Ya'an – September 15, 2026 -- Diplomats, cultural experts and international students toured Ya'an, China, on September 9 as part of the "Ya'an in Dialogue with the World" cultural exchange event, visiting sites tied to giant panda conservation and centuries-old tea traditions.
Visitors tour the Bifengxia panda research base in Yucheng District
The group explored the Bifengxia Base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, part of Ya'an's cultural tourism brand "Green Lungs of Sichuan, Home of the Giant Panda." François Tchiegue, ambassador for China-Africa Cultural Exchanges from Cameroon, crossed the site's see-through suspension bridge and described the fresh air and scenery, saying he was delighted by feeding animals and seeing giant pandas.
A 10,000-mu tea garden impresses a Sierra Leone diplomat
The delegation also visited the "A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains" Ecological Sightseeing Tea Garden in Mingshan District, spanning 10,000 mu. Rogers Saffa-Woya, minister of the Embassy of the Republic of Sierra Leone in China, called it the largest tea garden he had ever seen and said he hopes to bring tea culture back to his home country, photographing the site to share with his family.
Mengding Mountain Tea History Museum traces a thousand-year legacy
At the Mengding Mountain Tea History Museum -- Sichuan's only thematic museum dedicated to tea culture -- visitors examined ancient tea-making tools and learned the legend of Wu Lizhen, said to have first cultivated tea in the Western Han Dynasty. The museum's exhibits center on the theme "World-famous Mengding Tea," tracing the region's tea history through preserved artifacts.
The event, themed "Feel the Lung of Sichuan, Hear the Story of Giant Pandas in Ya'an," was co-hosted by the Center for Europe and Africa of China International Communications Group and the Publicity Department of the CPC Ya'an Municipal Committee. Ya'an is known as the "Lung of Sichuan" and is recognized as both the birthplace of giant panda culture and one of the cradles of world tea culture.