The "Colorful Hunan Tea·Ten Thousand Miles Expedition" expedition ceremony was held in Changsha. The collection group will travel more than 5,000 kilometers westward.

China News Service, Changsha, September 5th (Reporter Deng Xia) On September 5th, the expedition ceremony of "Colorful Hunan Tea·Ten Thousand Miles Expedition - Leaf Duguan Mountain·Tenthousand Miles Tea Road China Tour 2026" was held in Changsha. From now on, the folklore collection group will set off from Changsha and head west along the Silk Road, spanning the five provinces of Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang, covering a total distance of over 5,000 kilometers.

Hunan has built a "Colorful Xiang Tea" brand matrix consisting of five major regional public brands: "Xiaoxiang Tea", "Hunan Black Tea", "Anhua Dark Tea", "Yueyang Yellow Tea" and "Sangzhi White Tea". Photo provided by the event party

It is understood that the "Fan Ye Du Guan Mountain·Ten Thousand Miles Tea Road China Tour" event was initiated by the well-known reading IP Shitouji Book Club. The first event to be held in 2025 will start from Anhua, Hunan, along the domestic section of the China, Mongolia and Russia Wanli Tea Road, and pass through Hubei , Henan, Shanxi, Hebei, and finally to the West Ujimqin Banner of Xilingol League in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Along the way, it not only displays the historical heritage and natural scenery of various places, but also innovates tea knowledge, popularizes tea culture, and helps the development of the tea industry.

This year's event is hosted by the Chinese Culture Promotion Association Wanli Tea Ceremony Cooperative, hosted by the Hunan Tea Industry Group, and co-organized by the Hunan Tea Industry Association. The group will follow the four lines of "Hunan tea marches westward, Hunan army marches westward, Hunan people march westward, and Hunan merchants expand westward", visiting the Fu Tea Culture Museum in Jingyang, Shaanxi Province, and the ancient city of Jinjibao in Wuzhong, Ningxia , tracing the imprint of Tan Sitong's westward journey in Lanzhou, Gansu, worshiping the statue of Zuo Zongtang in Urumqi, Xinjiang, and finally arriving at the Tea Horse Bazaar in the ancient city of Kashgar, completing this cultural journey across mountains and seas.

At Cha Shou Yi·Xiang Tea Supply and Marketing Cooperative, shop assistants are making new tea drinks. Photo by reporter Deng Xia

Hunan is a key tea-producing province in the country and has built a "Colorful Xiang Tea" brand matrix consisting of five major regional public brands: "Xiaoxiang Tea", "Hunan Black Tea", "Anhua Dark Tea", "Yueyang Yellow Tea" and "Sangzhi White Tea". As of the end of 2025, the province's tea garden area is 3.267 million acres, tea output is 301,600 tons, and tea exports are 57,800 tons; the comprehensive output value of the entire tea industry chain has exceeded 125 billion yuan; there are 112 leading agricultural industrialized tea enterprises at or above the provincial level.

Activists stated that the group’s westward journey will trace the tea ceremony context, excavate the historical relics of the thousands of miles of tea ceremony, and tell the story of the era of “Hunan Tea’s Westward Expansion”; at the same time, it will focus on industrial empowerment, visit Hunan merchants along the route, investigate the northwest tea market, and broaden the market access for “Colorful Hunan Tea”.

After the expedition ceremony, the tour group visited the Hunan Tea High-tech Park, the Hunan Tea Museum, and visited the cooperative tea, tea Shouyi and other brand stores under the Hunan Tea Industry Group to learn about Xiang Tea's strategic transformation path from the export of raw material tea to the export of branded tea, and from the export of tea products to the export of tea culture. (over)