Current Industry Status and Varieties

The main Tea-producing areas in Wenshan Prefecture are distributed across 6 counties, 36 towns (townships), and 194 village committees (street offices). In 2016, the total tea garden planting area was 495,000 mu (approximately 33,000 hectares), with 348,000 mu (approximately 23,200 hectares) available for harvesting. The raw tea production reached 14,000 metric tons, generating a comprehensive industry value of 930 million yuan. Cultivated varieties include: Diwu White Hair Tea, Fengqing Large-leaf Variety, and other seed-propagated varieties; Yunkang No. 10, Yunkang No. 14, Fuyun No. 6, Fuding Dahao, Xueya No. 100, Zijuan, Fuxiang series varieties, Longjing No. 43, Wuniuzao, Anji White Tea, and other clonal propagated elite varieties.

Tea Germplasm Resources

In 2014, the Yunnan provincial government arranged and deployed a census of tea resources, which was the largest and most systematic survey of ancient tea tree germplasm resources in the history of the prefecture, providing a clear understanding of the distribution and classification of tea germplasm resources. All eight counties (cities) in the prefecture have distributions of tea germplasm resources, and they are diverse in types. Wild-type tea germplasm resources are distributed within the latitude range of 22°46'N to 24°35'N and longitude range of 103°09'E to 105°45'E, covering 71 natural villages in 56 village committees across 32 towns (townships) in all eight counties (cities). Cultivated-type tea germplasm resources are distributed within the latitude range of 22°57'N to 24°12'N and longitude range of 104°26'E to 105°28'E, mainly in 61 natural villages across 41 village committees in 23 towns (townships) in five counties (Malipo, Xichou, Guangnan, Funing, and Yanshan). According to incomplete statistics, there are a total of 24 tea germplasm resource populations of wild-type tea trees in the prefecture, covering an area of approximately 12,000 hectares and about 460,000 individual trees.

There are a total of 29 tea germplasm resource populations of cultivated-type tea trees, covering an area of approximately 2,500 hectares and about 570,000 individual trees. The most representative ancient tea mountains include Malipo Laoshan, Maguan Guilinjing, Xichou Pingzhai, Guangnan Jiulong Mountain, and Wenshan Laojun Mountain. The distribution area of exploitable cultivated-type ancient tea trees is approximately 40,000 mu (approximately 2,667 hectares), with an annual yield of about 220 metric tons of old-tree tea. There are only nine species and three variants preliminarily named in the prefecture, including: Guangnan Tea, Guangxi Tea, Dachang Tea, Wuzhu Tea, Houzhou Tea, Guang'e Houzhou Tea, Maguan Tea, Zhouru Tea, Tufang Tea, Tea, Pu'er Tea, and White Hair Tea. The value of tea germplasm resources has been highly affirmed by many experts and scholars from the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Tea Research Institute, and the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences Tea Research Institute.

In addition, there are numerous local group varieties in Wenshan Prefecture, mainly distributed in Diwu, Malipo County; Mengtong, Babu, Yangwan, Xichou County; Fadou, Maguan County; and Xinjie, Xiaojie, Wenshan City. Representative local varieties include: Diwu Tea, Bazi Tea, Kuibu Tea, Bianla Tea, Xiajinchang Tea, Dongding Tea, Pingzhai Tea, Guilinjing Tea, Pingba Tea, Longxiu Tea, suitable for producing Black Tea, Green Tea, Pu'er tea, and a small amount of white tea, with broad prospects for development and utilization.

Representative Tea Gardens

Guangnan Ancient Tea Garden, Malipo Ancient Tea Garden.