Fenggang county drives tourism with famed tea

Fenggang county, home to the renowned Fenggang zinc selenium tea, has leveraged its favorable natural environment to become stronger economically in recent years, creating a slew of tea-tourism activities that support rural vitalization.

The county in Southwest China's Guizhou province has undergone significant transformations in its tea industry. The county has revised and improved product standards and processing techniques for Fenggang tea. A total of 287 tea processing enterprises have been established, including one national-level tea producer and 32 provincial-level companies.

Moreover, Fenggang has made great efforts to promote branding. A company was set up to accelerate the development of a tea brand, and by 2022, the value of Fenggang zinc selenium tea brand exceeded 2.94 billion yuan ($411 million).

At the Chashou Mountain Organic Tea Garden in Fenggang, owner Wang Liquan told local media that the company has expanded its operations and scale of its tea garden by incorporating tourism.

The company has constructed fitness trails, agricultural folk culture halls, orchards and unique homestays inside the tea garden. It has also become an environmental and scenic agricultural demonstration park where flowers bloom throughout the year, the fragrance of tea and medicinal herbs fills the air, and tea and tourism merge seamlessly. During weekends and holidays, tourists flock to the garden.

"I can feel that the air in Fenggang is very good," a visitor surnamed Li said. "The environment is pleasant, and the Fenggang zinc selenium tea is excellent. It's truly worth the visit."

Usually, the tea garden receives 200 to 300 visitors a day, and at peak times, there are six to seven groups that come to experience tea picking, observe the production process and purchase products, Wang said.

In 2022, the total tea plantation area in the county reached 33,333 hectares, with 57,000 metric tons of tea produced and an output value of 5.8 billion yuan. The tea industry has become a distinctive sector driving the development of Fenggang.