Birthplace of Dianhong black tea, founded 1939 as the Shunning Experimental Tea Factory under Feng Shaoqiu. It became the Dianhong Group in 1996 and entered reorganisation in 2022.
《李映青：滇红与抗战》 dates the joint-venture company to 6 December 1938 and Feng's appointment as director, with site selection, to January 1939. 《存了80年的“滇红茶”是啥味道？》 says construction began January 1939. 《滇红》 gives 8 March 1939. Company-derived press summaries simply say 1939. The parent company's December 1938 date is itself disputed (16 vs 6 December); see yunnan-tea-import-export.
The Dianhong Group says it inherited the factory whole in 1996. 《云南著名茶企滇红集团被申请破产重整 曾与云南白药集团争“历史”》 reports that on 1 October 2010 the Fengqing county government decided to take the 云南省凤庆茶厂 name back and transfer its use free of charge to 云南白药控股有限公司. Yunnan Baiyao then marketed Fengqing Dianhong as heir to the 70-year-old factory. The dispute was paused, not resolved, in the report.
In 1938 the China Tea Corporation sent tea technologist Feng Shaoqiu (冯绍裘) to survey Yunnan. In November in Shunning (顺宁, now Fengqing) he made red and green tea samples from local large-leaf tea. The central Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Yunnan provincial economic commission then set up a joint tea-trading company in December 1938 (see yunnan-tea-import-export). It opened the Shunning Experimental Tea Factory in 1939, with Feng as its first director. The first year's black tea went to London through the Hong Kong firm 富华公司. It was sold first as 云红, and the name was changed to 滇红 (Dianhong) on 9 April 1940. Feng's public role: tea technologist, founding director of the factory until 1942, and author of a history of Dianhong (《滇红史略》).
The factory was renamed 云南省凤庆茶厂 in 1954, following the county's new name. It was a major export earner, and in the 1950s most Dianhong was sold to the Soviet Union. It began CTC broken black tea (红碎茶) in 1958. Its 022102 mark won a 1980 black-tea quality comparison, and its special-grade Dianhong gongfu was a Ministry of Commerce quality product in 1986 and 1990. The 凤 (Feng) brand was launched for the domestic market in the mid-1980s.
In 1996, with approval from the provincial reform commission, the factory was restructured as 云南滇红集团股份有限公司 (registered 26 December 1996). The group took over its staff, assets and debts. Performance stalled until a new controlling investor arrived in 2006, when the debt ratio was 81%. The Feng brand became a 中华老字号 in 2011 and the 凤及图 mark a China well-known trademark in 2012. 经典58 (Classic 58) is a popular product. In 2010 the county government gave use of the 云南省凤庆茶厂 name to 云南白药控股, which in 2011 launched a rival Fengqing black-tea brand (红瑞徕). The Dianhong Group objected that the factory's history was its own.
In January 2022 a court auction of 34 Dianhong Group trademarks, sought by China Development Bank, was listed and then withdrawn. In November 2022 a county investment company, as creditor, applied for bankruptcy reorganisation at the Yongde County court, which appointed an administrator. No later outcome was found.
