It is reported that tea has helped the poor farmers in Yunnan find a way out of poverty (贫穷) thanks to the efforts of a man named Ren Huaican.
Ren was suffering mouth ulcers (溃疡) when he first visited the Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er City in the spring of 2006. However, after picking off several leaves from the old tea trees and chewing (咀嚼) them, he found the pain was gone the next morning. He felt very amazed. Ren began to show great interest in the tea from Yunnan. He found that the local tea business was very scattered (分散的).He also realized that the local tea farmers were very poor because of the underdeveloped tea market. So he made up his mind to develop the tea industry in order to help the local people get out of poverty.
In September 2006, Ren set up a tea company. He hired (雇佣) poor farmers from neighboring areas to pick tea leaves. Professional technicians (技师) were invited to teach the farmers how to do their jobs scientifically. The company taught them how to manage their trees and produce the best tea. As a result, their tea quality has greatly improved, and the price has gone up. In this way, the tea company has helped many people get out of poverty.