In the mist-shrouded peaks of Yunnan Province, an 82-year-old cultural guardian has bridged centuries of tradition with modern recognition. Su Guowen, son of the last headman of the Blang ethnic group, transformed fading oral histories into concrete evidence that earned Jingmai Mountain’s ancient tea forests UNESCO World Heritage status in 2023.
For generations, Blang elders recited the proverb: “Leave them tea gardens, so your descendants may harvest from them forever.” Su spent decades transcribing these oral traditions, creating vital documentation that revealed the sustainable agricultural practices and cultural symbiosis between Blang communities and their environment.
“Our ancestors understood ecological balance long before it became a global concern,” Su told KhabarAsia. His work not only preserved Blang identity but provided academic researchers with rare insights into China’s ethnic minority heritage.
The UNESCO designation has boosted economic prospects for local tea growers while attracting cultural travelers to the region’s terraced plantations. For investors eyeing Asia’s sustainable agriculture sector, Jingmai’s success story offers a model of heritage-based development.
As younger generations embrace both tradition and innovation, Su remains optimistic: “Cultural preservation isn’t about freezing the past – it’s planting seeds for future growth.”
