Now, the Pu'er city has been granted five patents related to the tea. Its products have been welcomed not only across China but also several European countries including France, Britain, Sweden and Germany. Tea planting and production is the life blood of Pu'er. The city boasts 200,000 hectares of tea plantations and about half of the city's population is somehow involved in the tea industry.

"The tea industry is the main source of our family's income; we now have 30 hectares of tea gardens. We make over 3,000 yuan in net profit per hectare every year. Now life is much better than before. We've built a house, and bought a refrigerator, sofa, and motorcycle. We plan to buy a car in the future."

This song is called "Love Song of Longlong." It describes the pleasure of tea picking, and is based on the real-life romance of a young man and woman who tie the knot through their association with tea.

"In Longlong Village, because of the natural conditions, only one out of ten newborn kids are boys, so the girls that come from there to pick the tea have a better chance of meeting members of the opposite sex."

"I came to Longlong village with my boss in 2006. I stayed here and eventually married."

Now 25-year-old Shi Yinghua is mother to a 3-year-old and earns over 100,000 yuan per year through her business, which employs 40 people.

Pu'er has also cooperated with companies in Tianjin to increase production and diversify the assortment of tea products it produces. To cater to a larger group of tea drinkers, they've developed tea powder, tea bags, medicinal tea products and even new methods of brewing tea. In the first half of this year, the industry pulled in over 500 million yuan in profit.

Comments