Women harvest tea in a mountainous area of eastern Guangdong province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Chaozhou, Guangdong province is expecting the upcoming International Tea Day and the 2022 Chaozhou Gongfu Tea Conference to play a role in helping to protect and carry forward Chaozhou Gongfu tea culture and other elements of intangible cultural heritage.

Qiu Huanhua, deputy mayor of Chaozhou, said a series of tea events and competitions will be organized to help spread Gongfu tea culture at home and abroad and further promote the city's development, cooperation and exchanges of tea, culture, tourism, arts and crafts.

May 21 is International Tea Day, the day on which the 2022 Chaozhou Gongfu Tea Conference will open. Qiu made his remarks at a news conference in Guanghou on Thursday.

More than 200 companies will participate in the four-day conference in eight themed exhibition halls with a total floor space of more than 12,000 square meters, he said.

"They will display their different kinds of tea products, tea sets, tea machinery and tea-related food as they seek to expand sales, cooperation and exchanges with their counterparts from home and abroad in more than 600 standard booths."

Located in the easternmost part of Guangdong, Chaozhou — known by insiders as the home town of Oolong teas — generated more than 6.4 billion yuan ($1 billion) in 2021. The city, which has a long history with tea produced more than 26,700 metric tons from more than 150 square kilometers planted last year.

Chaozhou is now sparing no effort to enhance the influence of Gongfu tea and build a world-class Oolong tea trading center, Qiu said.

Chaozhou now has more than 15,000 ancient tea trees older than 100 years, including 4,600 that are more than 200 years old.

Chaozhou Gongfu tea art was added to the national intangible cultural heritage list in 2008.

The city is the birthplace of Gongfu tea art and culture, which dates to the Song Dynasty (960-1279).