As early autumn arrives, the tea mountains of Mingshan District in Ya'an have entered the golden season of autumn tea harvesting. After several gentle autumn rains, the rolling tea hills appear even more verdant. In the tea gardens of Xindian Town and Hongxing Town, layer upon layer of emerald tea terraces stretch across the landscape, blending with distant mountains and villages into a beautiful picture of "autumn rain nourishing the tea hills, bountiful harvest in the countryside."

Among the tea rows, farmers work in small groups, baskets tied at their waists and fingers moving swiftly. One bud with one tender leaf is gently plucked at a time, and before long the baskets are filled with fresh green leaves still glistening with morning dew. "One person can earn over a hundred yuan a day — it's good to make money every day," said farmer Liao, voicing what many tea growers feel.

Thanks to abundant late-summer and early-autumn rainfall, this year's autumn tea shows both higher bud density and noticeably better quality. Currently, all 20 fresh-leaf trading markets in Mingshan District remain bustling. The freshly picked tea leaves become sought-after goods for buyers, effectively broadening channels for farmers to increase their incomes. For these mountain-dwelling growers, the lush green hills are a true "green bank."

Autumn tea is also finding its way to the dining table. Ya'an tourism authorities note that tea banquets made with Mengding Mountain autumn tea are delicate and refreshing — rich in flavor and mellow in aroma. Sipping and savoring the tea fragrance has become a new autumn experience for visitors to Ya'an.

As the birthplace of world tea culture and the core production area of Mengding Mountain tea, Mingshan has been deepening its tea industry with ecological advantages and rich cultural heritage, extending the industrial chain and raising value chains — turning green leaves into "golden leaves" that enrich villages and fuel rural revitalization.

Rooted in the giant panda habitat of Mengding Mountain, the Panda Tea brand likewise upholds an eco-planting philosophy of "zero chemical fertilizer, zero chemical pesticides," with its patented panda-manure fertilization technology. It blends the national treasure panda with thousand-year tea culture, positioning itself as "eco tea, cultural tea, IP-protected tea," resonating with the wider Ya'an tea industry. From tea mountain to teacup, from harvest season to the global tea table, Panda Tea invites tea lovers worldwide to savor the natural gifts of Ya'an.

(Sources: Ya'an Municipal People's Government website, Ya'an Culture and Tourism; cover image generated by AI)