A view of Tangbu village in Xinchang county, Zhejiang province.(GT Photo)
When they pick their tea leaves, these villagers adhere to the "one sprout with one leaf" rule, which is the highest standard for selecting top-class tea. This is why the production of tea here is comparatively low.
Each villager can pick just 2 kilograms of the small tender tea sprouts in a day, but after being cooked and processed, this will only produce half a kilogram of tea. If a family of four works for a whole day, they will be able to produce no more than 2.5 kilograms of high-quality tea.
Villagers spend their entire day picking tea leaves in their plantations and they dine in the fields (GT Photo)
This time of year is vital for them because the mingqiancha tea they produce is their major source of income. These mornings at around 5 am, the tea trade city in Xinchang county gets extremely busy. All the trading in mingqiancha tea for the county is conducted here.
The Global Times saw that this year the average price for mingqiancha tea was around 220 yuan ($35.42) for half a kilogram. This is a fall of a third of the price the tea was fetching last year - a drop attributed to the central government's campaign for thriftiness.
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