Mountains teeming with tea

Increasing incomes: A tea-picking celebration in Baixiang village. During peak harvest, US$294,286 in wages is paid annually. — Photo: China Daily

THE drive from south-west China’s Sichuan province’s Mabian county seat to Baixiang village is a test of one’s limits for car sickness, full of sharp turns that wind upward for 11kms.

But roll the car windows down and everything is worth it: the sweet air permeated by the terraced tea bushes following the mountain’s contours like the whorls of a giant fingerprint.