XISHUANGBANNA, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Yu Yongjiao's day begins with picking tea leaves in her tea garden. She gets up early in the morning and picks tea leaves from 7 a.m. till noon. She resumes work from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. At night, she stir-fries tea leaves.
"I am the busiest during harvesting seasons," she said.
Yu is a member of the Blang ethnic people in southwest China's Yunnan Province. People of the minority group traditionally depend on the tea industry to make a living. In Yu's village of Lagan, almost every family owns tea trees. The place is quite suitable for tea growth thanks to favorable temperatures, high altitudes and sufficient sunlight. The village used to be one of the poorest in the province, but now, all people there have been lifted off poverty. Their secret: the improved tea industry.
Though tea has always been a major industry, local farmers did not make much money due to the average tea quality as a result of insufficient technologies. In recent year, however, with government help, locals have made a good fortune.
Yu lives with her parents and her brother. The family managed to rake in 60,000 yuan (8,675 U.S. dollars) last year by selling tea.
Blang people have quite unique traditions. Their iconic symbol is a three-stringed guitar. Images of the musical instrument can be found on their ethnic clothes. According to Yu, all Blang women in her village are surnamed Yu, and all men are surnamed Yan. Marriage between men and women of the same age is forbidden, as such a union is believed to bring unhappiness and illness, although such beliefs have gradually waned in recent years.
Blang men are supposed to spend time as monks for a period of time in their lives in local temples, and anyone who does not follow the tradition is regarded as "not man enough," Yu said.
For generations, Blang people have been living simple lives: growing tea, cassava and sugarcane.
Yu's parents were traditional tea farmers. Yu went to the tea gardens with her parents when she was a child and helped pick tea leaves. She began to be completely engaged in the tea business after graduating from junior high school in 2012.
In the past, due to a lack of mature technologies, tea production in the village was not great, and business was tepid, Yu said.
"Before, dried tea leaves could only fetch 50 yuan or 60 yuan per kilo at most," Yu said. "These days, the prices have jumped to more than 100 yuan per kilo."
The surge in tea prices is the direct result of government help. Beginning in 2011, local authorities started to offer free technical training for locals. The training sessions include how to pick, stir-fry, roll and dry tea leaves.
"We also learned how to prevent pests and treat plant diseases," she said.
The authorities also contacted tea dealers, who purchased the tea from local farmers at reasonable prices.
Tea trees grown in the locality are branded "natural tea," as no pesticides are sprayed during the growing process.
The improved tea industry has brought good fortune to many Blang people in the village. Yu Yongjiao's aunt Yu Nanshao has built a big house with the money the family earned through tea sales, in addition to a little help from friends and relatives.
"We are thankful to the Communist Party of China for helping transform our fortunes here," Yu's aunt said.
In the near term, Yu Yongjiao will build a new house too with the hard earned cash from selling tea leaves.
"Days of the Blang people are getting better," she said.
