The city of Xinyang, famous for its green tea, Maojian, now has a black tea, Xinyanghong, which will bring extra money to local farmers, Zhang Chunxiang, vice-mayor of the city said on June 5.

A visitor to a tea-growing farm in the city of Xinyang, Henan province, is being taken a photo of on June 6. [Photo/dzwww.com]

In the past, only the very tips of tea leaves could be collected in the spring and then used to produce the green tea Xinyang Maojian, but the rest of these leaves would be of no use. Most tea leaves in the summer and autumn will be wasted or used to produce low-quality green tea.

Farmers can gain 15,000 yuan ($2,314) each year thanks to the newly-developed black tea Xinyanghong, said vice chairman of Folingshan Tea Company Limited, Zhang Deji on June 6.

Xinyang will grow three million mu of tea during the 12th Five Year Plan (2011-2015), said vice mayor Zhang. There are 1.5 million mu of tea in Xinyang now, Zhang added.

The city of Xinyang will support the development of tea industry in terms of land use, loans and technical training, said Zhang Tizhong, a publicity official of this city.

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The Xinyang Tea City, which aims to be a tea trading center and also a tea growing and processing center, is being constructed and will open in the first half of 2012, according to the chairman of Henan Xinyang Auspicious Cloud Tea (Group) Co, Ltd. Chen Shiqiang, the chairman said a total of 10,000 job positions will be created due to the Xinyang Tea City, which will cover

Xinhua News Agency reported on May 27 that Henan province plans to spend 9.86 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) to boost the development of its tea industry over the next 10 years, though there is no detailed information on how this money will be used.