China News Service, Zhengzhou, October 13th. Title: Luoyang Peony and Xinyang Maojian are on the list. How can agricultural cultural heritage be passed down alive?
Author Wang Jianing
Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs released the eighth batch of China's important agricultural cultural heritage list, and a total of 88 traditional agricultural systems across the country were selected. Among them, the Peony Culture System in Luoyang, Henan and the Maojian Tea Culture System in Xinyang are on the list. Some experts believe that the living inheritance of agricultural cultural heritage is crucial. On the basis of preserving traditional varieties and farming techniques, only by promoting the integrated development of agriculture, culture, tourism and other industries can the agricultural cultural heritage be continued.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs organizes the excavation and identification of China's important agricultural cultural heritage, aiming to promote the protection and inheritance of China's excellent farming culture, empower the overall revitalization of rural areas, and continue to play the positive role of agricultural cultural heritage in ensuring supply, protecting ecology, inheriting culture, and increasing employment and income. Public information shows that my country has previously identified seven batches of 188 important Chinese agricultural cultural heritages, of which 25 have been selected as globally important agricultural cultural heritages, ranking first in the world in terms of number.
The Luoyang peony culture system inherits peony cultivation techniques that lasted for more than 1,300 years in the Tang Dynasty. It builds a composite planting system based on "symbiosis of anthers and food, and integration of urban, mountain and rural areas". The core area of the system exceeds 2,000 square kilometers, integrating peony cultivation, mountain conservation and humanistic inheritance.
In Luoyang, in addition to the traditional ornamental and medicinal development of peonies, peony essential oils, cultural and creative experiences, eco-tourism and other integrated businesses have been derived, driving hundreds of thousands of flower farmers to increase their incomes and realizing a leap from "a flower" to "a city". The annual Luoyang Peony Cultural Festival attracts many tourists from home and abroad.
Xinyang Maojian Tea Cultural System is a typical comprehensive agricultural cultural heritage, with the three-dimensional management of mountainous and hilly tea gardens as the core. It not only includes Maojian cultivation, management and maintenance and other agricultural production systems, but also carries tea cultural context such as tea picking, tea making, tea art, tea customs, and tea rituals.
In the published "2026 China Green Tea Regional Public Brand Value Assessment Report", "Xinyang Maojian" won the second place in the 2026 China Tea Regional Public Brand Green Tea category with a brand value of 8.692 billion yuan. Data show that as of the end of 2025, the tea garden area in Xinyang City reached 2.16 million acres, the total dry tea output was 101,300 tons, and the agricultural output value was 23 billion yuan.
"Luoyang peony continues the millennium cultivation techniques and the ecological idea of comprehensive utilization of the whole plant. Xinyang Maojian's production method of growing tea on the mountain and growing tea forests in symbiosis embodies the ancient people's farming concept of adapting to local conditions and sustainable development." According to Song Xiangqing, vice president of the China Society of Business Economics, the protection and utilization of my country's agricultural cultural heritage has initially formed a virtuous cycle in which protection promotes development and development feeds back protection through ecological restoration, technological empowerment, and industrial chain extension.
In view of the current phenomenon of "emphasizing declaration and neglecting operation and maintenance" in many agricultural cultural heritages, Zhang Zhancang, former president of the Henan Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview that using agricultural cultural heritage IP to empower agricultural product brands, expand high-quality supply while maintaining traditional characteristics, and realize the transformation of cultural value into economic value.
Zhang Zhancang suggested that improving the interest linkage mechanism between agricultural cultural heritage and farmers is the key to sustainable heritage protection. We should be wary of the problem of "heritage development, enterprises benefiting, and farmers being sidelined." We should encourage farmers to invest in shares with land and skills, build a production and marketing platform, and allow farmers to share the brand value-added benefits of cultural heritage.
Song Xiangqing believes that combining the traditional wisdom of these agricultural cultural heritages with modern consumption and modern agriculture is the core path for the activation and inheritance of farming culture.
