Tea garden in Yixing. [Photo provided to en.wuxi.gov.cn]
The Yixing Yangxian Tea Culture System in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, has been added to the eighth batch of China's Important Agricultural Heritage Systems by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
The system lies in the low hills of southern Yixing, where a subtropical monsoon climate, an average annual temperature of 15.7 degrees Celsius, rainfall of about 1,200 millimeters, and yellow-brown soils provide ideal conditions for tea.
Yixing, formerly known as Yangxian, is considered the birthplace of China's official tribute tea production. Records date Yangxian tea to the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). Lu Yu, Sage of Tea of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), praised its fragrance, and it later became a tribute tea. The area is known for Yangxian Xueya and Yixing black tea, as well as tea-related traditions in Zen, poetry and pottery.
Tea garden in Yixing. [Photo provided to en.wuxi.gov.cn]
Today, Yixing has 75,000 mu (500 hectares) of tea gardens, producing nearly 1,100 metric tons of premium tea annually, with total output exceeding 600 million yuan ($90 million). It is Jiangsu's largest tea-producing area and holds several national geographical indication designations.
The heritage also features an agroforestry model: forests on hilltops, terraced tea gardens on slopes, and camphor, ginkgo and other trees along the edges. The result is a landscape that "looks like a forest from afar, a park up close, and a tea garden when examined closely".
Wuxi has introduced targeted policies and municipal financial incentives for newly recognized national and provincial agricultural heritage projects, aiming to protect the heritage, develop related industries and support rural development.
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