In recent years, Yunnan Province has continuously transformed its resource advantages into strengths for green development, driving the growth of the Yun Tea industry. These tiny leaves clearly embody the concept of “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.” How can we continue to consolidate the advantages of Yun tea? In my opinion, we should focus on quality and safety, brand cultivation, and industrial integration to enable “small tea leaves” to make a “big splash.”
To enhance quality, we must ensure product safety. Green is the foundation of Yun tea's development, and we need to adhere to a green development path without compromising on quality and safety. Firstly, we should promote green supply. We should improve tea garden infrastructure, support the improvement of low-efficiency tea gardens, comprehensively implement green production in tea gardens, and promote a transformation towards green and low-carbon production methods to create an “ecological tea.” Secondly, we should standardize production. We should guide tea enterprises to adopt clean and standardized production practices, strengthen supervision of the quality and safety of tea products during production, processing, and sales, and create a “reassuring tea.” Thirdly, we should implement digital traceability. We should actively develop and utilize anti-counterfeiting label technologies, the Internet of Things, blockchain technologies, and other means to establish a Yun tea quality and safety traceability system and create a “transparent tea.”
To build distinctive brands, we must follow the path of core competitiveness. In recent years, Yunnan has established a Yun tea brand system based on Pu'er tea and Yunnan black tea (Dianhong), but there are many “product names” and few well-known “brands” or leading enterprises. Firstly, we should advance the recognition of geographical indications, encourage and support various regions to apply for Geographical indication registrations, and strengthen protection of geographical indication intellectual property rights. Secondly, we should focus on cultivating Yun tea brands. We should continue to conduct “Top 10 Famous Teas” selection activities, promote the review and recognition of Yun tea as “Yunnan Time-honored Brands” and “Intangible Cultural Heritage,” and build a cluster of Yun tea brands. Thirdly, we should increase promotional efforts. We should make full use of traditional media, online media, and new media to highlight Yun tea brands such as “Pu'er tea,” “Yunnan black tea (Dianhong),” and “Changning Red,” and strengthen social promotion and brand building from all angles.
To promote industrial integration, we must play the Yun Tea culture card. The ancient tea trees that thrive continuously, the winding ancient tea horse road, and the Bai ethnic three-course tea ceremony… Yunnan's rich ethnic tea culture, combined with unique natural scenery, local customs, and food in tea-producing areas, holds great potential. On one hand, we should tell the stories of Yun tea, delve deeply into Yunnan's abundant ethnic tea cultural resources, encourage various regions to host distinctive tea-related events, create a series of tea cultural works with distinct characteristics, and promote the creative transformation and innovative development of tea culture. On the other hand, we should promote the integration of tea, Tourism, and culture, relying on ancient tea gardens, tea mountains, ethnic villages, the ancient tea horse road, and other sites, and combining them with Yunnan's list of tourist attractions to create a number of small towns, beautiful villages, and tea estates that integrate tea production, tea culture, health, and leisure, thereby enhancing the brand and cultural added value of Yun tea. At the same time, focusing on needs related to “eating, lodging, travel, sightseeing, shopping, and entertainment,” we should promote mutual penetration, integration, and innovative reconstruction between the tea industry, local culture, and diverse industries, driving the continuous growth and development of the cultural tourism industry.
Author: Fan Lei