Tea and struggle turn village into attraction

HEFEI－Ascending the stone steps of a terraced tea garden, Fang Dongyu, 68, is busy picking fresh tea leaves with other villagers as the spring tea harvest begins.

"We can earn over 10,000 yuan ($1,572) a month during harvest season, something we couldn't even imagine before," said Fang, who comes from Wugongling village in Shexian county, East China's Anhui province.

Located at an altitude of more than 800 meters, Wugongling was once a poor mountain village due to its harsh farming conditions and remote location.

In the 1960s, to overcome poverty and hunger, villagers spent 13 years building a terraced tea garden by hand on barren mountainsides.

"Men and women, old and young, all pitched in. From early morning to late at night, we worked tirelessly with the aim of bettering our lives," said Fang, who began building the tea garden at the age of 13 and saw it gradually grow from the base of the hill to the top.

Covering an area of 66.7 hectares, corn and other grains are also grown in the garden, which greatly helped relieve starvation and poverty at the time.

Wugongling's grain output hit 8.66 million kilograms in 1978, 4.6 times more than in 1968. Tea output and per capita net income doubled during the period.

Decades have passed since then, and the once struggling generation has grown old, but their spirit has been passed on and is even stronger today.

With the national promotion of ecological agriculture, organic tea is now grown in the garden. A more profitable 40-hectare white tea plantation has been developed, attracting young people back to start their own businesses.

Growing up hearing the inspirational story of the tea garden, 32-year-old Lyu Peng decided to return to the village in 2017. He helped expand his family's tea processing workshop into a factory with two production lines.

"Our tea is high-quality but lacked publicity and marketing channels. I am using my previous e-commerce experience to sell it all over the country," Lyu said.

E-commerce and short-video platforms including Douyin are helping the young man pursue his dream in the remote village. Last year, the factory made more than 500,000 yuan.

There are seven tea factories in Wugongling, and villagers earned over 8 million yuan selling freshly picked tea leaves last year.

Besides its tea industry, the once isolated village's natural scenery and history have also attracted many tourists.

"Many people drive here to appreciate the tea garden and the sea of clouds," said Hu Fengyu, owner of a homestay.

To further develop tourism, the village has built walkways, lookout platforms and a tourist center. Last year, Wugongling received nearly 50,000 visitors and made over 1 million yuan from tourism despite COVID-19 outbreaks.

Xinhua