You came from the mountains and your life springs from them. For thousands of years, the ancient mountains and the people who love these highlands have revered and cared for the mountains, nurturing and protecting them, living on ceaselessly.
Until today, reaching the pinnacle of the world.
After the rain, the clouds and mist of Jingmai Mountain seem to hang upside down between heaven and earth, draped across the sky. The ancient Tea forests connect the clouds and mist with the villages. From afar, it looks like a beautifully still ink painting.
Photographed by Hu Xueying
Even during the rainy season, visitors continue to flock to the Bulang Cultural Park in Mangjing Village, located in the core area of the UNESCO nomination for the cultural landscape of the ancient tea forests of Jingmai Mountain in Lancang Lahu Autonomous County. Every day, Teacher Su Guowen, aged 81, receives many tourists and scholars who come from all over to visit. The elderly man proudly states, “The ancient tea gardens we have today were left to us by our ancestors over a thousand years ago. The ancient tea gardens of a thousand years from now are the ecological tea gardens we plant today. We treat the ancient tea forests like our eyes, respecting, honoring, and inheriting the tea trees as part of our lives.”
“Treating the ancient tea forests like our eyes” is the legacy of Jingmai Mountain's Bulang tea ancestor “Pa Ailing,” which has echoed for a thousand years. Following this ancestral teaching, generations have taken up the long and determined task of protecting the tea forests.
Photographed by Lu He
Standing at a high point in Jingmai Village, Jingmai Dazhai, one can look out into the distance and see the mountains shrouded in mist, like a picturesque scene; looking closer, cars and motorcycles can be seen shuttling back and forth through the village. The Dai people drink tea and cook meals in their new-style stilt houses, leading a comfortable and prosperous life.
In the memory of Yan Sailuan, the Party branch secretary and director of Jingmai Village, the ancestors always treated the tea mountain as part of their own lives, caring for and protecting it with all their hearts. He says, “Everything we have comes from tea, so we must protect Jingmai Mountain well.”
Stepping into Yan Sailuan's ecological tea garden, one can still see the condensed wisdom of their ancestors in the planting methods – fruit trees are planted around the tea forests, and ripe fruits are offered to animals; weeds are removed by hand or with sickles, and camphor trees are planted in the tea forest to repel pests, or beneficial insects are cultivated to eat harmful ones, without using pesticides; village regulations and customs are followed, picking tea only in spring and autumn to ensure the tea trees receive ample photosynthesis and accumulate the nutrients contained in the tea leaves…
Photographed by Lu Lei
Today, Yan Sailuan and his fellow villagers have reaped the benefits of their persistent protection, living a prosperous life thanks to tea. As the work for the UNESCO nomination progresses, Yan Sailuan often hears the same phrase: “The value of your tea is going to skyrocket, you should pick and sell as much as possible!” Whenever this happens, Yan Sailuan waves his hands and says, “It's the tea that has given us our current life, so we need to take better care of it.”
Legislation elevates the protection of the mountains to another level.
On January 1, 2025, the “Regulations on the Protection of the Ancient Tea Forests and Cultural Landscape of Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er City” came into effect, implementing the strictest possible protection for the heritage area of Jingmai Mountain to ensure the continuation of the landscape structure where “mountains share forests, forests grow tea, and tea surrounds villages.”
Compared to the ancestral teachings and customary practices, local government departments have used the rule of law to push the protection of Jingmai Mountain to an entirely new height. They have revised and improved 27 regulations and rules targeting the protection of ancient tea forests, including the “Regulations on the Protection of Ancient Tea Tree Resources in Pu'er City” and the “Implementation Measures for the Protection Regulations of Jingmai Mountain in Lancang County, Yunnan Province.”
The legislative process has been progressively implemented, and the enforcement phase has not stopped either.
On July 21, 2025, the Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forest Protection Circuit Prosecution Office of Lancang County People's Procuratorate was established under the Administration Bureau for the Protection of the Ancient Tea Forests of Pu'er Jingmai Mountain. By conducting circuit prosecution, they have collaborated to promote the protection of the ecological environment, resources, and cultural relics of the ancient tea forests of Jingmai Mountain and support its UNESCO nomination. In December of the following year, the Lancang County People's Procuratorate established a public interest litigation case team for comprehensive management and historical and cultural heritage protection in Jingmai Mountain. Through cooperation with local governments, fire rescue, urban construction, and other departments, they have formed a “prosecution plus” mechanism to provide more comprehensive legal protection for Jingmai Mountain.
Photographed by Lu Lei
In recent years, the Lancang County People's Court has fully leveraged its judicial functions in promoting the ecological protection of the ancient tea forests of Jingmai Mountain. By imposing dual responsibilities of criminal penalties and alternative restoration fees, they have significantly contributed to environmental conservation efforts. Emphasizing the role of court decisions as examples, they have continuously increased legal awareness and publicity. Collaborating with the Lancang County Radio and Television Station, they produced the program “Rule of Law in the Lahu Mountains,” conducted circuit trials and legal lectures, and genuinely contributed judicial wisdom and strength to the protection of the ecological environment of the ancient tea forests of Jingmai Mountain.
To continuously improve the quality and effectiveness of legal supervision and extend the reach of ecological protection in Jingmai Mountain, the Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forest Ecological Protection Legal Service Point was established in Jingmai Village and Mangjing Village on August 30, 2025. This is a specific practice of the Pu'er Intermediate People's Court and the Lancang County People's Court, using the brand “Tea Law Green Net” to actively research the legal needs and applicable rules for the protection of the ancient tea forests and biodiversity in Jingmai Mountain. They provide legal dynamics and decision-making references for the protection of Jingmai Mountain through judicial recommendations and research reports.
On March 1, 2025, the “Regulations on the Protection of Ancient Tea Trees in Yunnan Province” officially came into effect, marking another significant step forward in the protection of ancient tea tree resources. Jingmai Mountain received even more comprehensive protection.
Xi Jin, a 24-year-old Dai girl from Nuogang Ancient Village, is a well-known “broadcaster.” “After the successful UNESCO nomination, every plant and tree on Jingmai Mountain, including ourselves, will become part of the heritage, making us even more precious. I will work harder to sell tea better and further afield.” Xi Jin embodies the unique spirit of the people of Jingmai Mountain – confident and enterprising.
Xi Jin is not the only one eagerly awaiting the successful nomination.
After the onset of autumn, Jingmai Mountain remains lush and green. In the crisscrossing ancient villages, the villagers lead a carefree life, while tourists from all directions roam freely, enjoying themselves to the fullest.