1,000-Year-Old Tea Trees Still Productive

Patches of ancient tea plantation, believed to be more than 1,000 year old, in southwest China's Yunnan Province, are still producing teas, and bringing benefit for local people.

The tea trees in one patch, each three to four meters high on average and 1.6 meters in diameter, cover an area of about 600 hectares in the mountainous areas in the Lahu Autonomous County of Lancang, southern Yunnan.

Inscriptions on a monument in Dai language reads that the trees were planted in the year of 696. From March to November every year, local people can collect tea four to five times from the trees, said Yan Shanyong, head of the Jingmai Village.

The tea from the trees tastes quite different from normal tea plantations, Yan said, adding that it is environmentally friendly as neither chemical fertilizer nor pesticides were used for them. The tea was also sold at a much higher price compared with ordinary tea. However, the average per ha output of the ancient trees was low , only 300 kg per hectare. Besides, the tea plantations have become a tourism attraction over the past few years, and this has also brought about benefit for local people.

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