In recent years, Leishan County has leveraged the assistance from the Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The institute's party secretary serves as the group leader, and seven experienced experts have been arranged to work with two local tea industry professionals from Leishan County to form the Leishan County Tea Industry Advisory Group. This group actively provides guidance for the development of the tea industry in Leishan, effectively promoting high-quality development of the industry.
First, proactive connections are made to learn from advanced experiences. Active engagement with the advisory group has led to delegations being organized to visit Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Songyang, Zhuji, and other places to study the advanced experiences of tea industry development. By learning from these experiences, Leishan County is standardizing its brand management. Adhering to the principle of “six unifications”—unified trademark use, unified production technology, unified quality standards, unified product packaging, unified guidance on Pricing, and unified brand promotion—the public brands like Leishan Silver Ball Tea are being managed uniformly. Currently, a “Leishan Silver Ball Tea” Brand Management Service Center has been established, and management systems such as the “Silver Ball” Trademark Paid Usage Fund Management Method have been put in place. Work is underway on granting public brand trademark authorizations and standardizing product packaging designs.
Second, technical guidance is standardized to ensure industrial technical support. Leveraging the technical advantages of the advisory group, in-depth technical guidance and training on processing Leishan Silver Ball Tea and Leishan Black Tea have been provided to key tea-producing villages such as Jiaoyao Village in Xijiang Town, Queniao Village in Fangxiang Township, and Nanmeng Village in Langde Town, as well as companies including Leishan Cloud Tip Tea Co., Ltd., Jiaoyao Tea Co., Ltd., Maokexi Tea Co., Ltd., and Miao Family Spring Tea Co., Ltd. Additionally, capitalizing on Leishan County's ecological resource advantages, the advisory group has helped Leishan launch the construction of eco-low-carbon tea gardens at the provincial level in Guizhou Province. Since last year, the advisory group has provided 140 instances of technical guidance and training on tea garden management and tea processing. They have also helped cultivate three senior talents in tea making and tea appraisal in Leishan County. Leishan County has been included among the first pilot counties nationwide for the comprehensive promotion of eco-low-carbon tea.
Third, structural adjustments are optimized to broaden the industrial layout. Based on the actual conditions in Leishan County and combined with the experiences of the tea industry in Zhejiang Province as well as the “White Leaf No. 1” project in Leishan County, the advisory group has provided technical guidance to optimize the adjustment of tea tree varieties. Meanwhile, they have provided white tea management techniques in Nanmeng Village, Langde Town, which is a national rural revitalization bureau assistance point, as well as in Yiyi Village and Gaoyan Village in Datang Town, offering comprehensive technical support for white tea planting and management in Leishan County. Currently, Leishan County has over 8,000 mu (approximately 533 hectares) of white tea plantations, effectively driving a diversified layout of tea products.
Fourth, cultural exploration is deepened to empower value enhancement of products. Focusing on the main theme of integrating tea, culture, and tourism in Leishan County, tea arts and tea ceremonies with distinctive Miao ethnic elements have been created. These are closely linked to the historical origins of Tang and Song dynasty tuan teas and the development history of Leishan Silver Ball Tea, further enriching the cultural stories of Leishan County's tea. Currently, more than 20 Miao ethnic tea culture songs have been collected and collated, two premium tea culture stories have been crafted, and one tea art stage performance program has been created, all based on the history of Leishan's Miao ethnic culture and tea industry development.