Mengding Mountain stands in Mingshan district, in Ya'an prefecture about 120 kilometres west of Chengdu. Chinese tradition holds that tea was first cultivated deliberately on this mountain in the Han dynasty, by a figure named Wu Lizhen, and that Mengding tea was sent to the imperial court as tribute from the Tang dynasty onwards. Whatever the exact history, this is one of the oldest tea places in the country, and it is still planted with tea.
The tea terraces
The slopes are covered in low, neatly clipped tea bushes arranged in terraces, with paths running between them and pickup baskets left at the ends of rows. Depending on the season you may see women picking two leaves and a bud by hand, which is still done for the higher grades. Spring is the harvest that matters, and the first flush is picked in late March and April. Most plantations offer a tasting and sell leaf tea by weight, vacuum-sealed for travel.
The temple and the trees
Above the terraces stands a temple complex, reached by a long flight of stone steps, with halls, a courtyard and a teahouse where you can sit with a gaiwan and look down over the tea slopes. In the courtyard there is a group of very old ginkgo trees - several are said to be over a thousand years old - which turn bright yellow for a couple of weeks in November. Lower down the mountain there is a small memorial to Wu Lizhen and stone inscriptions relating to the tea tribute.
Getting there and timing
Mengding is usually visited by car or private transfer, about two hours each way, or by high-speed train to Ya'an followed by a taxi. Public transport to the mountain gate exists but is slow. The site charges admission, and the climb from the gate to the temple takes about an hour on foot; a cable car covers part of it. A day trip from Chengdu is realistic if you start early, and an overnight stay in Ya'an makes it much more relaxed.
Who it suits
Anyone interested in tea, in mountain walking, or in getting out of the city into green landscape. Combine it with a stop in Ya'an for its own tea shops, and with the Qingcheng Mountain area if you are heading back north.
