Wang Ning, National People's Congress representative and Secretary of Yunnan Provincial Party Committee
Reply to netizens on People's Daily Online
Wang Ning mentioned in the letter
Conduct research in Xishuangbanna during the Spring Festival
Local understory cocoa cultivation
Already transitioning from trial planting to industry
Cocoa, coffee, and tea
Known as the world's three major beverages
All rooted in the fertile soil of Yunnan
Returning sweetness from the warmth of millennium old tea
To the rich and long-lasting aroma of premium coffee
Moving on to the sweet and mellow taste of new cocoa
Every strand of flavor
Every one speaks of the inclusiveness and vitality here
The millennium tea charm contains a warm and mellow foundation
As one of the core birthplaces of tea trees in the world, Yunnan has unique tea growing conditions. The Lancang River Basin winds for thousands of miles and nurtures 97% of the country's ancient tea tree resources. On September 17, 2023, "Puer Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forest Cultural Landscape" was successfully included in the The World Heritage List, becoming the world's first tea themed world cultural heritage.
Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forest. Photo by Lu Lei
The unique natural endowment also nurtures the profound tea culture connotation in Yunnan. From the six ancient tea mountains in Xishuangbanna to the ten thousand acre tea sea in Lincang and Pu'er, every piece of tea here carries the wisdom of local ethnic groups who make a living from tea and use tea as a gift, and carries the resilience and pioneering spirit of the caravan bells on the ancient Tea Horse Road.
Savor a cup of fragrant tea in the mountains and forests. Photo by Zhang Shihua
From the protection of ancient tree tea to the construction of organic tea gardens, from traditional handmade tea to intelligent production and processing, from exploring the ancient Tea Horse Road to experiencing tea Zen health preservation… Today's Yuncha not only adheres to a thousand year heritage, but also innovates with the times. Through effective measures such as policy incentives, subject cultivation, brand cultivation, and market expansion, Yunnan, while adhering to ecological priority, promotes the tea industry to attract consumers with diversified formats, achieving the first tea garden area, tea production, and green organic certification tea garden area in the country. At the same time, we will continuously deepen our cloud tea brand strategy with "Pu'er tea" as the main focus, promote Pu'er tea to the whole country and the world, and make cloud tea a beautiful business card that conveys Chinese tea culture and showcases the charm of Yunnan.
Rich coffee aroma carries the flavor of the world
Yunnan, along with Colombia and Ethiopia, is located in the global coffee planting golden area from 25 ° N to 25 ° S latitude, and its unique terroir conditions have nurtured an excellent environment for the growth of high-quality coffee.
Baoshan coffee farmers are drying coffee beans. Map provided by Kunming Customs
After years of development, Yunnan coffee has formed a complete industry chain covering breeding, planting, processing, and sales. In the seed industry, Yunnan has built the largest, largest, and most comprehensive coffee germplasm resource nursery in China, laying a solid foundation for variety improvement. On the processing end, Yunnan Coffee has achieved comprehensive advancement from initial processing to deep processing, developing a full range of products including roasted beans, concentrated liquids, instant powders, freeze-dried powders, etc., fully meeting diversified consumer needs. On the brand side, "coffee tourism integration" has become a new growth pole in the industry, with nearly 60 boutique coffee estates built throughout the province.
coffee bean. Photo provided by the Propaganda Department of Lincang Municipal Committee
According to statistics, by 2025, the coffee planting area in Yunnan will be 1.495 million mu, with a yield of 170000 tons. The province's coffee planting area, yield, and agricultural output value will all rank first in the country. In addition, 32500 tons of high-quality cloud coffee are exported to 29 countries and regions including the Netherlands, Germany, and the United States, with a year-on-year increase of 358% in export volume, and the international market recognition continues to rise. As the world coffee map quietly shifts eastward, Yunnan coffee, the taste of distant mountains and forests, is waiting for the world to savor it carefully.
Sweet Cocoa Embarks on a Surprise New Journey
Once upon a time, cocoa seemed to be exclusive to distant tropical regions, but Yunnan broke this limitation with its unique climate and ecological advantages, allowing this sweet crop to take root in the southwestern border. The vast rubber forests in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture provide a natural "shade canopy" for shade tolerant cocoa trees. This ecological model of intercropping under the forest cleverly revitalizes the idle space of rubber forests, allowing for diversified land appreciation, and precisely matches the growth habits of cocoa that prefer high temperature, high humidity, and shade tolerance. It achieves a win-win situation between ecological protection and economic benefits, allowing sweetness and green to coexist and grow together.
Cocoa. Photo provided by the Propaganda Department of Xishuangbanna Prefecture Committee
The cocoa road in Yunnan began with the first introduction of the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 1959. After decades of trial planting and domestication, we have now ushered in the dawn of large-scale development. The confidence of this development cannot be separated from the joint empowerment of multiple forces. In November 2024, Xishuangbanna prefecture level departments successively signed strategic cooperation framework agreements with scientific research institutions such as the Spice and Beverage Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Yunnan Tropical Crop Science Research Institute, to carry out scientific research breakthroughs and achievements promotion and application in new variety breeding, naming, planting, cultivation management, disease prevention, product collection, preliminary/deep processing, etc., guide leading enterprises to drive the surrounding villages to develop the cocoa industry, build a cooperation model of "government guidance+cocoa leading enterprises+rubber planting leading enterprises+scientific research units+party building+farmers", and lay a solid foundation for the development of Yunnan cocoa industry. By December 2025, the cocoa planting area under the rubber plantation forest had reached 7135 acres. Through mechanisms such as land transfer, employment opportunities, and product recycling, more than 5000 people were employed, and the per capita income increased by nearly 4000 yuan.
Cocoa under the rubber forest. Photo provided by the Propaganda Department of Xishuangbanna Prefecture Committee
The fragrance of flowers, fruits, and nuts intertwines and permeates, and a fresh "cocoa new wind" is blowing from the rubber forests of Xishuangbanna, blowing towards a wider world, writing a new chapter in Yunnan cocoa.
A fertile land nurtures three flavors
One original intention, achieving a local industry
The richness of tea is the millennium heritage of Yunnan
The mellow aroma of coffee is the new vitality of Yunnan
The sweetness of cocoa is the surprising future of Yunnan
These three major world beverages
Not only does it nourish the lives of Yunnan people
Carrying more ecological wisdom and development confidence
It also showed the world the land of Yunnan
Inclusiveness and Growth
Source: Yunnan Release
Editor: He Jing
Reviewed by: Chen Yiyi
Final appeal: Fu Xiaohai