Hekai Tea Mountain: A humid biodiversity hotspot
CGTN

Located at an altitude between 1,400 and 1,800 meters, Hekai Tea Mountain in Menghai County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, is often shrouded in fog. The humid air provides favorable conditions for tea trees to grow. It is one of the best preserved and largest ancient tea gardens in the world.

It is said that there are over 2 million ancient tea trees on the mountain and many of them are between 200 and 1,400 years old. If you take a closer look at each tea tree branch, you can find diverse orchids, ferns and mosses settling down and thriving. 

Menghai County in Xishuangbanna is known for its Pu'er tea. The environment here not only allows tea trees to grow in patches, but also enables abundant plants and insects to live and breed.

(All photos taken by CGTN's Zhao Ying)

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