Banzhang Farmers

Banzhang, with more than 100 families, really is a big mountain village of the Aini minority group. The Aini belong to the large family of the Akha, who live throughout the northern parts of continental Southeast Asia. In Xishuangbanna they are the second most populous ethnic group following the Dai.

Banzhang village still has strong communal ties. A great variety of native cultural traditions can still be found: be it beautiful traditional clothing, be it traditional wooden house buildings or be it the traditional village forest management - which has been in practise for over 150 years.

Despite its remoteness - it takes a hearty 4 hour drive by hand-held tractor to the nearest market place - there are some obvious signs of modern development. In 1998 for the first time electricity came out of sockets connected to the new power line. As of 2003 there are about 30 motorbikes cruising the village and right beside the water-buffalo shed, tractors, the new work-animals, are parked.

The most recent arrivals are smart mobile phones that the young men are very proud of, although by now they still have to climb the highest mountain near the village to get connection.

At Banzhang primary school three college-trained teachers give tuition to the Banzhang kids up to sixth grade. Most students continue and attend middle school with boarding at the nearest township, 30 km away. Not every child - since tuition and boarding takes money that some parents yet cannot afford. But because of growing income, particularly from the production of Forest Tea, this becomes more and more an exception, while it was still the rule 10 years ago.

Besides Forest Tea farmers in Banzhang are cultivating bamboo, rattan, wild cardamom and orchids inside the village forest. The orchids provide pharmacological raw material, valued by the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) industry. In Banzhang the basic food supply comes from paddy fields, up to five kilometres away from the village proper. Fields spread deep down at the bottom of steep valleys outside of the forest land. Thus the protection and careful management of the watershed forest above has a very obvious impact on the quality and quantity of rice harvests.