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Pu'er

Simao in YunnanPu'er used to be an important stop of the "Tea-horse Road", a road for people who transported tea by horses. Influenced by the subtropical monsoon climate, seldom does this area see frost, which makes Pu'er a main producer of the famous Pu Er tea, as well as one of the largest tea production area in China.

Pu'er is home to around 13 minority groups including Hani, Yi, Dai, La ku, Wa, Bu lang and Yao minorities.

Pu'er and Pu Erh Tea

Pu'er is the birthplace of Pu Erh Tea, a very famous international tea brand. Pu Erh tea processing history can be dated back to the East Han Dynasty over 1,700 years ago. The boost that this tea industry has brought the region has resulted in considerable economic benefits, and enhances a cultural exchange with the outside world.

Over 1,000 years ago, Pu Erh tea was carried into Tibet along the Tea-horse Road and became a daily necessity of the nomadic people, who used it to eliminate extra oil absorbed from prepared greasy foods such as cheeses and meats.          

The rigorous policy on controlling tea trade conducted by generations of imperial rulers was to promote tea-horse exchange and achieve their goal of purchasing war horses at low prices. This dramatically increased tea demand and accelerated the tea growing and processing industries.       

The fact that Pu Erh Tea was favored by Emperor Qinglong and selected as one tribute to the imperial court has further increased the already famed product’s popularity throughout China. It has been mentioned in world classics such as "Dream of the Red Chamber" and "War and Peace"

China's tea-planting history can be traced back for more than 2,000 years. China has made a great contribution to tea cultivation, tea processing, drinking, usage, and exploration, and even the forming and developing of tea culture in world civilization.       

Pu'er, home of the Pu Erh Tea, has preserved the most primitive wild tea trees, and it has developed its own Tea garden in Pu'erunique influence on tea cultivation, processing and quality inspection, which are all parts of the brilliant and multi-featured tea culture.

In Pu'er, the significance of tea goes far beyond a kind of beverage. Instead, it signifies a culturally profound object which reflects back on slices of tea history and the Tea-horse Road.

Sights

Ruin of the Tea-horse Road

The ancient Tea Road which promoted the brilliant tea business in Puer area is kept very well alive in three places. One of them is in Nakeli village, Tongxin county. Another one is the Tea Road in Democracy Village, Fengyang county, which is a stone path of 2 km long winding up the mountain in a partially primitive forest. The deep footprints of the horses in the path mirror the hard days when people changed tea for horses and other necessities of rural life. Walking up along the path, people can sense the dangers and hardships of the Horse Group, groups of people who transported tea with horses. The third one is a site in Peacock Patio, Mo Black Town, which is about 10km long with some stops alongside the path, with clear horse footprints that exemplify the prosperity of the Tea Road. The image of the scenery "bells ringing as the horse groups passing" was what actual life was like before the 1950s, whereas now it can only be seen in historical films. No longer ring the sounds of bells and horses, thus the road today is very quiet. However, the melodious bells and the beautiful songs soar vividly in history. Nowadays, the Puer people travel over the mountain, carrying the best tea by strong horses and travel on, far away for trade in March every year.

Small Olive Dam

People interested in archaeology can have a good time here. There is the site of the Elephant Trunk new stone tool age which dates back 3,000 years with the cultural layer of forty-five to fifty-five cm. People have collected about 150 relics such as stone knives, stone axes, potsherds, and special round stones in the neighboring primitive village sites of Nanduo, Napan, Manpan, Bamboo Forest and the Nanpa River.

Accommodation

There are not many hotels in Pu'er city and most of them are two-star hotels with reasonable prices. The best hotels are three-star . Besides hotels, common and easily-facilitated hotels and guesthouses are also available. Recommended hotels: Golden phoenix hotel(Add: No. 8 East Renmin Road, Pu'er) Simao Hotel( Add: No.27, middle Zhenxing Road, Pu'er)

Transportation

Pu'er Airport: it is 2 km in east suburb of Pu'er city. There are daily flights to/fro Kunming.

Highway: Highways link Pu'er with the neighboring regions and long coaches to Kunming is available. Moreover, there are international highroads leading to Laos, Burma and Thailand.

 

 

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