Ⅱ.Republican Period (1912-1949)

In the 12th year of the Republican Period (1923), the first tea test site was set up in the Nannuo Mountain, Fohai County (now Menghai), Yunnan.In the 14th year of the Republican Period (1925), Caie recorded in Fantian Lucong Lu (Anecdotes in the Ming and Qing Dynasties):“Pu’er tea is produced from the Pu’er Mountain in Yunnan, with mellow and thick flavor.The minorities plant tea trees and then steam the tea leaves into lumps of different shapes.The tea produced in Yiwu and Yibang are the best, with its value equal to gold.All people drinking Pu’er tea feel in such a way: Pu’er tea and Longjing tea are just like Shaoling and Yuanming.Only those with a remarkable insight can truly make a distinction.”

During the Republican Period, the system of selling tea at designated places was abolished, but due to wars and diseases, tea farmers fled to some other places, and the development of Pu’er tea industry was hit hard.There was a folk song circulating at that time:“The tea trees on mountains are all bare.The tea farmers and workers are full of tea.Without tea, they have no way to make a living.Instead, they sell the children to flee from famine.”This truly reflected the impact of social unrest on Pu’er tea industry at that time.In Yiwu, an old tea area, and other places,“because the technology is not improved and manufacturing method sticks to old ways”.Influenced by the epidemic of plague, a large number of tea farmers fled, and“ the output dropped sharply, and the tea on the market was unsalable”.Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the annual output of Pu’er tea had dropped from an all-time high of more than 20,000 dan to one or two thousand dan.

Until 1930s and 1940s, the tea processing industry in Yunnan began to enter a period of rapid development and a golden period before the founding of the People’s Republic of China.According to the records in Continuation of General Annals of Yunnan, Yunnan Economic Statistics and Yunnan Economy, at that time, there were more than 30 counties in Yunnan producing tea, and the highest annual output was 9,750 tons (in 1937)due to the emergence of new tea areas.

近代时期，战火纷飞，人民生活颠沛流离，茶叶种植和加工都受到重创，中华人民共和国成立后，茶叶迎来了休养生息和大力发展的时期，茶产业重新焕发生机，茶叶种植面积扩大，新生茶叶品牌不断涌现。