Tibetan tea plantation to promote Red culture to boost development

After the peaceful liberation of Tibet, the 18th Corps was disbanded in 1952, and some of the officers and soldiers stayed in Yigong, where they were responsible for constructing and cultivating farms for military supplies.

They started by planting both fruit and tea trees in 1960, but they later discovered that the local environment was more conducive to the growth of tea, so they decided to focus on tea planting and introduced small-leaf tea trees from neighboring Sichuan province, marking the first large-scale tea plantation in Tibet.

Tibetan people have a long history of drinking tea — especially butter tea, which consists of strong tea, yak butter, salt and nuts. The demand for tea was very high, and before the construction of Yigong, the people had to rely solely on imports of tea from other regions, which led to the creation of the famous Tea Horse Road in ancient times.

"The Yigong tea plantation itself is the result of democratic reform in Tibet, reflecting the course of the region's socioeconomic development as well as a very rich Red culture," Dai said.

"Next, we hope to promote our two images — the plateau tea and Red Yigong and integrate them, making green tea and Red culture the new impetus for the development of the Yigong tea plantation," he added.