The Hekaigu Ancient Tea Mountain is located in Menghai County, Menghai City, Yunnan Province, with an area of about 20,000 mu (about 3,333 acres) of ancient tea trees, of which about 16,000 mu (about 2,667 acres) are contiguous. There are over 2.3 million ancient tea trees, making it one of the largest and best-preserved contiguous areas of ancient tea mountains in China. As the only ancient tea garden selected into the "Beautiful Chinese Countryside" list, it is highly valued.
The Hekaigu Ancient Tea Garden is a highly condensed picture of Menghai's tea planting history. According to historical records, the history of the Hekaigu Ancient Tea Garden dates back more than 1,000 years, with the tea trees initially planted by the Blang ethnic group ancestors. About 500 years ago, after the Blang people migrated away, the Lahu ethnic group moved to the Hekaigu area and, based on the existing tea plantation, began to expand the scale of tea cultivation. Under the protection of generations of Lahu people, this eventually formed the current large contiguous tea garden. Each ancient tree exudes a strong, steady force, as if telling the story of Pu'er tea through time.
The Lahu people, who rely on tea cultivation for their livelihood, have a reverence for nature flowing in their hearts. They believe that all things have spirits, and the ancient tea trees, along with the surrounding forest vegetation, have been preserved intact, highlighting the ecological ethics and ecological wisdom of ethnic minorities in understanding, respecting, and utilizing nature over hundreds of years.
By guarding these ancient tea mountains and new tea gardens, their lives have been improving day by day because of tea. On the path of rural revitalization, the stability and development of this border Lahu village has become more assured. "We have loved drinking tea since we were young, and we drink it every day. Tea has become a part of our life," said Zawa, the group leader of Banzao Village, Hekaigu Village, with deep emotion. Zawa's family has a total of 350 ancient tea trees, and their income last year was around 90,000 yuan. "More than twenty years ago, we never imagined we could have such a happy and prosperous life. We need to better protect this tea garden," said Zawa.
How can the simple ecological philosophy of ethnic minority groups be integrated into the protection of ancient tea trees, achieving reasonable utilization and moderate development?
Menghai County has taken multiple measures, including implementing legislative protection and scientific planning, formulating and promoting the management, plucking, and maintenance standards for ancient tea gardens, adhering to and improving the ancient tea tree protection area and ancient tea tree management system, incorporating ancient tea tree protection into the "Village Rules and Conventions," and practicing protective plucking. These actions have effectively strengthened the protection and sustainable development of ancient tea tree resources, with the goal of building Menghai into a modern Pu'er tea industry demonstration county.
The person in charge of the Menghai County Tea Technology Service Center introduced, "As a pilot and demonstration project for the protection of ancient tea trees in Menghai County, the protection work in the Hekaigu Ancient Tea Garden has been carried out for more than 10 years. We have increased comprehensive technical management efforts, reviving the vigor of ancient tea trees, and the protection area has expanded year by year. We emphasize guiding the masses to implement scientific and standardized management, without using pesticides, chemical fertilizers, or excessive human intervention, all for the purpose of ensuring the continuity and inheritance of this tea garden."
Through years of continuous efforts, the Hekaigu Ancient Tea Garden has an excellent ecological environment and has built a relatively complete ecological chain. On the gnarled ancient tea trees, there are many symbiotic plants, such as mosses, vines, epiphytic orchids, and crab's feet plants. Each tea tree is like a plant kingdom, displaying the harmonious coexistence of biodiversity in its micro-plant landscape.
"Since last year, in the more than 20,000 mu of the Hekaigu tea garden, villagers have spontaneously organized and intercropped more than 120,000 wax gourds, camphor trees, cherry trees, and Michelia flowers, among others. The villagers have realized that where there are trees, there will be water, and the tea leaves will grow better, ensuring the quality and price of the tea," said Yang Zezhong, the director of the Hekaigu Village Committee.
"Currently, the villagers practice protective plucking, adopting methods such as spring and autumn plucking, leaving the tea trees to grow in summer, plucking in different areas, and plucking every other year to protect this tea garden. In the next step, we will continue to increase publicity and provide scientific management training. Through joint patrols by forest rangers and villagers in the tea mountains and surrounding forests, as well as village rules and conventions for protection, we will make every effort to guard the wealth left by our ancestors," said Yang Zezhong.
As the construction of the ancient tea tree protection pilot progresses, the reputation of the Hekaigu Ancient Tea Garden has also grown. The first batch of ancient tea tree geographic indication certification has been completed, with each ancient tea tree having a file and a label for management, allowing access to information such as the owner, canopy size, and age. Annual dynamic monitoring of data and soil pollution pH levels is conducted to understand the growth status of the ancient tea trees in real-time, ensuring that the ancient tea trees receive more precise "protection."
Walking into the Hekaigu Ancient Tea Garden, a Lahu girl climbs onto the branches of an ancient tea tree, gently plucking a touch of tender green leaves and placing them in the bamboo basket slung over her shoulder, her expression full of joy. "There is tea in the forest, a village in the tea, the tea grows in the village, and the tea and village blend together" – a harmonious picture of ecological beauty, industrial prosperity, and people's affluence is unfolding.