China Travel Blog

One of the perks (and perils) of traveling through Beijing and Shanghai is the excellent shopping that can be found, and often for great prices. With the holidays fast approaching, your resident AsiaTravel shoppers thought we’d share a few of our favorite city haunts. Some are very well-known, and some are tiny gems that we were reluctant to part with. Happy holiday hunting!

Beijing:

• For serious bargain hunters,  the stalls at Hongqiao Market will whip up strands of pearls, coral, beads, and semi-precious stones to your heart’s content, while you watch. Buyer beware: quality (and price) varies greatly, so be sure to inspect your wares before you hand over your hard-earned RMB.
• Looking for something new for the home?  Lost and Found is the place for eclectic home-wares.
• If you have a fan of contemporary art on your shopping list, than the 798 District is a must even if the gallery paintings fall just a little out of your budget. For those less willing to fork over the big bucks for avant garde art, this is also a great place to source art, photography and design books.
• Grifted is home to an off-beat collection of unique, one of a kind gifts with a quirky sense of humor.
• Find almost anything at Panjiayuan, a massive open air market, perfect for souvenirs and “antiques”. Be sure to go early though, as that’s when you’ll find the best bargains. Only open on the weekends.

Shanghai:

• Worth a visit even if you’ve already seen the museum’s collection of bronzes, calligraphy, and pottery, the Shanghai Museum Gift Shop has a sophisticated assortment of real and replica treasures for the sophisticated giftee.
• Madame Mao’s Dowry stocks high-quality knickknacks and furniture with a China twist. Look out for their ceramic Christmas tree ornaments with propaganda art and slogans.
• While not one particular store, the warehouses and shops on Taikang Lu are known for their one-of-a-kind, interesting wares.

Locations in Both Cities:

• For modern, Asian-influenced pottery, SPIN should be number one on your list.
• Torana specializes in beautiful handcrafted Tibetan area rugs.
• Whether shopping for your mom or yourself, Woo is a must for scarf and shawl lovers.

AsiaTravel’s t-shirts arrived at Sichuan’s Mupi Tibetan Village last week.  The village is located at, Pingwu county, one of the hardest hit counties from the Sichuan earthquake.

<From Philip on May 17th>

Today we didn’t go to the disaster-hit areas as we usually did. We took part in a press conference. I got some information released by the official channel.

There are also some touching stories by Melissa and Andrea at http://www.npr.org/blogs/chengdu/2008/05/we_found_fu_guanyu_and.html#more

1. Number of rescue team from military: 140,000 (PLA and armed forces), 71 high-ranking officer (general).
2. President Hu Jintao paid a visit to Wenchuan this afternoon (which is the hard-hit area and also the epicenter of the earthquake)
3. Aftershocks: by May 16th, there were 5210 aftershocks altogether, but it is shrinking
   
4. Deaths and rescued, by May 17, more than 28300 people dead, among them 10290+ in Deyang, 9640+ in Mianyang, 4130+ in Chengdu, 2140+ in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, and 2060+ in Guangyuan. 33,430 have been rescued from debris so far.
5. Transportation:The frequent aftershocks brought new damages to roads, electric lines and communication lines. New every efforts are being made to restore them.
   • About the roads: The road from Dujiangyan to Yingxiu will be opened (blocked again by landslides from aftershock.)  The road from Li Xian to Wenchuan is already made accessible.
   • The road from Rilong to Wolong now is basically made accessible.
   • The road from Lixian to Maoxian has been made accessible except last 10 km from Maoxian County Town.
   • The road from Maoxian to Wenchuan still has 27km not accessible.
   • Of the 4 roads leading to the townships from Pingwu County Town, only one is accessible(from Pingwu To Doukou Township).
   • Of the 4 roads leading from Mianzhu County Town to townships, all inaccessible. The road from Pengzhou to Yinchanggouis in accessible is inaccessible.
6. Telecommunications: Basically restored in Chengdu. Telecommunications service are available for working and emergency in Heishui, Maoxian, Wenchuan,and Pingwu. Of the 161 earthquake-hit towns and townships, in 92 telecommunications service are not restored.
7. Tourism: They are 7543 tourists stranded in the earthquake areas. They are safe. Of the 2264 overseas tourists, 1140 have transferred to a safe location or returned home while the rest are under evacuation.
8. Disaster- relief materials: Large amount of disaster-relief materials are being transported to hard-hit areas. 260 tents are ungently needed for temporary lodging, schooling, sick people and accommodation for rescue workers.
9. Water quality: Experts have been monitoring water all-hour round. Information from 52 water resources shows that water quality fit with the national standard. There is no big difference in the quality before and after the earthquake. Disease prevention work has been launched all around. There is no spread of endemic disease and public health emergencies.
10. Foreign rescue team: Six countries or regions have sent rescue teams to China to take part in the rescue activities. They from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, and Russia.
11. Support: News media have give timely reports on the situation of disaster-hit areas. Lots of ordinary people volunteered in disaster-relieving activities. For example, some farmers in Guanhan sent their fruits and vegetables to the disaster-hit areas. Local people in Jiajin Mountain are cooking hot water for rescue workers. Individuals drove their cars to transport donations or disaster-relief materials and transferred injured people to safe areas. However, large number of volunteer vehicles have caused some traffic jams were caused due to coming of. Thus individuals are suggested to send their donations to special donation-taking places set up by the province or cities so that rescue activities can be carried out more smoothly.

It’s been another adventure-filled year at AsiaTravel – venturing to new destinations, revisiting preferred haunts for a second (or third, fourth) time, engaging in rugged hands-on activities, and relaxing in China’s finest luxury spots.

To pay homage to our favorite hotels, sites, and activities in China for the past year, we bring you our 2010 installment of AsiaTravel’s Best of China Awards – a small sampling of the finest that China has to offer, with many new additions (and a few return favorites).

 

Top 5 Hotels

Our top hotels for 2010 showcase China’s finest urban simplicity and rural grandeur. Chosen through an in-depth survey and client feedback process, these prime accommodations represent the best in service standards, environmental commitment, and unique design.

The Langham Hotel, Shanghai * – beautiful art deco style & a superb location

The Linden Centre, Dali – cultural heritage preservation through elegance and innovation

The Opposite House, Beijing * – sustainable modern luxury & unparalleled amenities

The Schoolhouse at Mutianyu, Mutianyu * – an incredibly eco-friendly home-away-from-home nestled near the Great Wall

Songtsam Retreat, Shangri-La – exceptional boutique accommodation in a distinctly Tibetan style

*These properties also won our Best of China Awards for 2009.

 

Top 5 Sites

We want our clients to experience China’s most incredible, unique, and unspoiled destinations. Below are our top picks for 2010 that allow for tucked-away adventures and peaceful exploration.

Longquanyu Wild Wall, Beijing – a remote section of the Wall that affords travelers a unique look at China’s most iconic monument

Xi’an Mosque and Snack Street, Xi’an – religious observation and bustling daily life intertwine in the city’s Muslim Quarter

Friday Market, Shaxi – Yunnan’s Yi and Bai minority peoples don their traditional best to trade hard-to-find goods in their mountainous village areas

Tea Plantation, Hangzhou [excursion upon request] – the home of Longjing (Dragon Well) tea in lush Zhejiang province

Wang’s Residence, Pingyao – A Qing Dynasty-era testament to ancient luxury and wealth in Shanxi Province’s ancient walled city

 

Top 5 Activities

Personal, once-in-a-lifetime, and hands-on: we love these activities because they bring our travelers closer to the people of China. These make for fun excursions that go far beyond the tour bus.

Pabongka hike to Chupsang Nunnery and Sera Monastery, Lhasa – a sun-filled, energizing hike is only the prelude to lively monk debates outside of the city

Update: The Pabongka hike has since been discontinued

Overnight in Miao villager’s home, Paika Village – enjoy a spicy home-cooked Guizhou meal and learn about daily minority life and culture in the village known for Lusheng, a traditional Guizhou instrument

Early morning kungfu lesson at the Temple of Heaven, Beijing – the traditional Temple sets the scene for travelers’ lesson from a master of the widely-practiced martial art

Sister’s Meal Festival, Kaili – young Miao women, dressed in colorful homemade embroidery and silver jewelry, sing and dance in this coming-of-age ritual and matchmaking ceremony

Visit with an Yi minority shaman, Lijiang/Wenhai Valley – learn from this well-respected traditional medicine man about the Yi minority’s animist tradition

 

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Miss our top picks from last year? Take a look at our Best of China Awards 2009.

Did we leave out your favorite hotel, site, or activity? Let us know! Send us an email or a tweet.

A twitter post responding to a AsiaTravel tweet prompted this blog piece:

@Chinaandbeyond said: “I would trade Yunnan for Gansu or Sichuan, personally RT @AsiaTravel: First and only time to China?”

 

Let me decipher this for those who don’t tweet: AsiaTravel recommended a trip that goes to Beijing, Xi’an, Yunnan and Shanghai for those who are traveling to China for the first and only time. That link is a condensed link that goes to our website with the trip details.

Then @Chinaandbeyond account owner Ms. Jessica Marsden shared AsiaTravel’s recommendation to her followers. And she also added her own commentary that she would trade Gansu or Sichuan for Yunnan.

 

What can I say? I am biased! I am from Yunnan, with a virtual identity called @yunnangirl! Everytime when a client calls me, I talk about Yunnan. That’s home to me. I can smell Yunnan if farmers burn the remaining rice stocks in their fields; I can hear Yunnan, even when I overhear visitors at the Smithsonian speak the local dialet; I can taste Yunnan, when I cut up mustard greens to make a jar of Yunnan Suancai pickles. It is in my blood.

And, I happen to be a lucky Wendy Perrin China Specialist, so I get to advise people who are interested in seeing China. Naturally, carrying the tradition of Yunnan hospitality, I want people to visit my home town, visit those villages where I grew up, and taste the spicy and sour cuisine, hike the mountains that I still dream about. More importantly, I want them to meet people of Yunnan.

How would I describe people of Yunnan? 纯朴，勤劳，善良。I am struggling with English equivalents here.  Down to earth, hard working, and kind. The word has a 纯朴 connotation of being on the simple side in Chinese. But, I don’t take offense to that.

 

People in Yunnan grow up land locked. Generations of locals from various ethnicity carve out their living in small patches of land in between mountains and rivers.  So, either they farm, bent over their knees in the watery rice paddy fields, or they tilt the corn and potato fields on the steep mountains sides. Life in Yunnan has always been hard. The only wealth accumulated there is from trading, with Tibet, with Myanmar, Laos, and Viet Nam. This goes back hundreds of year, and the horse caravan trails bear witness to that.

For some reason though, in places so poor, the locals learned to cook these incrediblely tasty meals. Since the province is tucked between Sichuan to the North, and Laos/Thailand to the South, its cuisine is a lovely blend of those two. Spicy, but not numbing; sour, but without making your mouth pucker. Fresh vegetables and wild mushrooms are blessings.

Hospitality is another side of the Yunnanese that I love. Just recently, I traveled to a small town in Henan Province as a guest of the local government. Upon checking in, the hotel staff said that my ID wasn’t enough but insisted on me identifying the organization that invited me. I didn’t get the full name right, and she wouldn’t check me in. This was 2010? The concept of party/government affiliation trumping personal identity is still in practice in northern China.

 

While in Yunnan, they hear my dialect, they’ll watch my luggage for me while I go out to pay the taxi; they’ll fish out my luggage from the behind the conveyer belt so that I can put my tea needle in checked luggage (I talked about this in my earlier blog).

The local villagers in Yunnan still greet you with this, “ 吃了吗？来家里坐！“ “Have you eaten yet? Come visit my house!”

I know — sadly, Lijiang is changing (see our AsiaTravel blog piece on this). That’s all the more reason to visit the hidden treasures of China before they disappear.

I was munching on my chicken salad sandwich when my colleague popped into my office, “ Oh, sorry. Here you go. Conde Nast Traveler Magazine issue you’ve been waiting for!”.

I probably didn’t look my best in my small office in an old house on East West Highway.  At least, the munching image didn’t quite live up to the dream brought alive on the cover of the magazine:

“135 Travel Experts who can change your life (Trust Us!)”

“FANTASTIC GETAWAYS! Living the Dream in Italy, India, Kenya, Eypt….”

I wiped away the crumbs, and turned the magazine to page 120.  Yes, there I was, for the first time, chosen by Conde Nast’s Wendy Perrin as one of the travel experts for China.

“Zhang wants to show you the “authentic China” beyond anything you’ll read about in guidebooks, and—as a Yunnan Province native, Harvard MBA, and former consultant for The Nature Conservancy—her vast Rolodex of in-country experts in nearly every field can make this happen…and get you farther off the beaten path than any other company can. Her cultural connections run deepest in Southwest China—Yunnan, Szechuan, and Guizhou provinces—where you might find yourself having tea with a practicing shaman, catching a private Naxi music concert at the home of the village head, or camping in luxury mobile tents on the Tibetan Plateau ”

This news reached me last week by email. So, the initial excitement has since settled, but never the less, the pride brought by this listing is still ringing.

It was exactly, almost to the date, 10 years ago that I started AsiaTravel. At that time, I was a couple years out of business school, still owning a couple of black suits that I wore to glassy office buildings in Hong Kong, New York and Beijing. Still was quite used to flying business class.

Somehow, Travel changed my life. I took some time off McKinsey to travel around the world. Puff, 4 months was gone without a blink. I was sitting in the cabin of an oil tanker truck (only choice for a hitchhiker), rocking my way up to the Tibetan Plateau from Kashgar. We rocked and rocked, I fell asleep and woke up. Wow, a whole night was gone. The snow-covered landscape replaced the desert where we started. But the milestones said, 125 km!! A whole night, we covered 80 miles in distanced, but close to 15,000 feet in elevation.

My heart started to beat faster, breathing became more labored, the landscape increasingly looking austere and moonish. The Tibetan antelopes galloped in the distance. I started to cry, for no reason. One was just touched by being so close to pristine nature. I knew there were risks, for me, being the solo woman traveler on that route. But I knew I was one of the lucky few, who had the money, the time, and the right passport (Chinese) to travel to these remote corners of Tibet.

Sometimes, I, woke from sleep in that rocking truck, stared out the window, and asked myself, “What if the truck tumbled over the edge? Is there one thing I would regret for not doing?”

The answer came back loud and clear, “Building my own business”.  That was the beginning of AsiaTravel.

Travel, somehow, has had magic powers over me. I met my husband hiking the sacred pilgrimage trail around Mt. Kawagebo in Yunnan, I took my wedding party to hike from Salween River to the Mekong.

Then travel helped to change other people’s lives.  Recently, two clients got married on a AsiaTravel trip. Two clients got engaged on a AsiaTravel trip. We’ve helped families retrace the Burma Road commemorating their father’s journey in WWII.

After all the years of traveling, I think I am starting to understand the magic of travels. Somehow, when one’s on the road, one’s attention is so outwardly focused, that all you notice are people and things around you. After the outward focus, the inward reflection of oneself is much gentler, and not so judgmental of whether my office is in an old house or a shishi building downtown, or whether my munching is embarrassing.

Travel elevates one above the daily routine, and allows one to see the beauty of other people’s daily routine. One of my favorite moment recently was jogging in front of Shangrila’s Songtsam Lodge, while watching the Tibetan farmers shepherding their cattle to the fields. I am sure they didn’t think of their life was poetic and charming, as it was just hard work. But as a traveler watching them, I was loving that moment. That’s the illusion of distance- distance of reality, distance of geography, and distance of time. That’s probably the art of travel.

Anyway, back to my sandwich. I didn’t think my munching a sandwich at desk was any bit poetic, but more embarrassing. But, I know, give it another 10 years, I will reflect back on this moment, as one of the defining moment of launching AsiaTravel in America.

As someone whose first job out of college involved writing for a China-related website, I have a soft spot for writers interested in China. In many ways, China remains a misunderstood place, one whose complexities can only be truly understood and conveyed by those who have  been there. In that spirit, AsiaTravel is excited to officially invite international writers, bloggers and radio / TV hosts to apply to participate in hosted press trips to China this fall.

We’re looking for unique voices that are in sync with the AsiaTravel brand image: premium quality, attentive service and an adventurous spirit. If you produce multimedia content for a luxury adventure travel audience, all the better.

On these press trips, we invite you to experience China the way that our guests do: sipping tea with village elders or shooting hoops with local school kids on a dirt court. This fall, we’ll focus on two trips to southwest China’s Guizhou and Yunnan provinces (you may join just the Guizhou portion, just the Yunnan portion, or both):

1) The Richest Mosaic: Discovering Hidden Minorities of Guizhou (Nov. 6-9, 2010)

We like to think of Guizhou as China’s best-kept secret. A remote province that is still relatively untouched by modern tourism, Guizhou is a must if you want to experience rich ethnic minority culture. On this trip, you’ll hike along ridges of terraced rice paddies from village to village and learn ethnic traditions and craftsmanship.

Curious what Guizhou is like? See for yourself — two of AsiaTravel’s best guides, Billy and Xiao, are featured on our new Vimeo channel, showing what they love most about their home province.

For this press trip, AsiaTravel will provide a car, driver and services of local, English-speaking guides; hotel accommodations; admission fees and activity expenses; meals and drinking water; opportunities to interview village heads and local craftsmen; and free time to explore and conduct interviews on your own.  Please note: you will need to arrange your own international / domestic air to the starting point (Guiyang) and from the ending point (Guiyang).

2) The Ancient Tea & Horse Caravan Road: An Expedition with Jeff Fuchs (Nov. 10-16, 2010) 

Yunnan is another one of our favorites, given its stunning natural landscapes and cultural diversity. We’re particularly excited to offer a press trip for our newest journey, one that retraces part of a legendary trade route that remains little known to Western audiences. The Ancient Tea & Horse Caravan Road was a vital route along which Chinese tea was traded for Tibetan horses. On this trip, you’ll travel from Yunnan’s subtropical south in Xishuangbanna, the source of all tea, before heading north up the Road to a former trading post, Shaxi, and further north to Lijiang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, finally ending in the mountainous Tibetan region of Shangri-La. Along the way, you’ll sample teas at their origin and study the trail’s impact on ethnic minority villagers.

What makes this trip particularly special is the access you’ll have to Jeff Fuchs, the first Westerner to have ever traveled the entire 5,000-kilometer (3,100-mile) route and author of The Ancient Tea Horse Road. Jeff’s passion for exploring off-the-beaten-path locales and local culture is right up our alley, and we’re pleased that he will lead this press trip in addition to the journeys we’re offering our guests.

For this press trip, AsiaTravel will provide an economy-class air ticket from Xishuangbanna to Dali; a car, driver and services of Jeff Fuchs and local English-speaking guides; hotel accommodations; admission fees, activity expenses and presentations; meals and drinking water; opportunities to interview Jeff; and free time to explore and conduct interviews on your own. Please note: you will need to arrange your own international / domestic air to the starting point (Xishuangbanna) and from the ending point (Shangri-La).

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For more information on either trip, see AsiaTravel’s Press Trips page. To apply, please submit samples of your recent clips (within the past 6 months) and information about your outlet to Anita Narayan at anita.narayan@wildchina.com.

You know what I am talking about – that brick or disc of tea in the velvet box! What do you do with it?

A few years ago, we were living in LA. My dear father came from Yunnan to stay with us in America for the first time. He brought a few bricks of Yunnan Pu’er tea (普洱沱茶) as gifts for people. Literally, they look like a solid disc or brick that if you get wacked on the head, you’d bleed.

I held him back, telling him that Laowai (Chinese endearment for “foreigners”) really didn’t know how to appreciate tea, and they wouldn’t know what to do with the brick.  Finally, we were going to dinner at this famous screen playwright’s house for dinner, my dad insisted in bringing one brick and presented it to the writer. The writer was very polite and thanked my father. I never went back to ask what he did with it.

Let’s face it, the brick of tea is packed so dense, that I wouldn’t know what to do with it. It’s too big to boil as one serving of tea; it’s so hard that you need a hammer to break it; it makes a huge mess if you do that! So, all the bricks I have collected still mostly sit on my bookshelf, until yesterday.

A big background on Pu’er tea, this is one type of tea that Yunnan Province in Southwest China is known for. They brew into a strong dark brown colored tea. But, historically, this tea was always packed on horse backs and carried by caravan trademen over dare-devil terrain onto the Tibetan Plateau. There, they transfer into the famed Tibetan Yak Butter Tea.  Honestly, I prefer drinking Pu’er tea by itself without the yak butter part.  Nevermind my personal taste, Yak butter tea is an essential form of calorie for Tibetans. The transportation route became known as the ancient Tea and Horse Caravan Road. National Geographic magazine ran a beautiful article on this road, but I was hugely offended by the article left out Yunnan.

People from Yunnan still prefer to store tea in the same condensed brick form. In fact, it is said that the older the tea, the more valuable it is. So, many collectors are in search for decade old tea. There are tea connoisseurs in China, as there are wine connoisseurs in the west.

Back in May, I walked into a tiny tea store in Heshun Old town in Tengchong, Yunnan. A young tea salesman told me that I needed a 解茶针，(needle for separating the tea). I had no idea that special equipment was available to do this job. He also explained that the tea brick was pressed together one layer at a time. So, adjust natural tendency to break off a chunk, one should carefully peel layers of tea horizontally.

I took the needle as a treasure and tucked into my purse. Hello?? How stupid is that!! I was caught at the airport security in Tengchong. To my amazement, the airport staff saw it on the imaging screen, and said, “Take the TEA NEEDLE out! It has to go in checked luggage. “Oh, no!” I groaned, knowing very well that I’d loose the needle, as no one had ever bothered to retrieve my check luggage for something like this.

Well, I was in for a surprise. People there knew that I couldn’t do anything with the tea if I didn’t have the proper instrument. So, they found my luggage, and now I have the tea needle in DC!

With tool in hand, I gave it a try yesterday, and was delighted with the result- now in a glass jar for future use. My son was busy playing with my iphone next to me. I tried to explain to him what I was doing, telling him about tea from mom’s hometown.  He simply ignored me. Never mind.

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Photo credit: The Half-Dipper

If anyone’s listening, AsiaTravel’s tea journey with Jeff Fuchs is worth the experience.

For those of us with cross-border marriages, it often involves two weddings to cater to family and friends on each side. My husband and I had gotten married a year earlier in the States, but my grandma wouldn’t take the paper issued by some foreign government as my marriage certificate. It had to be done properly. Her granddaughter had to be married out respectably.

 

So, it was time to plan a wedding in Yunnan.

The logistical challenges of organizing a wedding are many. Starting from the simple most, flowers and wines. I have always had a preference for a western floral arrangement rather than a rigid Chinese bouquet; same with wines. I’d pick a glass of red wine over Maotai (the fancy Chinese white spirit). So I ended up cutting out pictures from wedding magazines, and taking them to the flower market to find a talented florist to do them. Fortunately, Kunming is China’s cut-flower center.

Then it was the wines. It’s no longer an issue today, as you can find many Western wines in Chinese supermarkets. But back then, the only wine import channels were 5-star hotels. So I used them.

The most fun part was designing activities so that my Chinese relatives and our western friends could mingle. We decided to invite our wedding party on a 9 day journey from theSalween River valley across the snow mountains to the Mekong River valley. My husband’s best man probably didn’t quite expect the hike to be so rigorous at such high altitude (10,000 feet), so he didn’t waste his precious hours to prepare for it. He eventually make it up the mountain top with the help of two Tibetan guide and a donkey.

 

This wedding hike was the first trip organized under AsiaTravel’s brand name. The images from this adventure accompanied me through the first year of AsiaTravel’s creation, as sales aid. It is now one of AsiaTravel’s signature adventure travel to China product: Hiking the 19th Century French Explorer’s Route. It launched our local Tibetan guide into a successful lodge business in Dimaluo village near one of the most beautiful Catholic Tibetan Churches.

The wedding after the hike was probably the best party in my life. Also made my grandma happy.

Nowadays, I go back to Harvard Business School every year to discuss the case study on AsiaTravel, and they ask me if I had any advice for future entrepreneurs. I always say, “Leverage whatever you can, your friends and family as your first clients, and your own wedding as your first product!”

Proof? AsiaTravel now helps other people with their weddings at the beautiful Aman at the Summer Palace! This photo at the top is from a beautiful couple who are AsiaTravel clients.

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For more of their photos visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30359491@N08/sets/72157624138596972/

Deep in the heart of Southern Yunnan there exist tea trees unlike any other on Earth. The jungles of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture and the districts of Simao and Lincang are home to the oldest tea trees in the world. In these regions grow tea trees that range in age from several centuries to over a millennium, and the tea that is made from their leaves is called Pu’er.

Over the past 30 to 50 years, however, the number of these ancient trees has steadily decreased. Since China’s reform and opening up policies were implemented in 1978, the Chinese tea industry has grown rapidly.

In early 2001, the Pu’er market took off. Large corporations moved in and producers and retailers proliferated. Before long, demand couldn’t keep up with supply. Prices inflated and hype ran its wild course. In 2007, the bubble burst and the market crashed, sending many businesses into bankruptcy. Since then, the market has steadied, but the unsustainable industrial approach to agriculture that was initiated during the market’s quick expansion has continued.

With increased demand for Pu’er tea, the industry changed course from quality to quantity. Today, the majority of large corporate players that have a strong-hold on the Pu’er market only produce plantation tea, which is cultivated in monocultures sustained by the use of agricultural chemicals that erode the land, lessen the quality of tea leaves, and sometimes poison people.
Large areas of forest are now being cut away for high yielding tea plantations, and according to one farmer, “Plantation tea in Xishuanbanna didn’t exist until after 1978.”

Nonetheless, many century-old, big leaf tea trees still exist (there are two primary species of tea trees: small leaf and big leaf). These trees have lived for hundreds, some for thousands of years in rich, bio-diverse environments. Now, these trees and environments are nearing a state of endangerment.

 

Along my travels, I encountered herbicide bottles scattered throughout ancient tea gardens. Herbicides are used to make these gardens look prettier and keep “weeds” away, but they harden the ground and destroy biodiversity. When the surrounding foliage is killed off and the environment is no longer diverse, insects then further target the tea trees. Once the insects begin heavily attacking the tea trees, pesticides are generally the next step. Before long, a once-thriving, bio-diverse environment becomes not too much different from the plantation tea growing on adjacent mountain sides.

When I did find environments that were chemical free, I often came across other disturbing signs of environmental destruction. Many trees are simply over-cultivated. One farmer told me that he harvests his 500 year-old tea trees twice a month for nine months out of the year. When I tasted his tea, it was very weak in flavor and energy compared to teas that don’t come from over-cultivated trees. The same farmer showed me a tree of his that was over 800 years old.

“How often do you harvest this tree?” I asked.
“Once a year,” he replied. “It harvests two kilograms.”

I found it odd that he’d only harvests his prized tree once a year, but his other ancient tea trees he over-harvests. As a result, many of his 500 to 600 year-old trees were showing signs of illness.

In order to increase production, cultivators have begun chopping ancient tea trees in half. By doing so, the tree sprouts more branches and more leaves, allowing the farmer to harvest more tea and earn a higher income. The problem is that chopping a tree in half is not healthy for it, and so this practice is leading to the illness and death of many ancient tea trees.

When these trees die they are gone forever. It took several centuries for them to culminate into their current state and thus it will take several centuries for new trees to reach this level, assuming all other environmental factors are in place.

Saddened by what I saw, I unfortunately did not find any signs of formal protection for the last of the world’s ancient tea trees. With a lack of regulation and a strong emphasis on money, the very trees that filled many farmers and producers’ pockets are being destroyed for the sake of filling them further.

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Andrew Stein founded and runs Project Releaf. Funded by a J William Fulbright Research Grant, Andrew takes us on a journey through some of China’s most remote and ancient tea localities. Seeking to better understand the balance between China’s massive economic growth and its rapid environmental deterioration, he analyzes these effects of China’s swift modernization through the lens of China’s deeply-rooted tea industry.