Spring is in full swing, and the Tea trees are turning green. From afar, the sounds of joy and harvest can be heard in the tea gardens of Luma Deng Township, Fugong County, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. Upon closer look, a group of women dressed in traditional Lisu attire can be seen bustling about, carrying baskets as they move between the tea plants, picking Spring Tea—a lively scene of hard work.
“This year, the rain came early, and the tea trees have grown well, gradually sprouting new buds. Every day, we come early to the tea fields to pick the leaves, working from morning till night, hoping to get the spring tea to market as soon as possible for a good price,” said Wang Zaoye, a tea farmer who was picking tea at the time.
“In our Village, we have planted over 5,100 mu of tea trees, most of which are around 40 years old. In 2025, the income from selling fresh tea leaves reached 4 million yuan, with an average household income of 8,000 yuan. Four farmers' professional cooperatives in the village drove 16 Tea processing workshops, processing and selling a total of 35,600 catties of ecological tea last year, achieving a total output value of 7.12 million yuan,” said Li Zhongcheng, Party branch secretary and head of the village committee of Chisadi Village.
In recent years, Luma Deng Township has leveraged its resource and ecological advantages, continuously consolidating and expanding the achievements of poverty alleviation, guiding the people to be enthusiastic about tea picking and skilled in tea management. It has been constantly cultivating and expanding the tea industry, establishing a mechanism to link farmers and the industry, and extending the tea industry chain. Currently, the township has 10,200 mu of tea plantations, with 8,600 mu available for harvesting. On average, each person in the township grows 0.6 mu of tea. In 2025, the township relied on industries such as tea to increase the income of the people by 130 million yuan, with an average per capita increase of 7,647 yuan. Tea has truly become the “golden leaf” for increasing the wealth of the people.
(Government of Luma Deng Township, Fugong County)