On September 17, 2023, the 45th General Assembly of UNESCO World Heritage held in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, adopted a resolution to inscribe China's "Pu'er Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forest Cultural Landscape" on the World Heritage List, bringing the number of China's World Heritage Sites to 57, and "Pu'er Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forest Cultural Landscape" also became the world's first tea-themed World Heritage Site.

Ouyang Xiu wrote in "The Records of the Drunken Master's Pavilion": "Wildflowers bloom with a subtle fragrance, fine trees stand out with lush shade; the high purity of wind and frost, and the stones emerging as the water recedes, these are the four seasons of the mountains." There are four seasons in the mountains and four seasons in a year. Under the gentle brushstroke of time, Jingmai Mountain, with its thousand-year-old charm and natural beauty, plays out an excellent chapter written jointly by man and nature.

This year, Jingmai Mountain is not only a bright star on the World Heritage List but also a poem and a faraway place in the hearts of countless travellers. Let us travel through the spring, summer, autumn, and winter of Jingmai Mountain and feel the beauty and tranquillity of the four seasons.

Spring has returned to Jingmai, and everything is resurrecting. The mountains are shrouded in clouds and mist, and the tea trees show their new buds, full of vigour and vitality. Walking through the ancient tea garden is like stepping into a vibrant green scroll. As the spring breeze blows, the scent of tea and flowers mingle, refreshing and enchanting. This is the best time to experience tea picking and making and to taste spring tea. Every bite is a gift from nature and a taste of time. Tea-picking Jingmai children lightly jump on the tea tree, picking "one bud and two leaves", harvesting the gift of nature.

In the heat of summer, Jingmai Mountain has its own cool place. The lush bamboo forest swings gently in the wind, making a rustling sound like the music of nature. The mountain streams are gurgling and crystal clear, and a clear spring washes away the worries and fatigue of the world. The mountains are nourished by the rain, and as far as the eye can see, they are all green, and every breath seems to have a refreshing scent. At night, the starry sky is bright, and fireflies dance between the tea trees, transporting people to a dreamy, fairytale world.

When the autumn wind picks up, Jingmai Mountain turns a golden yellow. On the ancient tea trees, the old leaves are yellow and intertwine with the new green to form a layered autumn landscape. Chase Jingmai cloud sea, see the sunrise leap out to bring ten thousand feet of golden light, this time Jingmai, is not only a visual feast, but also the home of the soul. The busy and joyful figures of the villagers are the most affectionate confession to this land.

In winter, Jingmai Mountain is less noisy and more peaceful. The clouds in the mountains are thicker as if a layer of the mysterious veil has been put on this ancient tea mountain. Ancient tea trees hidden in the mist add a touch of fairyland. At this time, find a quiet corner and brew a pot of Jingmai ancient tea so that the tea and cloud, accompanied by the aroma of the spirit to truly relax and purify.

The Chinese word "tea", when broken down, means "people among the trees and grass".

In Jingmai mountain of Pu'er, Yunnan Province, this meaning has been present for thousands of years.

Jingmai Mountain is located in Pu'er Lancang Lahu Autonomous County, straddling the border between China and Myanmar, belonging to the Hengduan Mountain system, high in the northwest and low in the southeast, where there is the world-famous "Millennium Ten Thousands of Mu of Ancient Tea Forests," more than 3.2 million plants of ancient tea trees, all hundreds of years old, and the oldest is even a thousand years old, but still in full bloom, vitality and radiance.

The mountains and forests coexist harmoniously; the forest produces the tea, and the tea surrounds the village. In this tolerant and symbiotic family, the ancient tea trees and more than a thousand species of higher wild plants, more than a hundred species of vertebrates and protected wildlife, and more than a dozen species of wild plants under China's key protection live freely and comfortably together.

Da Ping Zhang in the core area of the ancient tea forest in Jingmai Mountain. Photo by Wang Chengji, Lu Lei

It is a forest from afar and a tea forest up close. Jingmai Mountain ancient tea forest has a history of more than a thousand years. It is a typical representative of the well-preserved, large-scale, and historically significant artificial cultivation of ancient tea forests in the world, with a concentrated area of 18,000 mu. Among the tea forests, there is the "Tea God Tree" tied with a strip of red cloth, worshipped by villagers every year before the exploitation of spring tea; there is the ancient banyan tree called "Bee God Tree," with dozens of fan-shaped beehives hanging on the overlapping trunks... Local people respect and love nature and believe that the tea tree has a spirit and nature has a spirit.

Ancient tea forest in Da Ping Zhang, Jingmai Mountain. Photo by Xin Yuewei, Xinhua News Agency

"Grateful for nature and all that our ancestors left behind. Pa Ai Leng's ancestors left tea for our children and grandchildren to enjoy endlessly, we must protect the Jingmai Mountain of a grass, a tree, a brick and a tile for generations to come". Pu'er Jingmai Mountain ancient tea forest cultural landscape after the successful addition to the World Heritage List, the local villagers expressed such sentiments.

With the success of the application, the world's first tea-themed World Heritage Site business card to bring the green "traffic", but also brought many changes to the Jingmai Mountain.

Jingmai Mountain. Photo by Hu Yuya

In the Jingmai Mountain operating a bed-and-breakfast business of Bulang girl Yu Ni said, since the Jingmai Mountain was successfully included in World Heritage Site, more and more tourists have come to visit, and the guesthouses are in short supply now. "The main source of our income used to be selling tea leaves, but since last year, our income from tourism has tripled, exceeding that from tea." Milk tea shops, bed-and-breakfast stays, restaurants, cultural and tourism merchandise shops, Wengji ancient village, appeared in an increasing variety of tourism industries.

Tourists visit Jingmai Mountain. Photo by Hu Yuya

Picking tea leaves. Photo by Hu Yuya

According to statistics, since September 2023, the number of searches related to "Jingmai Mountain" on Ctrip.com has increased by 161 percent, and the number of searches on Meituan has increased by 500 percent year on year, with a total of 402,000 tourists received, up 33.52 percent year on year, and tourism revenue of 338 million yuan, up 184 percent year on year.

In 2023, the Jingmai Mountain tea industry reached a total output value of 517 million yuan, an increase of 31.55% over the previous year.

With a thousand years of history and natural beauty, Jingmai Mountain is once again attracting the world's attention with its unique charm on the first anniversary of its successful application for the World Heritage Site. Whether it is the vibrancy of spring, the coolness of summer, the bountiful harvest of autumn, or the serenity of winter, each season has its own unique scenery and story.

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(Editors: Reena, Ines)