Guilin Lijiang Tea Factory

Guilin Lijiang Tea Factory was founded in June 2001 by Huang Rongxiong, a trained tea engineer who built the company after the state-owned tea processing plant he'd worked for went through restructuring and layoffs. Based in Longsheng County, the mountainous district above the Longji rice terraces, the factory draws on more than 500 mu of its own cultivated gardens plus access to old wild tea trees growing across the region, with additional planting bases extending into neighboring Quanzhou.

The range centers on Guilin osmanthus tea, sold across multiple formats and grades, alongside straight green and black teas — including a Yunding Longji black grown on the terraced slopes the area is known for — and aged Liubao, a dark tea traditionally stored and mellowed over time, packaged in gift boxes for the holiday and gifting market. Production runs out of a 3,600-square-meter facility with its own processing equipment, and the company sells through four direct retail locations in Guilin as well as exporting to Japan, Europe and the United States. Two decades on from a single founder's restart after a state-enterprise restructuring, it now runs as a vertically integrated operation spanning its own gardens, processing and a small retail footprint.