Quake's impact spills over into tea production

To miss the peak period would mean another year of waiting and a great loss of revenue.

Jiang Weiming, founder of Chaxiangzi Tea in Mengding Mountain, which follows a traditional method of making tea, using pine logs that have been dried for three years as heat, said the quake has changed his schedule entirely.

"I've three types of high-end teas to be made in the next 10 days, April 25 to May 5," he said. "If we miss that window, I don't think we can produce the tea to the same quality that we're so proud of."

Jiang said the interruption caused by the earthquake will cost him about 1 million yuan ($162,000), which did not include the loss of tea containers and traditional wooden tools that were broken by the quake. Jiang has about 13.33 hectares of tea fields, of which 11.33 hectares are co-farmed by villagers in the mountain.

Jiang said that about 40 other tea factories have had their production paralyzed.

But the mountain's tea industry is not the only business that has been heavily hit by the quake. Its tourism may suffer more in the long run.

Deng Limin, head of the cultural heritage administration in Mingshan county, said that at least 11 examples of ancient architecture in Mengding Mountain have been damaged by the quake, including one memorial arch, built in 1622, that collapsed.

"It's heartbreaking to see these unique, precious buildings destroyed this way," said Gong Kaiqin, general manager of Mengding Royal Tea, one of the largest tea makers on the mountain.

However, Jiang said, some tea factories on the mountain have resumed production, and people's fear of aftershocks is fading.