Yunnan’s famous tea harvest combines legend, history, and high-stakes speculation
Like a proud yet worried father, Qu Bo pats the trunk of a tree and pries an unwelcome green vine off a branch, discarding it onto the forest floor with a grimace.
For over a decade, “Old Qu” has tended to 200 semi-wild tea trees on the slopes of Nannuo Mountain in the southern Yunnan province. “These aren’t your father’s father’s trees,” the pepper-haired orchard keeper says of his grove, which are said to have been planted two to three centuries ago. “These are your grandfather’s grandfather’s trees.”
Pure Pu’er: Inside China’s High-Stakes Tea Harvest is a story from our issue, “High Steaks.” To read the entire issue, become a subscriber and receive the full magazine.
Tina Xu is the former culture editor at The World of Chinese. She writes across film, literature, and society, spanning from indie documentaries to diaspora communities. Her stories for TWOC received the 2021 SOPA Award for Excellence in Regional Reporting on the Environment, and were finalists in Women’s Issues and Photography.
