The 45th extended session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee was held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Among the 50 proposed projects for consideration, the Ancient Tea Forest and Cultural Landscape of Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er, as the only project nominated by the Chinese government, was reviewed and listed in the World Heritage List!
The elements of the Jingmai Mountain heritage include five ancient tea forests, nine traditional villages, and three protective forest zones. Let's explore Jingmai Mountain together to learn about the story of a “community of life” between mountains and forests, grass and trees, insects and tea, and people, and discover this unique “joint creation of nature and humanity” themed around tea.
Green Wilderness
Mountain and Forest
The soul of tea has been passed down for millennia, while we search for traces in the green wilderness.
During the Quaternary glaciation period, many species went extinct. However, the tea group plants in the Lancang River Basin, located in the Tropic of Cancer, survived. Protected by the Tibetan Plateau and the Hengduan Mountains, which shielded the region from cold northern currents, this mountainous forest preserved the earliest sources of tea.
Jingmai Mountain (Photo: Dong Lin)
According to the historical records of the Bulang ethnic group, over a thousand years ago, they migrated to Mangjing and began cultivating and domesticating tea trees in the forest, gradually forming the thousand-year-old ancient tea forests that are still intact today.
Even in the era of slash-and-burn agriculture, the ancestors of Jingmai Mountain understood the importance of respecting the natural growth cycle of the forest. Whenever a new tea forest was developed, on the day the first tea tree was planted in the land, the ancestors would choose an auspicious date and perform a ritual before planting. This first tree planted became the soul tree of the tea forest.
Green Heroes
Forest
Nature bestows lush forests, and people work diligently.
The Ancient Tea Forest of Jingmai Mountain currently retains a well-preserved forest ecosystem and landscape. Parts of the forest surrounding the ancient tea forests serve as buffer zones and protective forests between different sections. The designated area of the cultural landscape heritage zone of Jingmai Mountain is 7,167.89 hectares, with a buffer zone of 11,927.85 hectares, including five ancient tea forests and three protective forest zones.
Five Ancient Tea Forests: Five well-preserved ancient tea forests are distributed across White Elephant Mountain, Nuogang Mountain, and Mangjing Mountain, at altitudes ranging from 1,140 to 1,600 meters on slopes, forests, and around villages, covering a total area of 1,180 hectares, or 16.46% of the heritage zone area. (Mangeng-Mengben Ancient Tea Forest, Jingmai Village Ancient Tea Forest, Nuogang Ancient Tea Forest, Upper-Lower Mangjing-Manghong Ancient Tea Forest, Wengji-Wengwa Ancient Tea Forest)
Three Protective Forest Zones: Forests are retained between ancient tea forests and villages as separators and protections, safeguarding the ecosystem of the ancient tea forests and serving as important water source forests for the villages, covering a total area of 617.65 hectares. (Jingmai-Nuogang Ancient Tea Forest Separation and Protection Forest, Nuogang-Mangjing Ancient Tea Forest Separation and Protection Forest, Mangjing-Jingmai Ancient Tea Forest Separation and Protection Forest)
King Bee Tree
To effectively prevent strong winds, low temperatures, and pests and diseases, the ancestors of Jingmai Mountain developed tea forests in patches within the forest, with limited deforestation. A protective belt of forest approximately 40 meters wide is maintained around the tea forests, where no cutting or planting of tea trees is allowed.
The ancestors utilized the natural ecosystem, directly planting tea in the forest, creating a three-layered community structure: canopy layer, shrub layer, and herb layer. The shrub layer, where tea trees are mainly distributed, forms the dominant community, thus ensuring that light, humidity, soil conditions, and other factors meet the needs of tea tree growth.
Time to Pick Tea
The ancient tea forests are divided into units per household, and when picking, one must not exceed their own boundaries.
Generally, there are three tea-picking seasons each year, according to the lunar calendar: February to April is Spring Tea; May to July is summer tea (rain tea); August to September is autumn tea (valley Flower tea). The heritage protection requirements for Jingmai Mountain stipulate that summer tea should not be picked, to ensure that the tea trees undergo sufficient photosynthesis and accumulate nutrients, effectively avoiding the degradation of tea trees and the decline in tea quality.
Tea is picked manually. Fresh buds are classified as follows: for high-grade teas, one bud and one leaf is picked; for bulk teas, one bud and two leaves, or one bud and three leaves, are primarily picked. During the tea-picking season, Dai and Bulang women dressed in ethnic attire are busy among the tea forests. Their beautiful costumes, the sounds of their labor, and the lush ancient tea trees blend together to create a most beautiful scene.
Planning: Luo Rongchan, Zhang Cheng, Li Xingquan, Wu Jun, Zhao Jiaqi
Text: Zhao Jiaqi, Li Xingquan, Yang Jijuan
Photos: Zhang Cheng, Liu Chang, Chen Simeng, Xia Xintong