The Dialogue between Yingde Back Tea and the World

Spring is full of vitality, and industries are thriving. On the afternoon of April 2nd, Talking about the new era of black tea culture·Building a better future of Yingde——The Dialogue between Yingde Back Tea and the World was held at the Brand Empowerment Forum for the High Quality Development of Yingde Black Tea.

     Experts and industry leaders from all walks of life gathered together to discuss how to promote the high-quality development of Yingde black tea industry through brand building. The conference invited several heavyweight guests, including Fan Zhibin, Deputy Mayor of Yingde City People's Government, Hu Xiaoyun, Director of the CARD China Agricultural Brand Research Center at Zhejiang University, Cui Yiting, Founder of the Silk Road Dialogue, Mei Yu, Vice President of the China Tea Circulation Association, Xing Jiguo, Director of the Cooperation Department of the China International Association for the Promotion of Science and Technology, Liu Yutao, Director of the National Modern Agricultural Industry Science and Technology Innovation Center, Huang Rongmeng, President of the Qingyuan Overseas Chinese Investment Enterprise Association, and Zhao Bin, Sales Manager of the Guangdong North Area of JD Logistics, as well as overseas Chinese representatives and entrepreneurs, to jointly analyze the current status and future development opportunities of Yingde black tea brand construction.

     From the ancient Silk Road, the Ancient Tea Horse Road, the Ancient Tea Boat Road, to today's "Belt and Road" and the Maritime Silk Road, this "touch of tea fragrance" from the East is becoming a symbol to cross mountains and seas and eliminate cultural boundaries, practicing the concept of "harmony without difference".

On the afternoon of April 7, 2023, the President Xi Jinping held an informal meeting with French President Macron in Songyuan, Guangzhou. At that time, the two leaders drank Guangdong specialty tea together. Yingde Black Tea is fortunate to be one of the representatives of national tea and appear at the meeting site to receive foreign guests.

Yingde is an ancient tea region in China with a long history of tea production. According to historical records, tea cultivation in England and Germany can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty over 1200 years ago. The first monograph on tea in China, written by Lu Yu of the Tang Dynasty in the "Classic of Tea", states: "Lingnan produces Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Shaozhou, Xiangzhou... often with good taste.". At that time, Yingde was the main tea growing area in Shaozhou, and this claim has been supported by research by Cheng Qikun and others from the China Tea Research Institute. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, tea production in England and Germany was popularized among the people and involved in foreign trade. It can be seen from this that England and Germany have a long history of tea production.

The Yinghong No. 9 tea, successfully developed using Yunnan large leaf tea in 1959, can be regarded as the "ace" in Yingde black tea. It received high attention from Premier Zhou Enlai, Chairman Zhu De, and other leaders of the Party and state at that time. Subsequently, it established the Guangdong Yingde Tea Experimental Station, and a series of scientific research institutions and schools were established, which also reserved strong scientific research talent resources for the development of Yingde black tea and laid the foundation for the accumulation and development of Yingde black tea in the future.

In 1963, English German black tea was successfully auctioned off for the first time in the UK. In the same year, Queen Elizabeth II of England received high praise and admiration for the English German black tea FOP (Leaf Tea No. 1), which was used to entertain guests at a grand banquet, and was used as a gift tea for the royal family. British scholar Alan MacFarlane claimed in his book "Green Gold: The Tea Empire" that only tea successfully conquered the world.

On September 14, 2020, China and the European Union officially signed the Agreement on the Protection and Cooperation of Geographical Indications between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the European Union, which included English German black tea in the first batch of mutual recognition and protection of geographical indication products between China and Europe. The China Europe Geographical Indication Agreement is the first comprehensive and high-level geographical indication agreement signed by China for foreign trade. This means that the quality of Yingde black tea has been widely recognized by tea enthusiasts around the world.

Tea, a thousand mile tea ceremony connecting the Silk Road, crosses the ocean and touches the east and west ends of world trade. Tea has brought China into the world and made the world understand China.

Cui Yiting, founder of Silk Road Dialogue, shared her experience and strategies on how to systematically promote Yingde black tea to the world in the International Reception Hall of Silk Road Dialogue. She emphasized that Yingde black tea is a representative of Chinese tea culture internationally, with profound cultural heritage and excellent quality. It not only concerns the development of regional agricultural products industry, but also shoulders greater missions and responsibilities, and has the potential to become an international brand. The Silk Road Dialogue is willing to work together with Yingde City and partners from all walks of life to "discuss the new era of black tea culture and build a better future for Yingde", jointly promote the internationalization process of Yingde black tea, effectively enhance its international image and market share, and make this cup of fragrant black tea a cultural ambassador connecting the East and the West, jointly drawing a new picture of cultural exchange and mutual learning.
 

Vice Mayor Fan Zhibin of Yingde introduced Yingde's main approach to empowering brands to help build the Yingde black tea industry worth billions. Fan Zhibin stated that Yingde will take the implementation of the "Hundred Counties, Thousand Towns, and Ten Thousand Villages High Quality Development Project" in the province and the creation of five billion yuan agricultural industries in Qingyuan City as opportunities to continue the construction of the Yingde black tea brand and promote the high-quality development of the Yingde black tea industry. Continuously shaping the overall image of the "Yingde Black Tea" public brand, strengthening brand management, guiding enterprises to focus on brand building, and adhering to the dual efforts of "going out" and "inviting in".

Hu Xiaoyun

Director of CARD China Agricultural Brand Research Center at Zhejiang University

Based on the systematic data of the independently developed "China Tea Regional Public Brand Value Evaluation Model", Hu Xiaoyun, Director of the CARD China Agricultural Brand Research Center at Zhejiang University, Director of the Brand Building Special Committee of the China International Tea Culture Research Association, and President of the Zhejiang Sustainable Agriculture Brand Research Institute, has been continuously tracking and researching the development of the Yingde black tea brand for 14 years.

She pointed out that over the past 14 years, the brand value of Yingde black tea has increased from 662 million yuan in 2010 to 4.329 billion yuan in 2023, which is 6.5 times that of 2010; The brand revenue increased from 57.7118 million yuan in 2010 to 28.03751 billion yuan in 2023, with a growth rate of 385.82%; The brand strength multiplier score has increased from 56.32 in 2010 to 87 in 2023. According to the 2023 China Geographical Indication Agricultural Products Regional Public Brand Reputation Evaluation Report, Yingde black tea ranks first among 18 Chinese black tea regional public brands in terms of brand appeal. "These data indicate that after years of joint efforts, the appeal of the regional public brand of Yingde black tea has become stronger, the brand value has become higher, and it has helped the brand economy development of Yingde tea industry. The brand premium has increased, and Yingde tea farmers and tea enterprises have increased their income. Director Hu Xiaoyun suggests that a systematic brand strategy plan should be carried out, and brand culture creation and system design that are in line with their own characteristics should be carried out. Building a brand leadership, digital empowerment, organizational innovation, and legal protection based on the overall planning of the" three teas ", realizing the billion dollar industry of Yingde black tea, expanding domestic and international markets, and winning the world's beautiful praise again."

Mei Yu

It is reported that in the past year, due to the slow recovery of consumer demand and the impact of sales channels, the total domestic sales of Chinese tea have remained basically unchanged, with a slight decline in total domestic sales. The situation of tea exports is not good, and the growth rate of the tea e-commerce sector has slowed down. In this context, Mei Yu, Vice President of the China Tea Circulation Association, suggested that we continue to implement suitable tea planting and production areas, accelerate the promotion of new tea varieties, promote local group species protection, improve modern tea garden infrastructure and mechanical support, and enhance the stable production capacity of tea gardens. Promote the upgrading and replacement of tea processing, adopt the form of physical rewards and subsidies, promote the large-scale "trade in old for new" work of tea machinery, and encourage the orderly development of tea industry e-commerce.

Xing Jiguo, Director of the Collaboration Department of the China Association for the Promotion of International Science and Technology, discussed in the report the path for Chinese tea to achieve internationalization and branding. He suggested that by utilizing international cooperation platforms and technological means, Yingde black tea can be effectively promoted to the international market and enhance its global reputation.

Liu Yutao, the head of the doctoral team in Guangdong Province and the director of the Guangzhou National Modern Agriculture Industry Science and Technology Innovation Center, gave a detailed introduction to China's long-standing tea culture, tea history, and rich tea products and tea craftsmanship in his book "Empowering Brand Construction with Culture and Technology". "With the help of science and technology and cultural empowerment, we can develop tea drinks, tea health products, tea sets, tea clothing, etc., and continue to extend the tea industry chain." He suggested that we should vigorously cultivate and develop the primary industry, more based on the primary industry, continue to extend the industry chain, graft "Internet plus", and promote the development of Anglo German black tea "excellent one after two, three into four", so that traditional agriculture "live".

As a representative of overseas Chinese leaders, Huang Rongmeng, Vice President of Guangdong Overseas Chinese Chamber of Commerce and President of Qingyuan Overseas Chinese Chamber of Commerce, believes that we can combine the tea drinking customs and lifestyles of various countries to innovate and develop tea products that meet the taste of the international market, so that Yingde black tea can truly enter the daily lives of people around the world. At the same time, encourage and support overseas Chinese businessmen and leaders to invest in the tea industry, introduce advanced planting, processing, and marketing concepts, and enhance the international competitiveness of Yingde black tea. Integrating tea culture with overseas Chinese culture to enhance the cultural connotation and brand value of Yingde black tea.

Zhao Bin
Sales Manager of JD Logistics North Guangdong Area
 

Zhao Bin, the sales manager of JD Logistics in the northern Guangdong region, shared the process of developing the JD special solution for Yingde Black Tea. Zhao Bin elaborated on how JD Logistics utilizes its platform advantages and logistics network to provide a one-stop e-commerce sales channel for Yingde Black Tea, helping to promote and sell the brand online.

Talking about the new era of black tea culture·Building a better future of Yingde, this event not only provides multiple perspectives and substantive suggestions for the development of the Yingde black tea industry, but also provides a platform for in-depth communication and cooperation among participants from all walks of life. Through such high-level dialogue and resource integration, the brand building and high-quality development of Yingde black tea have ushered in new opportunities, and we look forward to creating even more brilliant achievements in the future.