Zhaoping county in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has developed a burgeoning tea industry with the help of a centrally administered state-owned enterprise (SOE), embarking on a path towards prosperity and rural revitalization.

Workers pick tea leaves in Zhaoping county, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (People’s Daily Online/Huang Zijing)

The frost-free period lasts over 310 days a year in the county, which is favorable to tea planting. Attaching great importance to the tea industry, the county has turned it into a pillar industry. The planting area in the county has approached 250,000 mu (16,666 hectares). The annual output of dry tea leaves in the county has reached 18,400 tons, generating a total output value of 2.03 billion yuan ($293.56 million).

Workers have been busy picking tea leaves at a tea base of a local tea company. “These workers are all villagers from nearby areas. During the peak season, we can offer jobs to over 200 nearby villagers,” said Liu Qingqiang, chairman of the company.

“I now earn about 200 yuan a day from picking tea leaves here, and earn nearly 300 yuan during the peak season of harvesting,” a woman surnamed Liu from Masheng village in the county said with a smile.

The development of the tea industry has not only helped villagers boost their income, but also provided funds for rural construction.

Photo shows a demonstration zone for organic tea built with assistance from China National Aviation Holding Company, a centrally administered state-owned enterprise, in Zhaoping county, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (People’s Daily Online/Huang Zijing)

“We sell our tea products on the county’s e-commerce platform and offer funds equivalent to 7 percent of revenue on the platform to villages and towns for their development. Last year, our company provided about 200,000 yuan in this regard,” said Liu, adding that China National Aviation Holding Company (CNAH), a centrally administered SOE, greatly helps his company with tea sales.

CNAH has been providing pair assistance to Zhaoping county since 2012, focusing on the county’s tea industry. To help the county upgrade its tea industry, CNAH invested 10 million yuan to support the Guangxi Jiangjunfeng Tea Industry Group Co., Ltd. (Jiangjunfeng Group), a locally leading tea company, in building an automatic tea processing base.

“At present, we have two automatic production lines, which greatly improve production efficiency and enhance the standardized production of tea,” said Pan Li’nan, a worker from Jiangjunfeng Group. So far, the group has helped 75 villages in 10 towns develop the tea industry and has offered 15,000 jobs.

Photo shows an automatic tea production line of Guangxi Jiangjunfeng Tea Industry Group Co., Ltd., a locally leading tea company, in Zhaoping county, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Photo courtesy of Guangxi Jiangjunfeng Tea Industry Group Co., Ltd.)

In 2022, CNAH, together with Peking University and China Agricultural University, established a tea-themed “science and technology backyard,” an innovative platform focusing on research on tea leaves, in Zhaoping county, the first of its kind in Guangxi.

The “science and technology backyard” was inaugurated on Feb. 20 this year. Ma Defu, an associate professor at Peking University, serves as an expert advisor in the “science and technology backyard,” providing technological guidance to the deep processing of tea leaves. Ma hopes that technologies would empower the development of Zhaoping’s tea industry and help revitalize rural areas.

CNAH has also invested 3.45 million yuan in the construction of the county’s scientific research base for the tea industry. So far, CNAH has offered 110 million yuan to Zhaoping, introduced funds worth 12.85 million yuan in the county, and helped sell farm produce worth over 149 million yuan, facilitating the county’s poverty alleviation and rural revitalization.