Stepping into the Mezijing Tea Mountain in Xiaomengtong Town, Yongde County, tender Green Tea leaves quietly unfurl at the tips of branches, gradually spreading out under gentle sunlight and bursting with vitality. Laughter and joy fill the tea groves as the tea farmers skillfully pick the leaves, Painting a picturesque rural scene of industrious harvest.
Visiting Mezijing Village once more, I am still captivated by the integrity culture embedded within. Vivid integrity-themed murals and richly meaningful integrity landscapes integrate visual integrity elements into the village construction. Walking through the scenery, integrity arises from the heart, and under the guidance of the tour guide, everyone embarks on an extraordinary journey of integrity culture.
“Mezijing Village has adopted the concept of integrating ‘integrity' and ‘scenery,' creating integrity walls, Pure Breeze Pavilion, Pure Heart Tea Room, and other tea-integrity cultural tourism landscapes that combine sightseeing, leisure, and education. This not only allows party members and villagers to be subtly influenced by integrity education, making the folkways more simple and the social atmosphere more upright, but also creates a strong atmosphere of integrity for rural revitalization. It broadens the path of integration between tea, travel, and integrity, enabling empowerment through integrity, prosperity through tea, and promotion of tea through travel,” explains tour guide Xiao Yang. In recent years, Mezijing Village has focused on integrity village development, promoting rural civilization, improving living environments, enhancing grassroots governance, and developing industries, continuously solidifying the foundation of the village and beautifying its appearance.
“Li Family Creed: Hold justice in your hands, bear righteousness on your shoulders; a gentleman loves wealth but obtains it according to principles.” “Zi Family Creed: Cultivate diligently, speak truthfully; conduct business fairly, be honest as a person.” In Mezijing Village, such family creeds are everywhere, displayed prominently at the entrance of each home, both encouraging self-discipline and guiding villagers to study, establish, and uphold their family rules. Under the leadership of good family traditions, the villagers' traditional virtues of respecting the elderly, caring for the young, helping each other, and living harmoniously have become widespread.
With upright family traditions, simple folkways, and clear social customs, the “secret code” for Mezijing Village's success is promoting governance through integrity. “In response to the characteristics of many projects, many tea processing workshops, abundant collective assets, and numerous affairs in the village, we have deepened and expanded the creation of ‘integrity villages' as demonstration points, integrating villagers' self-governance into the entire process of rural governance, and exploring a ‘five-management' working model,” the village Party secretary introduces. Relying on the ‘five-management' model, the management of the village's collective assets and village affairs is transparent. The Mezijing Village Professional Cooperative was established, with all 400 tea farmers in the village becoming members. They operate under a unified brand, packaging, and promotional strategy, maximizing the benefits for tea farmers, and villagers' incomes have grown, leading to increasingly prosperous lives.
“In our cooperation over the past few years, I have deeply felt the simplicity and sincerity of the Yongde tea farmers. There is no need to worry about quality issues with the tea, because I trust not only the quality of the tea here but also the character of the people,” says Ms. Qiao, a tea merchant from Lijiang.
Walking through the village along a path imbued with integrity, ascending to the Pure Breeze Pavilion, one can take in the entire core tea area of over 100 mu of ancient tea trees in the Mezijing pot-bottom pond. The unique geographical location and Soil environment give the tea here a distinctive fragrance. Standing in the Pure Breeze Pavilion, the pure breeze brings the aroma of tea, and amidst the rich scent, everyone concludes this feast of “tea” and “integrity.”
(By Li Jianhuan)