Tea lover helps village increase income
Hu Hongwei, a tea lover from Jiangjiacun village in Luojia township, Longyou county, Quzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, has become an online celebrity on Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok), according to local media reports.
In 2011, a wild ancient tea tree was found in Luojia township. After testing, it was discovered that this variety's tea polyphenol content was 20 percent to 25 percent lower than that of ordinary tea, and its amino acid content was 10.4 percent, which was two to four times that of ordinary green tea.
In 2017, Hu established Longyou Jihuang Tea Co Ltd and built a yellow tea planting base with an area of 200 mu (13.33 hectares). It brings in more than 10,000 yuan ($1,482.53) per mu, which is about three times that of ordinary tea.
Hu Hongwei shows the process of frying tea during a livetream on Douyin. [Photo/qz828.com]
Hu not only grows tea, but also brings the tea culture from the mountain to other tea lovers across the country via livestream on Douyin.
"Several videos went viral, and the most popular one got more than a million views," said Hu. His tea stories are becoming more and more popular as well and he has become a tea seller on Douyin with 25,000 followers.
With his help, more than 200 farmers have planted 600 mu of yellow tea in Jiangjiacun village. Last year, the village planted another 100 mu of yellow tea, and the per capita annual income of the village reached 30,000 yuan.
The yellow tea planting area in Luojia township currently has an area of more than 3,000 mu and an output of more than 200,000 kilograms, generating more than 30 million yuan. The number of villagers engaged in yellow tea picking, processing, sales and other industrial chains is more than 1,000.