Yanshan is a beautiful place, part of the Wuyi Mountain National Park. However, what makes a place prosperous is not its beautiful environment, but its people.
During my stay in Yanshan, I noticed a deep-rooted aspiration among the locals to “step out of the mountains.” Motel manager Mr. Xu wants his second son to study in Australia, while tea farmer Mr. Zhan has sent his son to the best local high school. Mr. Zhan’s son told me that when we were not around, Mr. Zhan was very strict with him. Mr. Zhan hopes his son will enter a top university and see “the outside world.”
China has a long history of the imperial examination system. People always hope to change their fate through education, especially those in third and fourth-tier cities. They wish to enable their children to leap social classes through education, to move to big cities and to enjoy better lives.
However, I don’t see it that way. Living in Beijing, I yearn for a quieter rural life. In the long run, staying rooted in the village to make money might not be less profitable than going out to work.
According to Ms. Lin, who oversees the tea industry locally, many who studied outside are now choosing to return to their hometowns to start businesses. They use technology to help their parents and use media and online shopping to bring local tea to a broader market.
Nevertheless, local policies should be more attractive to returning talents while providing better opportunities for the local people. The concept of “Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritor” is a common rating for local tea-making skills. From county-level to the highest national-level, the progression requires “recommendations,” writing papers, paying taxes to the government, participating in competitions, etc. There are inevitably opaque elements in this process. Only the highest “provincial” and “national level” inheritors have the opportunity to supply tea to “national leaders.” Every March, armed police monitor their tea gardens. These tea farmers often hold more economic and political capital in business operations, which might be a potential factor in exacerbating the polarization of enterprise scales in the tea market.
However, it is undeniable that the Chinese government has made attempts to address “urban disease” and proposed the “Rural Revitalization” strategy. People staying in Yanshan will also have their opportunities. The policies should just keep up.