At 9 a.m. on August 4, Tan Xianglan delved into the lush Tea bushes, pinching a tender tea bud between her thumb and index finger, smiling as she demonstrated to over thirty other tea pickers: “Everyone should snap it like I do; you must not pinch it. Only by snapping can the harvested tea maintain its quality!”
Tea leaves (file photo)
Tan Xianglan, 51 years old, is from Longquan Village, Changchi Town, Nanjiang County, Bazhong City. Due to poverty in her childhood, she dropped out of school at an early age. From the moment she carefully kneaded her first handful of tea, she knew that her life would be inseparable from tea. With sheer determination, Tan Xianglan worked tirelessly for decades, transforming from an obscure peasant woman into a prominent tea grower in Nanjiang. Her life has become increasingly prosperous. While doing tea business, she realized that the high-quality and excellent-tasting Nanjiang tea could indeed lead to prosperity for local residents. She also led her neighbors towards a path of wealth and rural revitalization.
She still remembers a day in 2018 when a customer contacted her to order eight pounds of tea. For the then-struggling Tan Xianglan, this was a significant order. However, her shop had just sold out of tea. Tan Xianglan went around buying fresh tea leaves but failed to collect the quantity the customer required. She watched helplessly as the deal slipped away. Since then, she vowed to have her own tea plantation.
With the support of national poverty alleviation strategies and pro-Agriculture policies, she rented over 150 acres of land in Longquan Village in early 2019 to start large-scale tea cultivation. Recalling those arduous times, Tan Xianglan shed tears of both hardship and happiness: “I had to pay high prices to hire people to clear tall shrubs and weeds, and steep barren slopes needed expensive excavator work. In scorching heat, I ate my home-cooked meals with the workers, always calculating how much money to spend each day and how much to save, all while fearing failure. I had to manage the tea garden while also going out to learn from experienced tea farmers.”
Tan Xianglan established a standard Nanjiang large-leaf tea base covering 200 acres and a honeysuckle plantation spanning 120 acres in Longquan Village. She personally oversaw planting, fertilizing, picking, and pruning. After several years of development, the results are evident, with the tea garden now producing 4,000 pounds of high-quality tea annually.
Talking about her experience growing tea, Tan Xianglan shares her insights: The large-leaf tea picking season starts from late March and continues until mid-October; large-leaf tea picked between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. has a strong orchid fragrance; new leaves should never be pinched but snapped instead; only full dedication to tea cultivation can bring substantial returns…
Today, Tan Xianglan has founded a company that follows organic standards throughout production and management. It has set up two production lines utilizing light waves and microwaves in the Dongyu Industrial Park of Nanjiang County. The company, which integrates tea production, processing, wholesale, and retail sales, has an annual output value of over four million yuan, with products sold across China and even overseas. The tea garden has also brought changes to the village. During peak picking seasons, it employs over thirty villagers daily, earning them between 150 and 240 yuan per day. Additionally, it has encouraged neighboring villages to plant over 2,000 acres of tea, capable of producing 20 tons of high-quality Green Tea, 2 tons of Black Tea, and 20 tons of honeysuckle annually.
“As long as one works diligently and thinks creatively, loving and excelling in their chosen field, they will surely achieve their dreams,” Tan Xianglan says in the tea processing workshop.