In recent years, Wugang has actively embraced the concept that green waters and green mountains are as valuable as gold and silver. It has focused on improving quality and strengthening brands while innovatively developing its tea industry, paving a path for sustainable, green, and healthy development.
The ancient city of Wugang, a blessed land, is located on the eastern slope of the Xuefeng Mountains and upstream of the Zi River, often referred to as the “Tea Village of Wugang.” As early as the beginning of the Kangxi era in the Qing Dynasty, the famous Wugang tea “Yunshan Bud Tea” was designated as tribute tea. Currently, Wugang City has a tea plantation area of 20,680 mu, with an annual production of about 936 tons of raw tea, successfully creating more than twenty series under three types of tea brands: green and black tea. These eco-friendly tea gardens have become the “green banks” for the income growth and prosperity of local residents.
In Chitang Village, Dengyuantai Town, the Hanling Tea Garden features rows of tea bushes winding through lush greenery, undulating continuously. Tea farmers move busily among them, presenting a bustling scene of tea picking. The Hanling Tea Garden has a long history, unique tea quality, and a rich tea culture. Covering approximately 700 mu, it is a high-standard, large-scale demonstration tea garden, now home to over ten tea varieties, including Yushun, Baihao Early, and Bixiang Early.
Producing Qingming tea is a distinctive feature of the Hanling Tea Garden. Qingming tea, harvested from tender buds during the Qingming period, is the first batch of tea in the new year. Spring temperatures are moderate, and rainfall is abundant, resulting in tea leaves with a bright green color and soft texture. Spring tea is generally free from pest damage and does not require pesticide use, making it unpolluted and rich in various vitamins and amino acids. It boasts a high fragrance and mellow taste, uniquely elegant, and is considered the best of the year.
The Panjiashuo Tea Garden was once part of the horticultural field's business scope and was later contracted by villager Pan Yuandong after the reform and opening up, a position he has held for over thirty years. Through his meticulous cultivation over many years, the plantation has grown to cover more than two hundred mu, with an annual output value of nearly one million yuan. Pan Yuandong has won multiple awards in the Shaoxing City Handmade Tea Competition and is known as a “tea doctor” in Wugang. He excels in making black and green tea, with his “Duliang Tip” being one of the top ten specialties of Wugang. Another variety, “Wugang Silver Needle,” is highly favored by consumers, commanding a market price of nearly one thousand yuan per catty, and remains in short supply.
The Dianling Tea Garden in Tianxinqiao Village, Dengyuantai Town, spans over 260 mu and is located downstream of the Weixi Reservoir. The air here is fresh, ideal for tea plant growth. Currently, the tea garden grows seven varieties, including Baihao Soap, Gold Tea, Chuye Qi, and Bixiang Early. There are around eighty tea pickers working there daily, with numbers peaking at over one hundred. The tea garden provides seasonal employment for over twenty registered poor households in nearby villages, with young women earning between 150 to 180 yuan per day from picking tea leaves.
To further increase the yield and quality of tea, in 2018, the company invested nearly one million yuan to build a new Tea processing workshop and acquire new tea-making equipment. This allows for the processing of over 1,000 catties of fresh tea leaves daily, with an annual production capacity of over 100,000 catties. Fresh buds go through a series of processes such as spreading out, killing green, kneading, stir-drying, drying, and aroma enhancement before being made into finished products. When steeped in boiling water, the leaves unfurl, releasing a fragrant aroma.
Shuojinping Township is situated at a higher elevation. After the founding of New China, large-scale tea planting began, sparking a vibrant green industrial revolution. Villagers Deng Shengxiong, Lu Mingliang, and others broke with tradition, transforming the abandoned “Red Broken Tea Garden” into new tea gardens and repeatedly experimented with blending formulas. The Qianliu tree (Cyclocarya paliurus) has health benefits, including lowering “three highs” (high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol), due to its rich content of polysaccharides, triterpenoids, and other substances, giving it a slightly sweet taste. To improve the taste of the Qianliu tree, Deng Shengxiong and others conducted years of experiments, creating the unparalleled Duliang black tea – the “Golden Jiangnan” in the Teacups of Wugang people – finding the perfect partner for the Qianliu tree. When prepared according to a specific ratio and optimal water temperature, the tea has an excellent color and aroma, retaining the unique health benefits of the Qianliu tree while highlighting the sweetness of the black tea, truly a “dynamic duo” among Wugang teas.
In May 2021, the Shaoxing City Radio and Television Station's Rural Revitalization Work Team arrived in Datian Village, Dengjiapu Town, and successfully transplanted Yunnan arbor tea trees in the village. Arbor tea trees are precious tree species that survived from the glacial period. There is a history of transplanting these trees in major tea-producing areas across the country, but none have been successful. This transplanting in Shaoyang is the first successful case in China. To encourage villagers to participate in the development of the ancient tea industry, the work team proposed the concept of “creating operable fixed assets,” adopting a model where villagers purchase tea trees, with the company providing management, processing, and sales services, turning the arbor tea into a “cash cow” for villagers. At the same time, they sought external partners to enable the arbor tea from the mother garden to take root and flourish in more places.
Villager Zeng Luoyin had cultivated fields, leased land, raised chickens and ducks, and farmed fish, making him a capable person in the village. Zeng Luoyin marvels at how sudden his happiness has come; he estimates that the arbor tea in his hands will generate an economic benefit of 100,000 yuan next year, with annual increases thereafter. Today, the ancient tea industry is gradually becoming a pillar industry for the prosperity and income growth of villagers in Dengjiapu Town, contributing to rural revitalization.
In recent years, Wugang has aimed to accelerate the construction of a special food industry city in southwestern Hunan, vigorously implementing a development strategy of “strengthening industries through brands and quality.” It has formulated and implemented policies such as the “Wugang City Tea Industry Development Plan” and related supportive measures. Relying on agricultural research platforms, it has increased innovation and research and development, accelerated the transformation of scientific achievements, improved the technological content and added value of tea products, and created superior, greener, and more efficient clusters of tea industry advantages. At the same time, it has innovated development models, combining the tea industry with promoting all-region tourism and rural revitalization, driving farmer income growth and enhancing the effectiveness and potential of rural revitalization.