“Nothing is as beautiful as the peacock's tail, nothing is as good as Nannuoshan's oxygen bar!” During holidays, exploring ancient Tea gardens, tasting ancient tree tea, and enjoying Hani cuisine have become the “three must-dos” for many visitors to Nannuoshan.
Nannuoshan Village is located in Gelanghe Township, Menghai County, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, with a history of over 1,700 years of tea cultivation. In recent years, Nannuoshan Village has adopted a model of “Party branch + tea company + households” to improve tea quality and promote integrated development of tea, tourism, and culture, transforming villages into scenic areas, tea gardens into attractions, and farmhouses into guesthouses, allowing the red momentum to boost green development and paving the way for revitalization through the integration of tea and tourism.
Photo provided by Nannuoshan
Improving Tea Quality
Green Leaves Turn into Golden Leaves
In the past, due to inconsistent tea quality, some merchants sought to maximize profits by passing off inferior products as high-quality ones, leading to depressed prices for Nannuoshan tea. To rectify this situation from the source, the Nannuoshan Village Party Branch Committee implemented grid management to supervise the tea gardens. Using the “Party branch + N” model, the entire village's tea gardens were divided into 26 grids for management, with each of the village's 26 Party branches responsible for one grid, and Party members serving as grid leaders, assisted by women, militiamen, community police officers, youth, and respected elders. Households that do not use pesticides or fertilizers during the management period are placed on a whitelist, while those who use pesticides or fertilizers are placed on a blacklist. This guides companies and tea merchants to purchase tea from whitelist households, preventing the substitution of inferior products.
To enhance and stabilize tea quality, the Nannuoshan Village Party Branch Committee promoted the “Party branch + tea company + households” model, introducing well-known tea companies such as Chen Sheng Tea Co., Ltd., Yulin Ancient Tea Workshop, and Jin Dafu, and signing long-term cooperation agreements. The process of tea collection, grading standards, and the commitment to purchase tea at no less than market price were publicly disclosed. Regardless of Spring Tea, rainy season tea, or Autumn Tea, all would be purchased at market prices, ensuring the interests of tea farmers. At the same time, protecting the ecological environment and ancient tea trees was included in the village regulations, drawing a red line for the protection and utilization of tea tree resources. The Party branch also organized tea farmers to attend courses on tea garden management and processing taught by research institutions such as the Tea College of Yunnan Agricultural University and the Menghai Tea Research Institute, improving villagers' technical skills. Talented individuals involved in tea picking, processing, and appraisal within the village were dispatched to participate in various levels of Tea culture brand events like the Ten Thousand People Tea Picking and Processing Competition, enhancing the quality and influence of Nannuoshan tea through learning and competition.
Chen Cai De, General Manager of Chen Sheng Tea Co., Ltd., said that now many tea merchants refer to the purchase price set by tea companies in Nannuoshan when acquiring fresh leaves from ancient tea trees. Today, Nannuoshan Village produces 2,000 tons of tea annually, with a value of 160 million yuan, driving income growth for 1,165 households through its 46,000 mu of tea gardens, truly achieving prosperity through tea. In recent years, the village has successively been honored as a National Model Village for “One Village, One Product,” a National Rural Special Industry Billion Yuan Village, and more. In 2025, the average income per villager reached over 20,000 yuan, and collective income reached 5.1 million yuan.
Crafting the Tea King Tree IP
Taking the Path of Integrated Development
In Banpo Laozhai, a village committee of Nannuoshan, there is an ancient cultivated tea tree over 800 years old, known as the Tea King Tree by the villagers. Many tourists come to witness the grandeur of the Tea King Tree.
In 2015, the Nannuoshan Village Party Branch Committee convened a meeting, deciding to take the path of integrated development of tea, tourism, and culture, with the Tea King Tree in Banpo Laozhai at its core, leveraging the beautiful natural scenery and rich Hani ethnic customs, and radiating across all 30 village groups.
To solve the problems of accommodation, dining, and sightseeing for tourists, Nannuoshan Village introduced tourism companies and built well-known boutique hotels and homestays such as Jianglu Nannuoshan Mountain Hotel, Nan Shan Yin Hotel, and Moonlight Village, as well as facilities such as observation decks and tourist toilets. The Party branch mobilized the public to contribute labor and raise funds to widen roads so that tour buses could reach Banpo Laozhai directly; it invested over 3 million yuan in “one county, one industry” project funds to construct a 1,500-meter tea garden trail in Banpo Laozhai, increasing the number of tourists visiting the Tea King Tree from over 6,000 to over 60,000 per year.
With the growing popularity of the Tea King Tree sightseeing route, villagers opened homestays and worked as guides, or took up jobs at hotels and restaurants, seeing steady increases in income. Every household built impressive traditional dwellings, living prosperous lives. Bian Da Jia, owner of the Nannuoshan Tea Courtyard Homestay, which has five floors and twelve rooms, has seen a booming business since opening, with guests filling up almost every day.
Currently, Nannuoshan Village has 21 homestay hotels and 23 farmhouses, generating over 400,000 yuan in additional income for villagers. Just during the summer of this year, the village received over 20,000 visitors.