Yushan Island White Tea

　　Lou Yaofu

　　Hearing Chen Jing, the owner of Jingcha Fang, mention that Fuding’s Yushan Island has a stunning tea garden filled me with deep longing.

　　I’ve long heard about the exquisite rarity of Fuding white tea. As Zhou Lianggong noted in his "Min Xiaoji": "Mount Taibao was once home to a green snow sprout variety, now known as Baihao... Its produce is naturally cooling and possesses medicinal properties comparable to rhinoceros horn—it’s hailed as a miraculous remedy for measles—and is even exported overseas at prices rivaling gold." Interestingly, the British royal family and Europe’s elite aristocracy have always cherished Fuding white tea, often showcasing its exclusivity by adding just three or four Baihao Yin Zhen needles when savoring fine black teas.

　　In 2009, I once visited Fuding—but since I was traveling with a group, my visit was rushed and far from enjoyable. As a result, my experience tasting and truly understanding white tea remained quite superficial. Ever since then, I’ve been eager to return to Fuding, determined to make up for that missed opportunity. This year, after Qingming Festival, I finally got the chance—this time accompanied by Chen Jing.

　　That evening upon arriving in Fuding, I met Ye Fangyang, the owner of the Yushan Island tea plantation. "Your name is quite fitting," I remarked with a smile. "Is it perhaps fate that I’m destined to be connected with tea?" He’d been inseparable from tea for over two decades, starting at the tender age of 16. The next morning, he accompanied me as we hiked onto the island to explore the tea fields. Above us, the sky was a brilliant expanse of blue dotted with fluffy white clouds, while the island itself pulsed with life-giving negative ions. The mountains, the water, and the towering trees—all were breathtakingly pure and eerily tranquil. Not a single trace of smog or polluted runoff could be seen anywhere. It felt as though my lungs and heart, once weighed down by PM2.5 pollution, had finally been cleansed. As I stood there, utterly relaxed, I couldn’t help but breathe deeply, savoring the sheer serenity of the moment.

　　Establishing a tea production base on Yushan Island dates back to 2005. That year, Ye Fangyang learned that Yushan Island had been named one of China's "Ten Most Beautiful Islands," so he invited friends to visit—and was amazed to discover abandoned tea plantations on the island, with some tea trees towering over 3 meters tall. The history of these tea hills is closely tied to Zhu Tengfen, a native of Fuding who served as a member of the House of Representatives during Sun Yat-sen's presidency. In the 1920s, disillusioned with Duan Qirui, Zhu returned to Fujian with his family and founded a reclamation company on Yushan Island, cultivating over 1,000 mu of tea plantations that brought prosperity to the local community. By the 1970s, however, the tea plantations had fallen into disuse under collective management by the town. Watching as tea trees gradually became engulfed by wild weeds, Ye Fangyang felt deep sorrow—and it was precisely this heartache that sparked his vision to revive the island's tea gardens. With its pristine ecological environment, breathtaking ocean views, and misty, cloud-covered landscapes, Yushan Island boasts something truly rare: three freshwater lakes—Sun Lake, Moon Lake, and Star Lake. These exceptional water resources, combined with lush vegetation, create ideal conditions for growing organic tea. Recognizing this extraordinary opportunity, Ye Fangyang decided to take on the challenge of reviving Yushan Island's historic tea plantations.

　　Today, the island is once again free of overgrown weeds and no longer bears any signs of desolation or decay. Instead, the tea gardens have been completely revitalized, offering a breathtakingly beautiful sight. Gazing across Moon Lake toward the tea hills on the opposite shore, one sees terraced fields stretching endlessly into the distance, lush and verdant at every turn. At the mountaintops, wisps of white clouds drift lazily, while below, the lake gently cradles the landscape. The tea hills are mirrored perfectly in the water, their surface rippling softly as crystal-clear, pristine blue waves shimmer beneath the sunlight.

　　The tea bushes stretch endlessly in endless rows, their air filled with the delicate aroma of tea. Between each row, small yellow signs are placed at regular intervals—Ye Fangyang explains they’re sticky traps used to catch pests. Remarkably, his tea garden never relies on chemical pesticides, not even during the peak insect season in summer, when pest infestations typically surge. Instead, he simply adds extra insect-attracting lamps to draw the bugs away. Ye Fangyang is deeply committed to producing pure, clean tea. When someone initially suggested using herbicides to clear the weeds, he firmly refused, choosing instead to invest ten times more in hiring laborers to manually remove the grass—a decision driven by his dedication to cultivating pesticide-free white tea. After harvesting, the tea leaves were originally processed right on the island, by the lakeside. But starting from the second year, Ye Fangyang began transporting the fresh tea leaves back to his company for processing. Though this method significantly increases costs due to the need for mountain-to-sea and highway transportation, he remains unwavering in his commitment. After all, it’s not just about preserving the exceptional quality of his white tea—it’s also about safeguarding the pristine environment of Yushan Island itself.

　　The azaleas by the roadside are in full, vibrant bloom, and I stand atop the mountain tea garden, gazing out at the distant sea—serene, pristine, where water meets sky in a seamless blend. After all, great mountains and clear waters naturally give rise to exceptional tea. Yu Shan Island remains one of the rarest untouched sanctuaries left in today’s world, and it’s only fitting that its tea consistently claims top honors in provincial and national tea competitions.

　　As I write this, I suddenly recall the words from Lu Yu’s *The Classic of Tea*: "Three hundred li east of Yongjia County lies White Tea Mountain." Many in the tea community have assumed that the "east" mentioned by the Tea Sage was actually a mistake for "south," since 300 li east of Yongjia County leads straight into the vast, endless sea—how could there possibly be a White Tea Mountain out there? Yet now, standing on the shores of Yushan Island and gazing at its very own White Tea Mountain, I can’t help but wonder: perhaps Lu Yu wasn’t mistaken after all.