Cultural Landscape of Old Tea Forests of the Jingmai Mountain in Pu’er World Heritage Site

Official name

Cultural Landscape of Old Tea Forests of the Jingmai Mountain in Pu’er | UNESCO

Country

China | Map

Continent

Asia

Location

22.1841° Lat, 100.7500° Lon | Map

Code

1665

Time Zone

Asia/Shanghai (CST, +0800)

Current Time

Category

Cultural

Description

Inscribed 2023. Located on Jingmai Mountain in southwestern China, this cultural landscape was developed over a thousand years by the Blang and Dai peoples following practices that began in the 10th century. The property is a tea production area comprised of traditional villages within old tea groves surrounded by forests and tea plantations. The traditional understorey cultivation of old tea trees is a method that responds to the specific conditions of the mountain’s ecosystem and subtropical monsoon climate, combined with a governance system maintained by the local Indigenous communities. Traditional ceremonies and festivities relate to the Tea Ancestor belief that spirits live in the tea plantations and in the local fauna and flora, a belief that is at the core of this cultural tradition.