She ethnic group: Living, singing and working in tea plantations

Updated: 2016-03-22 10:45

By Yao Yao(chinadaily.com.cn)

A woman in traditional costume picks tea leaves at Pinghu plantation, March 21, 2016. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

In a village characterized with She ethnic group, tea plantation helps villagers live a decent life and preserve their ethnic characteristics.

Covering an area of more than 1,000 mu (667 hectares), Pinghu tree plantation in Houdun village,

Ningde city, Southeast China's Fujian province, has seen its most teas sold to Beijing and EU

countries, with an annual income of more than 10 million yuan ($1.5 million).

Workers in the plantation are all She people, who are used to singing local songs when they pick tea leaves. The songs in their dialects have been listed as national intangible cultural heritages since 2006.

With an average income of 12,000 yuan per capita, which is above the average income of farmers around the country in 2015, "our villagers prefer to develop our tea industry rather than work in urban areas, which contributes to our harmonious village, since the elders can be taken care of by their children, teenagers and much younger children be accompanied by their parents," said Lei Lanmei, secretary of Houdun village.