Amid the scorching summer heat when all kinds of tea competitions are held, these contests become one of the main scenes in the lives of tea enthusiasts on both sides of the strait. These events serve as a platform for identifying high-quality teas and exchanging skills in tea production. As a unique Fujian tea art folk activity, the tea competition attracts many local tea artisans and enthusiasts from Taiwan. In these competitions, tea people from both sides taste fine teas and foster friendships. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China emphasized improving systems and policies to promote economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation between the two sides of the strait, deepening their integrated development. For a long time, Fujian and Taiwan have used tea as a bridge, spanning mountains and seas, continuously expanding platforms and channels for tea industry exchanges. The bond between the two regions has grown stronger through the integration of their tea industries.

At the 15th Cross-Straits Tea Industry Expo, a tea person from Ali Mountain, Taiwan (center) prepares Taiwanese Oolong Tea. Photo by Li Changqian/Guangming Pictures

At the 11th Cross-Straits Youth Festival, young people from both sides exchange skills in making tea. Photo by Chi Yuan/Guangming Pictures

1. Rooted in the Same Origin, Tea Culture Continues Uninterruptedly

The tea culture of Fujian and Taiwan has a deep historical connection, with both regions having a tradition of using tea to make friends. Tea culture has become an important medium for exchanges across the strait. In January 2024, the 2024 Cross-Straits (Xiamen) Tea Culture Festival was successfully held, where guests from both sides enjoyed tea together, observed tea competitions, discussed tea affairs, and formed sincere and precious friendships. Through events like the Cross-Straits Tea King Competition, the depth of tea culture has grown through exchanges and interactions.

In terms of the origin of tea tree cultivation, tea trees in Taiwan share the same roots as those in Fujian. According to experts on both sides of the strait, the relationship between Fujian and Taiwan's tea can be traced back to the Song Dynasty. The Taiwanese cultivar ‘Qinxin Oolong' originated in the Phoenix Mountain tea area of Wuyi Mountain range, which was once the imperial tea garden of Beiyuan during the Song Dynasty and is now a century-old low-footed oolong tea garden in Dongfeng Town, Jian'ou, Nanping. According to “A General History of Taiwan” written by Lian Heng, the earliest tea tree varieties planted in Taiwan were introduced by Ke Chao from Fujian during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty and planted in Taipei. In historical accounts of tea culture across the strait, there is a record that Tungting Oolong tea in Taiwan, known as the “Holy Product of Teas,” was brought from Mount Wuyi in Fujian by Lin Fengchi, a scholar from Taiwan, in 1855. He brought 36 tea seedlings gifted by the abbot of Tianxin Yongle Chan Temple back to Tungting Mountain in Taiwan, where they were planted and developed into this tea. The tea lineage from Mount Wuyi in Fujian runs through the entire development of Taiwan's oolong tea, becoming its characteristic “bloodline.”

In terms of tea processing techniques, Taiwan's tea processing techniques are derived from those in Fujian. Ancient tea processing techniques in Fujian have had a profound impact on current Taiwanese tea culture. The methods for processing Tungting Oolong and Muzha Tieguanyin in Taiwan were spread by early settlers from Fujian. The production processes for oolong tea in Fujian and Taiwan are basically similar, involving fresh leaves, sun-drying, green-making, stir-frying, rolling, and baking. Although Taiwan's tea processing techniques have undergone changes and innovations in development, their core remains rooted in Fujian's tea processing techniques.

In terms of tea tasting habits, Fujian and Taiwan have highly consistent processes for tea appreciation. The main body of Taiwanese tea art inherits the Tea drinking method of southern Fujian kung fu tea. Sensory evaluation of tea is conducted in the order of appearance, aroma, color, taste, and leaf residue; in terms of brewing utensils, tea brewing tools in Fujian and Taiwan include teapots, pot pads, tea trays, tea cups, Cup holders, tea caddies, tea scoops, dregs spoons, tea spoons, serving trays, tea towels, tea brushes, and tasting cups; in terms of taste preferences, the people of Fujian and Taiwan also have very similar tastes for tea. At the same time, tea opera, tea songs, and tea customs in Fujian and Taiwan are also largely similar, with tea lanterns and tea opera popular in Taiwan as early as the Ming Dynasty.

Planting the same tea trees, inheriting the same techniques, and appreciating the same flavors, tea culture bears witness to the cultural identity and blood ties of people on both sides of the strait, who share the same roots and close kinship.

Scene from the first Fujian-Taiwan Tea Art Vocational Skills Competition in Gulou District, Fuzhou, Fujian. Photo by Yan Lanping/Guangming Pictures

2. Integrated Development, Tea Industry Exchanges Flourish

With the continuous deepening of exchanges between Fujian and Taiwan, tea merchants and enterprises from both sides have closely cooperated. Using platforms such as the Cross-Straits Economic and Trade Fair and the Cross-Straits Tea Industry Expo, and based on demonstration bases for cross-strait tea industry cooperation and Taiwan farmers' entrepreneurial parks, the tea industry on both sides has further integrated, yielding fruitful results.

Taiwan earlier combined tea with tourism, Milk tea beverages, eco-health, and other market concepts, continuously developing new commercial nodes and extending the tea industry chain, using tea as a link to connect the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries. Backed by rich and diverse tea-producing areas, Fujian has a large-scale, mature, and highly potential consumer market. It continues to innovate in tea selection, planting, and processing, delving deeply into the original leaf production and processing techniques. Fujian's tea quality is excellent, with a rich taste and numerous varieties. In each exchange, learning, and borrowing, the tea industries on both sides have continuously developed, achieving complementary strengths. During the 15th Cross-Straits Tea Industry Expo held at the end of 2025, Fujian and Taiwan jointly signed the “Framework Agreement on Strengthening Fujian-Taiwan Tea Industry Cooperation and Exchange,” further promoting the deep integration of the tea industry on both sides and jointly painting a prosperous picture of tea industry development.

In Taiwan, the latest tea planting and breeding technologies from Fujian are being applied in production, continuously improving the unit yield and taste of tea. “Fujian technology” has become a new trend in Taiwan's tea fields. Fujian's systematic tea marketing methods, large-scale operating strategies, customized packaging services, and project-based product research and development continue to influence the business direction of Taiwan's local tea enterprises in cross-strait tea industry exchanges. The rapidly growing e-commerce market also attracts more and more Taiwanese tea enterprises to set up shops in Fujian, enjoying the dividends of Fujian's rapidly developing digital economy, significantly enhancing their corporate strength and market share.

In Fujian, the refined management model of tea gardens from Taiwan and the environmentally friendly tea planting concepts are widely learned and applied, significantly increasing the ecological benefits of tea gardens. Tea enterprises often travel to Taiwan to learn about the concepts and experiences of leisure tourism agriculture, applying them to the construction of tea-tourism projects, combining the natural scenery of the producing areas to promote tourism through tea and highlight the culture through tourism. Meanwhile, milk tea brands from Taiwan are increasingly favored by young people, and the original tea beverage trends from Taiwan are influencing the consumer market in Fujian.

The Fujian provincial government has introduced a large number of preferential policies for the benefit of Taiwan compatriots to facilitate exchanges and entrepreneurship in Fujian, broadening channels for exchanges between Fujian and Taiwan, optimizing the atmosphere of cross-strait exchanges, and attracting more and more Taiwanese compatriots to invest and start businesses in Fujian due to the vast tea fields and favorable policies. Li Weicheng, a young