On the highest point of the tea plantation, Li Yong, Administrative Manager of Guizhou Huang Hongying Tea Co., Ltd., explains that the entire area was low-efficiency shrubland before the company moved in 2012. After three years of clearing and development, the plantation was initially established by 2015 and reached full production by 2019, marking a seven-year journey. Today, the company produces around 100 tons of tea annually, with an output value of approximately 1.1 billion yuan.
Huang Hongying Tea Co. operates its plantation in Jianzhong Town, Weng'an County, within the Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Guizhou Province. Over 90 years ago, during the Red Army's Long March, the Central Red Army passed through Weng'an four times and held the "Houchang Conference," often called the "prelude to the great turning point." Now, this red-soil land in central Guizhou is transforming tea mountains into "gold mountains" that boost local incomes and prosperity. In 2025, Weng'an County's tea industry achieved an output value exceeding 10 billion yuan, with local tea plantations providing 2 million labor days and distributing 240 million yuan in wages. Based on its "Three Main, Three Special" agricultural layout, Weng'an has set clear tea industry goals. According to the 2026 county government work report, it aims to boost production scale and quality, targeting 15,000 mu of demonstration gardens for quality improvement, five standardized tea demonstration bases, eight new continuous production lines, and a milled tea output exceeding 1,500 tons.
Leading the Industry: Output Value Breaks the 10 Billion Yuan Mark
Huang Hongying Tea, founded by Hunan-born Huang Hongying, who also serves as its chairperson, is a standout among Weng'an's tea enterprises. Regarding the decision to settle in Jianzhong Town, Li Yong notes that the chairperson toured all tea-producing provinces across China, excluding Tibet. The choice was driven by the region's location in the transitional step zone of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, at the 27th parallel north—a golden belt for tea growth—with no industrial pollution within 20 kilometers and unpolluted soil, making it an ecologically suitable tea area. Another key reason was that Guoshui Village in Jianzhong Town was a Class I impoverished village in Guizhou, and the goal was to help locals find jobs nearby, increase incomes, and escape poverty.
Li Yong recalls the harsh early days: the factory area was a barren mountain without water, roads, electricity, or communication. The team bought excavators to clear the land, initially renting houses from villagers where livestock occupied the ground floor and people lived above, before setting up prefab houses. It wasn't until 2019, their seventh year on-site, that they produced their first batch of tea. Challenges persisted, as Huangjinya and Baiye No. 1 tea varieties in Weng'an had low survival rates and slow growth, compounded by organic farming's inherently slower pace. The chairperson relied on personal savings to sustain the company through a seven-year pre-production period.
Today, Huang Hongying Tea covers four of China's six major tea categories: green, black, white, and dark tea, producing about 100 tons annually. Its products target the mid-to-high-end market, offering both OEM and own-brand items. In 2025, the company's output value reached about 1.1 billion yuan, with sales of over 60 million yuan; the first half of 2026 saw a slight improvement. To break into the mid-to-high-end tea market, the company developed thorn pear black tea in 2022, launching it in 2023, which has become a hit product in Guizhou. Li Yong explains that this tea is made by filling hollowed-out Guizhou large-fruit thorn pears with black tea and using freeze-drying technology to better preserve vitamin C and SOD active ingredients.
Field visits reveal that Huang Hongying Tea has driven Weng'an's tea industry growth. In 2025, the county produced 15,600 tons of tea, with an output value of 10.47 billion yuan. As the county's largest tea enterprise, the company plays a significant role in driving industry development. From 2022 to 2024, it purchased fresh tea leaves annually from over 30 local tea enterprises, provided they met standards. It also offers free training for local residents, large growers, and small enterprise staff on the entire chain from planting and pest control to processing.
Guangdong-Guizhou Collaboration: Deepening Tea Tourism Integration
Behind Huang Hongying Tea's steady growth is support from Guangzhou City. During a visit to the company's factory, prominent red characters on the white buildings read "Guangdong-Guizhou Collaboration" and "Guangzhou Aid Project." Li Yong explains that the processing plant is located within the Haizhu-Weng'an Guangdong-Guizhou Collaborative Modern Agricultural Industrial Park, funded by eastern-western cooperation funds, with ownership belonging to relevant village collectives in Jianzhong Town. The company leases the plant at a fixed annual price, with rent used for collective dividends to local residents. The entire 35,600 mu of tea plantations in Jianzhong Town are part of this industrial park.
The partnership between Haizhu District and Weng'an County is a key component of Guangdong-Guizhou collaboration during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, focusing on industry, education, healthcare, and rural revitalization. Weng'an's rapid tea industry growth is a prime example. Xiao Bowei, a member of the Guizhou Working Group of Guangdong's Guangdong-Guizhou Cooperation Team in Weng'an and Deputy Director of the County Agriculture and Rural Bureau, notes that Haizhu's assistance has boosted "Guizhou products entering the bay area," with total agricultural product sales from Weng'an reaching 1.576 billion yuan. Additionally, project-driven subsidies and rewards have stimulated local specialty product enterprises. Efforts include live-streaming sales and the "832 platform" for poverty-alleviated areas, listing 98 products from 23 county enterprises. Weng'an's e-commerce exhibition hall showcases 346 specialty products across 26 categories, including yellow cakes, tea, and preserved eggs. Leveraging Guangzhou's exhibition resources, the county has helped enterprises "go out," enhancing market awareness, competition, and intellectual property knowledge, thereby raising the profile of Weng'an's agricultural products.
Beyond accelerating tea exports to the bay area, Weng'an is also advancing tea-tourism integration with Haizhu's support. Li Yong explains that the company leverages its tea plantation resources to develop related businesses. Just two weeks ago, the base hosted research activities for primary and secondary school students. The plantation features a tea culture experience center where visitors can engage in tea picking, processing, and tea art. Currently, the plantation receives about 100,000 tourists annually, operating as a social media hotspot without comprehensive dining and accommodation facilities. Consequently, tourist numbers are not systematically tracked, and no admission fees are charged.
According to the Weng'an County Culture, Radio, Television, and Tourism Bureau, the area boasts large-scale Huangjinya tea tourism resources, with the core tea plantation in Jianzhong Town serving as the foundation for integrated development. Local tea tourism integration has deepened, with new business models steadily improving quality. Xiao Bowei states that the plan is to use the Haizhu-Weng'an Guangdong-Guizhou Collaborative Modern Agricultural Industrial Park as a platform, employing financial support, digital empowerment, and cultural tourism innovation to transform it into a tea-focused tourism and leisure complex. Through tea tourism integration, the county aims to develop rural agricultural, cultural, and tourism projects using a "company + cooperative + farmer" model, blending agriculture, tourism, commerce, and culture to create a rural leisure complex that combines trade, agricultural sightseeing, and rural charm. This represents a shift from "selling tea" to "selling scenery."