The door is shut no more: Ethnic Jinuo open up
Print Edition
When He Guiying was a little girl, she used to shut her door to passers-by who didn鈥檛 speak her ethnic language, just like her parents and other Jinuo villagers would.
But now, the 52-year-old tea planter and dancer has traveled to many cities across China to perform her people鈥檚 traditional 鈥渄rum dance鈥 and presented it to millions of audience members on TV.
Her ethnic group, the Jinuo, was the last of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the Chinese government in 1979.
Most Jinuo live in He鈥檚 hometown 鈥 Jinuo Ethnic Township in Jinghong City, Xishuangbanna, in southwest China鈥檚 Yunnan Province.
The mighty Mekong, or Lancang, river passes through the area, which borders Laos.
The region boasts a long history of tea cultivation on Jinuo Mountain, once regarded as one of the six great tea mountains as early as the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) with ancient tea trees over 500 years old.
However, geographic isolation and poor infrastructure restrained the township鈥檚 development, overshadowing its past glory and leading to a lack of confidence among local people.
In 1978, the average annual income for locals was 106.85 yuan (US$15.80).
鈥淧eople did not even speak to strangers, let alone do business with them,鈥 said 44-year-old Bai Lan, head of the township government.
Since 2015, guided by local government, Xiaopuxi Village in the township first tried to invigorate the tea business through improving infrastructure, forming industrial cooperatives and applying modern industrial standards.
鈥淲e鈥檝e focused on boosting our value by updating technology and building our own brand, and we found that products of our ancient tea trees sell very well,鈥 said Wang Chao, Party chief of the township.
Last year, the average income per person reached 11,757 yuan and the tea industry generated an income of over 43.6 million yuan for the township.
A total of 574 people in 162 households have shaken off poverty over the past four years.
As incomes and livelihoods get better, Wang also witnessed a change in the local mentality.
鈥淛inuo people no longer fear communication with the outside world. Look around and you will find people, even elderly people, being very glad to talk to you. We are now eager to reach out,鈥 said Wang, noting that local people are now using the Internet to sell their tea products.
Over 200 kilometers away from Jinuo, tea planting also changed the fate of 76-year-old Su Guowen and his ethnic group 鈥 the Bulang.
鈥淚 am a living witness of how electricity, roads and concrete houses have come to our village step by step. It鈥檚 like traveling through two centuries in one lifetime,鈥 said Su, a prestigious senior in Yunnan鈥檚 Mangjing Village, Pu鈥檈r City.
In 2004, under Su鈥檚 proposal and support from the local government, the village began to revive its tea cultivating tradition and return farmland into forests.
Villagers made every possible effort to protect the environment so the tea trees could maintain the natural taste of their leaves. Mountain roads near tea plantations were paved with stones instead of cement.
After more than a decade鈥檚 development, 10 tea cooperatives in Su鈥檚 locality established an alliance in 2016 to regulate production in the booming industry.
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