Aerial View of Jingmai Mountain's Ancient Tea Forest Cultural Landscape

Resource from xinhuanet.com

The "Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forest Cultural Landscape" is located in Lancang Lahu Autonomous County, Pu'er City, Yunnan Province. It encompasses five large and well-preserved ancient tea forests, nine ancient villages scattered within them, and three separated protective forests between the ancient tea forests.

In the 10th century, the ancestors of the Bulang ethnic group discovered and recognized wild tea trees. They utilized the forest ecosystem and, together with other indigenous ethnic groups like the Dai, developed the technology for planting tea under the forest canopy. After millennia of protection and development, a unique cultural landscape of coexisting forests and tea, harmonious between humans and nature, has emerged.

On 17 September, the "Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forest Cultural Landscape" project was approved at the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee and was included in the "World Heritage List," becoming the 57th World Heritage site in China.

Indigenous ethnic groups like the Dai and Bulang understood the growth habits of tea trees and, using the natural ecosystem, directly nurtured and planted tea in the forest. This created a three-dimensional community structure of "tree layer - shrub layer - herbaceous layer," providing an optimal environment for the growth of tea trees (Drone photo taken on August 29th).