Xiping
Town in south-central Anxi held to be the birthplace of Tieguanyin; both origin legends and the 'mother tree' are here. About 60,000 mu of tea, over 5,000 t a year.
- Level
- Areatown (镇)
- Within
- Fujian › Quanzhou › Anxi County
At a glance#
- Output
- 'Over 5,000 t' a year from about 60,000 mu (town profile, undated but updated with 2025 figures). Inference: the year is approximate.
Where it lies#
Tea places nearby, plotted by their coordinates. Only physical positions are shown, no boundaries.
Terroir#
- Slope and light
- Subtropical humid monsoon climate. The town profile describes frequent cloud and mist and big climate differences over short distances (sayings such as 'one mountain has four seasons').
Cultivation#
- Cultivars grown
- Tieguanyin
- Practice
- About 8,000 mu are run as ecological gardens, including 2 national ecological farms. The whole town is registered as an export tea base. Tea estates (茶庄园) such as Defeng, Bama Hongxing and the Wang Shirang estate combine growing with tourism.
Local words#
Market#
- Trading towns
- Xiping
- Output
- 'Over 5,000 t' a year from about 60,000 mu (town profile, undated but updated with 2025 figures). Inference: the year is approximate.
- Prices of teas claiming this origin
- In 2017 a shop under 30 m² in Xiping town was said to sell for about 1 million yuan.
History#
- 1736Wang Shirang's find at Nanyan (Wang legend).
- 2023Xiping becomes a pilot town for whole-town rural revitalisation, with the 'ten-li tea road' (十里茶路) demonstration route.
Other names and written forms 3#
- 西坪Xiping
- 栖鹏(Qipeng)Old name, 'roosting roc'; Xiping is said to be a homophone of it.
- 尧阳 / 松岩 / 南岩Yaoyang / Songyan / NanyanVillages named in the origin legends (Yaoyang, Songyan, Nanyan).
Notes#
Xiping covers 145.5 km² in south-central Anxi, about 30 km from the county seat, with 26 villages and 1 community and roughly 62,000 residents. The county calls it the core protected area of the Anxi Tieguanyin GIAHS site and the birthplace of the Tieguanyin making craft. It keeps sites tied to both origin legends (the county calls them the 'emperor-naming' and 'Guanyin-dream' stories): the Tieguanyin mother tree, Nanxuan (南轩), the Chayuan old tea road and the Chachan temple. Nanyan is a national traditional village; Songyan, Yaoshan, Yaoyang, Shangyao and Longdi are provincial ones.
The terrain is low, rolling hills with sharp local differences in height. The town profile cites the Qianlong-era county gazetteer calling Xiping the source of Tieguanyin; note that this would be early for the name, and the citation is unchecked. Well-known Anxi tea firms come from Xiping, such as Bama (八马), Richun (日春) and Wei Yin (魏荫). It also has 25 firms licensed to use the GI mark and 76 tea cooperatives. Tea brings the town over 2 billion yuan a year, and over 85% of residents depend on it. No sourced elevation for Xiping's gardens was found.
Listings claiming this origin 1#
Price ranks compare recorded retail offers for the same tea, including offers outside the current delivery filter. Shipping and import charges are excluded.
| Product | Vendor | Price | Per 100 g |
|---|---|---|---|
Xiping Old Tree Red Heart Tie Guan Yin
DetailsCompare the details Recorded seller claims; a blank means unrecorded here, not necessarily absent from the seller’s page. Matching production does not establish identical storage or condition.
|
The Essence of TeaWorldwide |
$45.00 / 60 g | $75.00 ≈ $6.00 a session |
Prices recorded on the dates checked. Conversions use ECB rates dated 2026-10-20; original prices appear alongside. Origin, age and cultivar are stated by the vendor.