism, attracting more attention from domestic tea enthusiasts.
Lanshan District is one of the earliest successful regions in our province to introduce southern tea varieties to the north. Currently, it has 162,000 mu (approximately 11,467 hectares) of tea gardens, producing 11,000 tons of dry tea annually, with annual sales revenue reaching 2.9 billion yuan. In terms of area, output, and value, it leads the entire province. The advantages of the tea industry continue to grow, becoming a crucial support for the revitalization of local rural industries.
In recent years, Lanshan District has integrated the concepts of tea culture, tea industry, and tea science and technology (“three-tea”) development, innovating with “upgrading green tea, cultivating Matcha, and developing white tea.” The variety of tea products has expanded, shifting from merely selling fresh leaves to a multi-pronged approach encompassing “green, red, black, Oolong, white, yellow, flower, and matcha,” giving a single leaf multiple possibilities.
On the day of the conference's opening, the Rizhao Tea Science and Technology Demonstration Park in Lanshan District opened its doors. The demonstration park consists of four sections: the Science and Technology Center, intelligent connected greenhouses, open-air organic ecological tea gardens, and river scenery. It boasts the most comprehensive collection of tea plant germplasm resources in the north. Here, you can witness breakthroughs in tea seedling cultivation, scientific research, and e-commerce sales, as well as experience immersive exhibitions, tea tourism, and unique dining.
Inside the intelligent connected greenhouses of the demonstration park, 1.3 million newly cultivated tea seedlings are thriving. These seedlings were produced using a domestically pioneered “multiple-root asexual propagation technique,” which reduces the cultivation cycle from the traditional 18 months to about 38 days, with effective root systems that are over 60 times those produced by conventional methods. Due to their high survival rate and immediate economic benefits, these seedlings have been widely sold in Shaanxi, Tibet, Guangxi, Chongqing, and other regions, creating a tale of “northern tea advancing westward and southward.”
This year, four varieties developed in Lanshan District, including “Northern Red Bud,” received the “Registration Certificate for Non-Major Crops” issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
In the Science and Technology Center of the park, a new matcha production line is nearing completion. “We have introduced the most advanced matcha production line in the country, equipped with state-of-the-art Japanese matcha production equipment and processes. Our construction of initial processing, refining, sterilization, and grinding lines for matcha is leading domestically,” said Zhang Zuojia, head of the tea sector at Rizhao Lanshan New Rural Construction Development Co., Ltd. This project has a total investment of approximately 120 million yuan and primarily includes the planting, processing, and production and research of matcha-based cosmetics and food products.
In Wang Qing's view, the key to advancing Rizhao green tea into higher-level markets is the quality of the tea.
Lanshan District has implemented the “Guyu Project” in depth, promoting the standardization, premiumization, and branding of the tea industry. Quality control is integrated throughout the entire tea industry chain, and a cup of reassuring tea is crafted with dedication. Utilizing the Internet of Things, the Internet, and other next-generation information technologies, a “smart brain” for refined tea production has been created, enabling digital remote supervision of tea garden production and full-process code traceability of tea quality. The daily management activities of tea farmers and tea gardens are clearly visible on the large screens of the tea industry big data platform.
“In recent years, Rizhao green tea has become increasingly popular because this brand has become better known to more people. Market feedback has been positive, so for the long-term development of the tea industry, brand building is very important,” said Han Shaochun, a tea merchant from Jinan.
From agricultural product to commodity, and from commodity to brand, Lanshan District has constructed a tightly interlinked industrial chain for primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors. Leveraging its unique resources of “sea, tea, and mountains,” it has built two concentrated revitalization zones for rural areas, “Tea Village Phoenix Cry” and “Spring View of Jiazi,” which integrate tea planting, tea culture, and the integration of tea and tourism to high standards. It has also created the Shanwang Resort, the “Source of Tea” rural revitalization demonstration project, the “Hundred-Li Green Tea Industrial Belt,” and the “Salt and Tea Ancient Route” tourist route, achieving “promoting tourism through tea and invigorating tea through tourism.”
Since the introduction of southern tea varieties to the north, Lanshan District has successively won titles such as “National (Top Ten) Specialized Tea-Producing County,” “Top Ten Counties in National Tea Brand Building,” and “Top Ten Counties in the Integration of Tea and Tourism.” In the future, the legend of a single tea leaf will continue to write new chapters on the vast lands of Lanshan.