Gao Shixing (left) makes Pu'er tea with his wife at their shop in Pu'er, Yunnan province, in January. CHEN XINBO/XINHUA

On the slopes of Pu'er's Jingmai Mountain, tea comes in more than just a steaming cup. In Nuogan village, Dai ethnic entrepreneur Xianjin sells her signature Pu'er tea in an ice cream cone. Nearby, a Blang ethnic tea grower and a Dai businessman have joined forces, serving each other's traditional tea under one roof.

The bustling mountain trade was supercharged three years ago after UNESCO added the Cultural Landscape of Old Tea Forests of Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er to its World Heritage List.

On Sept 17, 2023, when the announcement was made, entrepreneur Xianjin watched her modest online tea business transform overnight. Earlier that day, her livestreams generated barely 700 yuan ($100). By midnight, as viewers flooded her channel to buy a piece of the world's newest heritage site, sales topped 130,000 yuan.

Her experience reflects a massive economic shift underway in Southwest China's Yunnan province, as Jingmai Mountain's 1,000-year-old agroforestry system turns into a major tourism driver.

Local government figures show the area recorded 694,300 tourist visits and 563 million yuan in tourism revenue in 2025, nearly doubling average annual incomes for tea-related residents from 15,410 yuan before the listing to about 26,000 yuan afterward.

Yet, this influx of visitors presents a delicate challenge: sustaining an ecosystem built on centuries of minimal human impact while capitalizing on a lucrative commercial boom.

A master processes newly picked tea leaves in the Blang village of Wengji in Pu'er in September. CHEN XINBO/XINHUA

Ecological balance

Unlike uniform commercial plantations, Jingmai's 1,180 hectares of ancient tea forests rely on a multitiered canopy system developed by the ancestors of the Blang and Dai peoples between the 10th and 14th centuries. In spots like Dapingzhang, tall trees provide shade and moisture, tea plants grow below, and fallen leaves protect the soil in a landscape that looks far more like a natural forest than a farm.

"We don't use pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Spiders control pests, and fallen leaves serve as fertilizer," said Yan Sailuan, Party secretary of Jingmai village.

Ethnic communities, such as the Dai, Blang and Hani, have lived peacefully in communities on the mountain for centuries, sharing the tea forests, farming work and harvests. Today, 15 traditional settlements are home to 6,500 residents. They built villages near the forests and passed down ways to harvest without clearing the trees. Neighbors also exchanged skills, helped during hard seasons and gathered for rituals.

"The tea forests belong to all of us, and the mountains and rivers don't distinguish between ethnic groups," said Li Ping, deputy head of Huimin township. "Protecting this mountain means protecting our shared home."

Local regulations governing the cultural landscape took effect in January 2023, establishing 166 mutual-aid groups that help patrol the forests alongside farmer cooperatives. Officials emphasize that environmental protection relies heavily on the region's historical harmony across different groups.

That cooperation has extended to business. Blang grower Yan San and Dai entrepreneur Yu Ying met at a tourism promotion event, then opened a business combining Blang roasted tea and Dai flower tea. In Wengji village, community leader Zhang Guangming helped establish a cooperative that accepts members regardless of their ethnicity or village. At village markets, Dai sticky rice, Blang sour tea and Hani cured meat are displayed side by side.

Growers once relied on traders who made the journey up the mountain. Cooperatives and tourism now offer more direct routes to buyers.

A worker makes tea bricks in Pu'er on Sept 16. CHEN XINBO/XINHUA

Returning home

Xianjin, who returned to her mountain home in 2019 after studying tea craft in Kunming and Shenzhen, grew up watching her father pick and process leaves. The family often had to seek out buyers for its tea. Now, her short videos and livestreams reach customers far beyond the mountain. Her Pu'er tea ice cream, developed with her husband, can sell as many as 680 servings on a busy day.

In Nuogan village, Yan Gongwang has returned to develop a family guesthouse. It retains the traditional Dai stilt-house design, with a roof ornament resembling a tea bud and two leaves. Guests can stay, drink tea and learn about the local culture.

Yan said he added more than 3,000 contacts on WeChat during his first year back home. With many visitors becoming regular tea customers, his family's income has more than doubled.

In Wengji, a Blang village, Kang Weifang captured a less glamorous gap in the tourism market when she noticed visitors sometimes struggled to find breakfast. Her family opened a restaurant serving local dishes alongside its existing tea business. She also introduces visitors to Blang customs and promotes the family's tea online.

"Before, we dealt with tea traders. After the World Heritage listing, tea lovers started coming directly to us," Kang said.

For Sanwen, who learned traditional handmade tea-making from older family members, the change means buyers can watch the work behind a finished product. Visitors to his workshop see leaves pan-fired, rolled and dried. He is exploring smaller packages and a modern tea-drinking space without changing the underlying technique.

Tea leaves are dried in trays on a roof in Jingmai village of Pu'er in March. LIANG ZHIQIANG/XINHUA

Old road reborn

In Nakeli village, in Ning'er Hani and Yi autonomous county, the sound of running water accompanies visitors along stone-paved lanes. The century-old Rongfa caravan inn recalls the days when traders and packhorses passed through on the Tea Horse Road. Today, the route is lined with cafes, tea shops and stalls selling dried fruit and handicrafts.

Nakeli's transformation began after an earthquake in 2007. Authorities offered subsidies to renovate houses while preserving traditional architectural features, including 400 yuan per square meter for replacing wooden doors and windows. Some residents wondered why sound houses needed renovating. But as tourists arrived, rooms facing the street became shops, and courtyards found a second life as commercial spaces.

Today, about half the village's businesses are run by locals and half by entrepreneurs renting space from them.

For Gao Shixing, the change reaches deep into his family history. His Yi ancestors traveled with horse caravans, and his family has lived in Nakeli for eight generations. His father is Yi, his mother Hani, his wife Han and his sister-in-law Dai. His family reflects the village's ethnic diversity.

"Whenever a family needs help, the whole village comes," Gao said.

Tourists try riding a horse in Nakeli village of Pu'er in January. CHEN XINBO/XINHUA

Gao returned to the village 12 years ago to revive the family tea business. His parents' generation could consider a profit of 10 yuan on half a kilogram of wholesale tea a good result. Today, he sells directly to visitors and offers tea-making experiences; retail margins can reach about 30 percent.

Tourism also drew Gao Li, a former nurse, back to the family tea trade. Visitors can pick leaves and learn how to process them before taking home their own tea. She said she gained about 3,000 WeChat contacts in a year, including around 200 regular customers.

The number of businesses in Nakeli has grown from 23 in 2008 to 135 in 2025. It welcomed more than one million tourist visits and earned 167 million yuan from tourism in 2025. About 80 percent of villagers now work or run businesses close to home.

Yang Ze, Party chief of Nakeli village, has helped restore old bridges and preserve the waterways, fields and stone paths that make Nakeli distinctive. Next, he wants to bring farming experiences and evening activities to one of the surrounding residential groups, so the benefits extend beyond the main tourist streets.

"People have more money in their pockets, their outlook has changed, disputes have become less frequent and ties between ethnic groups have grown closer," Yang said. His goal is for "every group to earn a living from tourism."