Elevation of Yibang
A tea-site feature gives Yibang's elevation span as 565–1,950 m — the same figures it gives for Gedeng, suggesting a copy error; only Mansong's figure (1,340 m) is used here.
倚邦
Yibang
Qing administrative and tribute-tea centre of the northern six mountains, famous for small-leaf trees and Mansong tribute tea.
- Level
- Mountain
- Within
- Yunnan › Xishuangbanna › Mengla › Xiangming
At a glance#
Where it lies#
Tea places nearby, plotted by their coordinates. Only physical positions are shown, no boundaries.
1912 places shown Across the view · 198 km
65 places shown Across the view · 106 km
Cultivation#
- Landraces
- Small-leaf (小叶种) and medium/small-leaf populations alongside large-leaf trees.
- Plant age
- Small-leaf trees here count among the oldest in the area.
- Practice
- Old gardens in contiguous blocks with densely branched trees.
Local words#
People#
- Han 汉族
- Migrants from Sichuan, Jiangxi, Hunan and Shiping; the village party secretary is a fourth-generation Shiping descendant.
- Yi 彝族
- Named with Dai, Jinuo and Miao as local groups who opened the tea mountains with Han settlers.
- Dai 傣族
- Local group named in the same account.
- Jinuo 基诺族
- Local group named in the same account.
- Miao 苗族
- Local group named in the same account.
Market#
- Trading towns
- Yibang street (historical) · Yiwu
- Output
- Historical: about 10,000 dan a year at the Qing peak (county media). No modern figure found.
- Prices of teas claiming this origin
- Mansong, within Yibang, was said to be the most prestigious and most expensive tea of the six mountains; no current journalism prices found.
Misnaming to watch for: Saying '吃曼松看倚邦' ('drink Mansong, look at Yibang'). Vendors warn that much tea sold as 'Mansong gushu' is doubtful because the old garden was badly damaged and is now mainly small/medium trees.
History#
- 1729Cao Dangzhai made hereditary tusi at Yibang; Mansong tea becomes a court tribute under his management.
- 1738Stele forbidding forced purchase of official tea (禁压买官茶告谕).
- 1845Epidemic in 1845–46 kills two in three pickers; tribute quotas cannot be met (recorded on the 1848 stele).
- 1848Stele fixing a tea tax of one tael of silver per dan sold.
- 1851Paved caravan road from Simao reaches Yibang (per People's Daily; zh Wikipedia dates completion to 1845).
- 1888Third stele, on labourers' wages; now badly weathered and moved to the village museum.
Other names and written forms 3#
Chinese variants
- 倚邦茶山Yibang — tea mountain
Romanisations
- Yi Bang
Translations and trade names
- Yibang Mountain
Names and ambiguities#
Notes#
Yibang village sits in northern Xiangming. After the Yongzheng reforms it became the seat of the Cao family tusi (from 1729), who managed tribute tea from the surrounding mountains, and the hub of trade: at its peak the mountain is said to have had 80,000–90,000 people and about 10,000 dan of tea. Its old street (about 500 m, split by the 'seven steps', 七道坎) once held a Sichuan temple and a Shiping guild hall. Three Qing steles kept in the village (1738, 1848, 1888) record a ban on forced purchase of official tea, a tea tax of one tael of silver per dan, and labour rates; one notes that an epidemic in 1845–46 killed two of every three pickers and disrupted tribute. Yibang is unusual among pu'er areas for small-leaf (小叶种) trees, which People's Daily suggests came with Sichuan migrants in the late Ming or early Qing; some of the oldest local trees are small-leaf. The mountain is described as covering 19 natural villages and about 360 km².
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.
Prices compared in the selected currency; unknown values appear last.
| Product | Vendor | Price | Per 100 g |
|---|---|---|---|
Yibang Mansong '24 autumn
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.
|
pu-erh.skWorldwide |
€134.87 / 200 g | $75.63 €67.44 / 100 g ≈ $5.29 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.