Bingdao Old Village is situated on the mid-slope of the northern section of the Bangma Mountains. In the past, taking the old path from the Nannong River to Bingdao Old Village required at least 40 minutes of climbing. Now, a dirt road reaches the village, making access much easier.
The Dai villagers of Bingdao have always called their village "Biandao" or "Bingdao." The Dai language offers two interpretations: 'the place that sends moss' or 'the place with a bamboo fence as the village gate.' Bingdao currently has 52 households: 25 Dai families, 5 Lahu families, and the rest Han Chinese.
The Dai people migrated from Mengmao (present-day Ruili) to Bingdao at least 600 years ago. By 1480, when the new Dai chieftain Han Tingfa took office in Mengmeng, the village of Bingdao (Biandao) already existed. In 1485, Han Tingfa sent Dai people from Bingdao to Xishuangbanna to obtain tea seeds, making Bingdao the first Dai village in Mengku to cultivate tea.
A hundred years ago, Bingdao was entirely Dai. Many Dai in Bingdao bear the surname Feng and were related to the upper nobility in the Dai villages of the Mengku basin. Bingdao's Dai villagers still speak the Dai language today. Counting from 1485, when tea seeds were brought from Xishuangbanna, the Dai of Bingdao have been growing tea for over 500 years. During the rule of the Mengmeng chieftains, many villages in Mengku obtained tea seeds from Bingdao. Before the administrative reform in Shuangjiang (1904), when the Mengmeng Dai chieftains gifted tea or tea seeds externally, they always used Bingdao tea. A century ago, Bingdao was one of only two Dai tea-growing villages in Shuangjiang (Mengmeng), the other being Mangbo. Bingdao tea, introduced under the order of Chieftain Han Tingfa, held a very high status, essentially serving as the exclusive tea for the Mengmeng Dai chieftains. The Bingdao tea gardens were akin to the chieftains' private estates, noble gardens. The Mengmeng Dai chieftains ruled Mengku for over 400 years. Under their attention and care, Bingdao tea had already gained widespread fame before the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty. Bingdao tea played a significant foundational and driving role in the later reputation of Mengku tea both domestically and internationally.
The Dai population in Bingdao was larger during the Qing Dynasty than it is now. Before 1904, Bingdao had a large-scale Buddhist temple, indicating a substantial Dai population during the Qing period. Han Chinese began settling in Bingdao after the administrative reform of 1904. While records of the exact acreage of tea gardens in Bingdao before 1949 are unavailable, the fact that Yunnan tea technicians Gong Huiying and Xiao Shiying conducted surveys in Bingdao in 1953 and 1954, and a tea primary processing station was established there in 1958, suggests a high tea output at the time—high enough to warrant such a facility. No new tea gardens were planted in Bingdao between 1950 and 1958.
Bingdao is not far from Mengtuo in Lincang. Before 1949, most Bingdao residents carried their tea to sell at Mengtuo market, where merchants from Boshang specifically purchased Bingdao tea. Mengtuo had many Dai people who exclusively drank Bingdao tea.
Dai villagers in Bingdao say that during the chieftains' rule, tea seeds from Bingdao could not be taken out of Mengku without the chieftain's permission. When other villages requested seeds, the quantity was allocated by the chieftain. This account reveals that the Bingdao tea gardens were treated like the private property of the Mengmeng Dai chieftains, with the distribution of seeds controlled by them.
Mengku was ruled by the Mengmeng Dai chieftains before 1904. It is entirely credible that various villages in Mengku obtained or received tea seeds from Bingdao. Starting from Han Tingfa, successive Mengmeng chieftains vigorously promoted tea cultivation, so much so that by the time of the administrative reform, almost every village in the Mengku mountainous areas had tea gardens.
The Bingdao tea gardens also served as a breeding base for the Dai chieftains, who had the responsibility and duty to distribute tea seeds to various villages. However, the claim that Bingdao Dai village was the earliest tea-growing settlement in Mengku is not credible. The Bulang people settled in Mengku at least two thousand years earlier than the Dai. The Bulang around Gongnong had been cultivating tea in the Mengku mountains at least since before the Tang Dynasty.
As an ancient source of tea seeds in Shuangjiang, Bingdao caught the attention of national and provincial tea research institutes starting in 1953 after the founding of New China. The superior quality of Bingdao tea seeds has consistently been valued, with many renowned tea experts from within and outside the province visiting Bingdao. Over 20 counties in Yunnan, including Lincang, Fengqing, Yunxian, Zhenkang, and Menghai, have introduced Bingdao tea seeds. Bingdao tea has contributed to Yunnan's exported black tea and award-winning Pu-erh tea.
Bingdao, once the noble tea garden of the Mengmeng chieftains and a tea seed cultivation base during the Ming and Qing dynasties, has now transformed into a national base for cultivating and propagating superior tea varieties. After centuries of cultivation and selection, Bingdao tea has become one of the best varieties of Chinese large-leaf tea.
Before 1950, Bingdao Old Village was already surrounded by tea gardens. Starting in 1958, to increase yield, Shuangjiang County renovated and selectively improved the ancient tea gardens of Bingdao. After decades of this work, over 100 mu of the pre-1949 tea gardens remain, including two or three mother trees from the Ming Dynasty. These ancient trees grow near the village, visible right in front of villagers' homes. After 1958, an additional six to seven hundred mu of new tea gardens were planted. Compared to villages like Gongnong or Dahuasai, the total tea garden area in Bingdao Old Village is not vast, but as the number of households is relatively small, each family still possesses a considerable amount of tea land.
Bingdao tea enjoys a high reputation, faces no sales difficulties, and commands the highest prices in Mengku, comparable to teas from Yiwu in Xishuangbanna or Jingmai in Lancang. Despite the high prices, obtaining genuine Bingdao tea is not easy. In recent years, many tea merchants from Guangdong and Hong Kong travel to Bingdao village annually to personally purchase tea. Korean enthusiasts are particularly captivated by Bingdao's ancient tree tea, arriving in the village as soon as the spring buds appear and waiting under the trees to buy fresh leaves as farmers pick them.
The centuries-old historical depth of Bingdao tea should not be underestimated. Its driving force for Mengku and the entire Shuangjiang tea industry remains the greatest today. As long as Bingdao tea exists, Shuangjiang will always be a destination longed for by tea lovers. Looking back at history and thinking of those who contributed while drinking tea, the historical contribution of Mengmeng Chieftain Han Tingfa to Bingdao tea and Shuangjiang tea deserves recognition.