A new tea-themed commercial street in Qingyuan county, Lishui city in East China's Zhejiang province, opened on Oct 24.

The new tea-themed commercial street in Qingyuan county. [Photo/Tide News]

The street features nine shops selling various kinds of tea products and souvenirs and is aimed at integrating the tea industry with tourism and cultural creativity to create a new local landmark.

Qingyuan is located on the 27th parallel north, a world-recognized golden belt for tea-growing. However, many tea gardens and wild tea varieties in the county have been neglected for more than 50 years.

As such, Qingyuan has in recent years been working hard to breathe new life into the wild tea industry by promoting tea culture, tea technology, and creating the "Qingyuan Wild Tea" brand.

The county has also introduced advanced projects and technologies to upgrade the construction of a wild tea base, signed cooperation agreements with the Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and other tea enterprises and established expert workstations and master studios to improve the management and processing level of wild tea.

The county has also encouraged owners to participate in various training activities to enhance their skills and knowledge of tea production.

Today, Qingyuan has a wild tea output of 12.5 metric tons worth 15.6 million yuan ($2.13 million). The wild tea industry in the county is home to more than 20 production and operation entities and provides employment to more than 1,100 people who earn a per capita income of 12,000 yuan.