China's Yunnan passes regulation on protecting centuries-old tea trees

Tea leaves are being dehydrated after preliminary selection in Laobanzhang Village of Menghai County in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province, May 30, 2020. (Xinhua/Wu Han)

KUNMING, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Yunnan Province has passed a protection regulation on its ancient tea trees, stipulating that wild and cultivated tea plants aged over 100 years should be better protected in the province.

The new regulation, which will come into force starting from March 1, 2023, prohibits six kinds of behaviors that harm ancient tea plants and their growing environment. Unauthorized cutting and transplantation of ancient tea trees, carving or snapping tree branches, digging the roots, and peeling the ancient tea trees are all banned.

Other illegal practices include but are not limited to using harmful growth regulators and chemical herbicides, discharging waste gas and water, as well as dumping and stacking waste residue within the protection range of the trees, according to the regulation.

Yunnan boasts diverse germplasm resources of tea trees. The regulation also advocates proper research and utilization of Yunnan's germplasm resources of ancient tea trees, breeding new tea tree varieties of good quality, as well as the establishment of relevant industrial chains.