On April 6th, the Spring Tea harvest festival was held on the ancient tea mountain of Nanuo Mountain in Gelanghe Township, attracting numerous tourists and tea merchants. Themed around “Spring in Menghai, Sharing the Aroma of Tea,” the event showcased the area's rich tea culture and tourism resources, bringing new vitality to rural revitalization and economic development.
The event site was bustling with activity. Activities such as tea frying competitions, cultural fairs, Hani specialty foods, and Hani song and dance performances allowed visitors and tea merchants to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of Nanuo Mountain.
Nanuo Mountain is just 25 kilometers from Xishuangbanna Gasa International Airport and located within a half-hour traffic circle between Jinghong and Menghai, making it easily accessible to tourists. Exploring ancient tea gardens, tasting ancient Tree teas, and enjoying Hani cuisine have become must-do activities for many visitors to Nanuo Mountain.
Tourist Mr. Ma: I come from Shanghai and visited here about seven or eight years ago. I find the air here very fresh, the climate pleasant, and the tea excellent and healthy – all from ancient trees. The locals are very friendly, and when I leave, I always buy some tea to take home for my relatives and friends.
It is understood that Nanuo Mountain boasts abundant ancient tea tree resources, covering a total area of 36,000 mu (approximately 24,000 acres), including 12,000 mu (approximately 8,000 acres) of ancient tea gardens, making it the largest in terms of ancient tea area among all the ancient tea mountains in Yunnan. The history of tea cultivation here is long-standing, with every household engaged in tea planting and processing, earning it the reputation of being the “Global First Village of Ancient Tea.” In Banpo Laozhai village of Nanuo Mountain, there is an 800-year-old cultivated ancient tea tree known as the “Tea King Tree,” which attracts many visitors.
In recent years, Nanuo Mountain Village has leveraged its beautiful natural scenery and rich Hani ethnic culture, developing a range of consumption models themed around tea, such as “tea + sightseeing tourism,” “tea + leisure tourism,” and “tea + educational tourism.” It has explored the integrated development of tea, culture, and tourism, transforming tea villages into scenic areas, tea gardens into tourist attractions, farmhouses into guesthouses, and tea mountains into gold mines. It has been recognized as a national model village for “One Village, One Product” and a national rural special industry billion-yuan village.
Tea farmer Wang Hai Mei: The tea production at our home this year has been good overall. Our tea garden covers about 50 mu (approximately 33 acres), and we can sell out our tea every year. In recent years, more and more people have been visiting Nanuo Mountain for tourism, and more people are buying tea, leading to increased income.
In the future, Nanuo Mountain will actively develop projects integrating primary, secondary, and tertiary industries related to the ancient tea mountain, promoting the development of agriculture, culture, and tourism to increase local incomes. It will also strengthen public infrastructure construction in a way that suits local conditions, ensuring continuous protection of the ancient tea mountain during development.
Deputy Party Secretary and Governor of the Prefectural Committee Dao Wen, Menghai County leaders Gao Jiangquan, Yan Shu, Gang Tu, Yue Dianyong, and responsible officials from relevant departments of the prefectural committee attended the event.