On an early winter day, a friend and I made plans to visit the “Tea King Night Market” in Shuhe Town, Menghai, to taste tea. Upon entering the “Tea King Night Market,” 108 different calligraphic styles of the character for “tea” greeted our eyes. Various teahouses and tea shops were everywhere; here, we found the most comprehensive selection of Menghai teas, including raw Pu'er, ripe Pu'er, loose leaf, cake, brick, and tuocha, among others. In the teahouses, there were tea merchants discussing business and friends who had arranged to enjoy tea together.
After walking into the “Tea King Night Market” and smelling the aroma of Menghai tea, it wasn't long before we arrived at the teahouse where we had planned to taste tea. Our host was Mr. A'shan. Walking into the teahouse, the Hani-style decor gave us a sense of nature, tranquility, and leisure. We sat down at the tea table, and a young woman dressed in Hani clothing skillfully broke apart the tea, warmed the cups, added the tea leaves, poured hot water, let the tea rest, brewed it, and decanted the infusion. Her movements were fluid and delightful to watch.
I held the Teacup in my hand and lightly inhaled the fragrance of the tea, lost in its charm.
At this moment, a man from the neighboring table came over to greet me. After a closer look, I recognized him as Brother Lahu Zha from Banpen Old Village, in Hekai Town, Menghun. As we sipped our tea and chatted, Brother Lahu Zha's face radiated with happiness and confidence. He said, “The ancient tree tea from Banpen Old Village is of high quality, and sales are good. The income of tea farmers has been increasing. The unique flavor of Banpen Old Village's ancient tree tea is deeply loved by tea enthusiasts. Boss A'shan comes to the village every year to purchase tea, and we have been old friends for many years.”
Accompanied by the chill of winter, sipping a warm Cup of tea, a wave of warmth filled my heart. The unique flavor of Menghai tea sent my thoughts soaring, and the scene of my first visit to Banpen Old Village appeared before my eyes.
In 1995, Banpen Old Village was the poverty alleviation project site for our unit, and each employee was paired with a household for targeted assistance. One day in December 1995, our organization arranged for employees to meet their paired households in Banpen Old Village. We traveled by car to Nadameng Reservoir, then by boat through the reservoir area, and finally walked into the village. Banpen Old Village was a Lahu village, and back then, only a rugged dirt path connected it to the outside world. That day, villagers welcomed us at the entrance to the village. According to the pairing numbers provided by our unit, I found my paired household, Brother Lahu Zha, number 64.
Following Brother Lahu Zha along the bumpy dirt road, I entered his low and simple bamboo house. His wife invited me to sit down. Looking around, the room was dimly lit and sparsely furnished. Before my arrival, I learned that Brother Lahu Zha had three boys, so I asked his wife about them. Following her finger, I saw the three children, wearing thin clothes, on the bamboo floor of the veranda. During our conversation, I discovered that they had dropped out of school to help their parents with farm work.
When guests come from afar, they are treated with tea. Sitting by the fire, his wife prepared Lahu-style roasted tea for me. She heated a small clay pot over the fire and placed fresh tea leaves inside to roast. When the leaves turned golden brown, she poured boiling water into the pot. The tea was then poured into a clay bowl, and instantly, the aroma of the tea filled the air, invigorating and refreshing. Roasted tea is a Lahu custom used to welcome guests. It was my first time drinking roasted tea; the flavor was strong and the aroma distinctive. His wife brought me some olives picked from the mountain to eat. Strings of green olives, still attached to the leaves, looked very appealing. I picked one and slowly chewed it, waiting until the olive juice came out before taking a sip of the roasted tea. The aftertaste was sweet and pleasant, offering a unique experience.
Before leaving, I gave them three sets of boys' clothes and ten bundles of noodles that I had prepared. His wife held my hand, thanked me in broken Chinese, and saw me off at the village entrance. My first visit to my paired household left a deep impression on me, from the hospitality of Brother and Sister Lahu Zha, the timid gaze of the children, to the poverty and backwardness of the village.
Banpen Old Village has more than 2,000 mu of ancient tree tea and a small amount of ecological tea gardens several decades old. At an altitude ranging from 1,600 to 1,750 meters, the area is often shrouded in mist and receives abundant rainfall, providing ideal conditions for the natural growth of ancient tea trees. Banpen Old Village and Hekai Ancient Tea Garden are on opposite hills, with both mountains in sight but tightly connected to the Laobanzhang Tea Garden in Bulang Mountain, only about one kilometer away. Therefore, they both belong to the Bulang Mountain tea region.
Tea is an important cash crop for the Lahu villagers of Banpen Old Village, and for a long time, each Lahu family guarded their own tea garden. At that time, the management of the village's tea gardens was primitive and rudimentary, with no techniques other than manual weeding. The tea yield was low, and there was no good market, resulting in low incomes for the villagers.
During our poverty alleviation efforts in Banpen Old Village, our unit actively sought national electric power poverty alleviation funds and livestock and human drinking water funds. We installed electricity to provide lighting and built water supply projects to solve drinking water problems for people and livestock. Lahu officials were dispatched to the village to assist villagers with their difficulties in daily life and production. Tea experts were also invited to the tea gardens to guide villagers in using scientific methods to manage the tea gardens and improve the quality of the tea. After three years of hard work, Banpen Old Village was lifted out of poverty in 1998, and the family of Brother Lahu Zha, whom I was paired with, achieved food security. Due to communication and transportation difficulties, we lost contact after that, and I didn't return to Banpen Old Village.
However, I have always been fond of the ancient tree tea from Banpen Old Village, which is restrained in character, has a mild bitterness, and offers a rich and sweet aftertaste.
Brother Lahu Zha told me that high mountains and mist produce fine tea. In recent years, villagers have improved the quality of the tea through scientific management of the tea gardens. Banpen tea has become the “golden leaf” for poverty alleviation and wealth creation, becoming a money-making tree for villagers. Nowadays, every household has built new houses and lives a happy life. His family constructed a two-story house and purchased cars and motorcycles. The dirt roads in the village have been paved with concrete and lead directly to the doorsteps, making travel in and out convenient. With increased contact between the village and the outside world, the newly constructed village gate is grand and imposing, reflecting the local ethnic characteristics.
My friend Mei said, “In September 2025, the Menghai Lahu Association's ‘Poverty Alleviation and Intellectual Support' working group entered Banpen Old Village. I participated in that poverty alleviation and intellectual support work and witnessed the profound changes that occurred in Banpen Old Village. My teammates and I spent more than four months teaching the villagers how to sing, dance, and manage finances. The villagers learned to sing and dance and formed a village performance troupe and a spinning top team.”
Today, under the care of the Party's policies for prosperity, Banpen Old Village has taken on a new look, and the Lahu villagers live a happy life.