The extended 45th session of the World Heritage Committee will take place in Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from September 10 to 25 this year. Among the 50 projects under review, the ancient tea plantations of Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er City, southwest China's Yunnan Province were the only project submitted by China.

Yunnan Province is known as one of the world's biodiversity hot spots and for its tea trees and tea culture. The Pu'er's tea plantation has wild ancient trees of some 2,700 years old and half-wild, half-cultivated ancient tea trees older than a thousand years. Well-preserved ancient Pu'er tea trees have also been discovered in the area, making the plantation one of the earliest regions to embrace tea culture.

The plantation is not only a big family for ancient trees but also home to ethnic minority groups, including the Bulang and Dai people, who began cultivating tea trees in the forest due to the mild climate and soil conditions. The villagers of this region still follow the ancient way of growing and picking tea today.

Currently, the ancient tea plantation is under review. Once the application is successful, it will become the world's first tea culture World Heritage Site and China's 57th World Heritage Site.