Yunnan – A diverse and plentiful land

Lush green forest of You Le Mountain

 

Diversity

Yunnan Province, considered the birthplace of tea and the locus from which all tea and tea trade originated, is home to more than 5,000 years of tea history, art and culture. Today, Yunnan is a land known for its unparalleled beauty, complex biodiversity and diverse ethnic minorities. A frontier province located in the southwest of China, Yunnan is home to 26 of China’s 56 recognized ethnic minorities and more than 18,000 of China’s 30,000 plant species, making it the most culturally and biologically diverse region within China.

 

Geography and Climate
Complex natural terrain, geography and varying climates have all played important roles in developing the cultural and biological characteristics of the region. The Province of Yunnan, only slightly smaller than the state of Texas and accounting for only four percent of China’s total land area, is home to the the 15th longest river in the world, the Mekong, and fosters ecosystems spanning from Tropical Rain Forests on the southern frontier of Vietnam, Laos and Burma to Alpine Ecosystems in the northwest bordering
the Tibetan Plateau. In total an astounding 84% of its terrain is made up of rugged, lush green covered mountains.

 

The Birthplace of Tea and Tea Trade
Yunnan has long been an access point from China to other Southeast Asian countries for the transport of important goods such as tea and traditional Chinese medicine. One of China’s most recognized trade routes and certainly that which has left the most lasting impression on the world of tea is the Ancient Tea and Horse Trail (Cha Ma Gu Dao). Today, Yunnan Province is widely known as the origin from which all tea trade routes departed as well as the birthplace of tea.

 

Yunnan Province – A Great Tea Producing Region
Yunnan Province is an excellent region for cultivating tea. The region boasts an average annual temperature between 15° and 18°C (59° and 65 °F), limited marked differences in seasonal changes and elevations averaging between 1,000 and 2,000 meters in many tea producing regions. In the 120 of the 128 counties which make up Yunnan Province tea is picked a total of eight months a year between the period of March to October!