Legend has it that in 1476, the Hani ancestors of Lao Ban Zhang village—the Aini people—migrated here from the adjacent Gelanghe Mountain. The generous Bulang ancestors of Lao Man E village, responding to the request of the arriving Aini people, ceded the mountains, forests, farmland, and the centuries-old tea trees covering the hills around Lao Ban Zhang village to the migrant Aini people. In gratitude, the Aini people of Lao Ban Zhang, from their founding ancestors until the late 1990s, offered annual tributes of grain seeds and livestock to Lao Man E village, symbolizing their everlasting remembrance of the Bulang people's kindness.
Around 1800 and again around 1950, due to a booming population, Lao Ban Zhang village experienced two outward migrations. The group that moved away 60 years ago settled about 20 kilometers away, separated by a mountain. To distinguish themselves from their place of origin, they named their new settlement "Xin Ban Zhang" (New Ban Zhang), and called the old village "Lao Ban Zhang" (Old Ban Zhang).
The term "Ban Zhang" originates from the Dai language: "Ba Zha", meaning "a fish". It was transliterated into Chinese as "Ban Zhang". This is the meaning of Ban Zhang and the origin of Xin and Lao Ban Zhang.
◎Records indicate that around 300 AD, the location of present-day Lao Ban Zhang village was already the ancestral territory of the Bulang people from Lao Man E village. The thousand-year-old arbor tea trees, still thriving and scattered throughout the ancient tea gardens of Lao Ban Zhang village, bear witness to this historical change.
◎Legend has it that in 1476, the Hani ancestors of Lao Ban Zhang village—the Aini people—migrated here from the adjacent Gelanghe Mountain. The generous Bulang ancestors of Lao Man E village, responding to the request of the arriving Aini people, ceded the mountains, forests, farmland, and the centuries-old tea trees covering the hills around Lao Ban Zhang village to the migrant Aini people. In gratitude, the Aini people of Lao Ban Zhang, from their founding ancestors until the late 1990s, offered annual tributes of grain seeds and livestock to Lao Man E village, symbolizing their everlasting remembrance of the Bulang people's kindness.
◎Around 1800 and again around 1950, due to a booming population, Lao Ban Zhang village experienced two outward migrations. The group that moved away 60 years ago settled about 20 kilometers away, separated by a mountain. To distinguish themselves from their place of origin, they named their new settlement "Xin Ban Zhang" (New Ban Zhang), and called the old village "Lao Ban Zhang" (Old Ban Zhang).
◎In March 1954, Brown Mountain, which administratively covers Lao Ban Zhang village, established the nation's only Brown Ethnic Township People's Government. The Aini people of Lao Ban Zhang village thus ended their centuries-old historical tradition of being ruled solely by the "Long Batou" (tribal head) and believing in spirits and shamans.
◎In 1987, Lao Ban Zhang village implemented the household contract responsibility system, allocating farmland, tea land, and mountain land per person. This ended the Aini people's generations of poverty, where hunting and farming led to shortages of food and clothing, and ushered in an era of adequate food and clothing for all.
◎In 1992, the entire village of Lao Ban Zhang pooled tens of thousands of yuan, with all able-bodied adults contributing labor. They carried hundreds of cement utility poles on their backs and shoulders up Brown Mountain via paths through the primitive forest, ending the generations of "darkness" illuminated only by fireplaces and pine resin.
◎In 2002, the government built a rural road connecting Lao Ban Zhang village to the outside world, ending the village's millennia of isolation. Since then, the thousand-year-old Lao Ban Zhang tea, long hidden in the deep mountains, gradually became known to the outside world. Its unique quality became increasingly appreciated, and its value became apparent. By 2007, the over 100 tea-farming households in Lao Ban Zhang village had an average annual income of nearly 100,000 yuan per household, having moved beyond mere温饱 (adequate food and clothing) into小康 (a relatively comfortable life).