Guangji Temple is currently under construction. This ancient temple is surrounded by broad tea garden and secondary primeval forests: 278-year-old cyclobalanopsis nubium, 238-year-old padus obtusata, 253-year-old sycopsis sinensis, as well as numerous fagus longipetiolata, ahornholz, and precious gleditsia vestita are all growing there.
Beside the Fuyan Temple, Master Huisi once planted a gingko, which is now 1440 years old. It shares with nearby tea trees the moisture and shade of the mountain. When its leaves fall, they decompose and create a nutritious soil, nourishing the tea trees nearby.
The three major tea gardens of Nanyue are all situated between 700 to 1000 meters. From west to east, they are the Huagai Tea Garden at the foot of the Huagai Peak in the Fangguang Temple area, Yanxia Tea Garden near the Fengtefo Temple in Yanxia, and Pilu Tea Garden near the Guangji Temple.
Good tea needs good cooking water. Around 100 meters away from Yanxia Tea House, there is the "Tiefo Spring." The spring is clear and sweet, with two bunches of long water weeds floating and swaying in the well. According to one assessment, "the spring flows from the granitic layer, containing various minerals and rich in oxygenic ion thus presenting alkalescence." The spring water near the Guangji Temple is also like this. In Yanxia Tea House, if you pick out the Yunwu Chaoqing and Maojian of last spring, and boil them in the Tiefo spring water, you will enjoy pleasant surprise.
Good tea needs good cooking water. Around 100 meters away from Yanxia Tea House, there is the "Tiefo Spring." The spring is clear and sweet, with two bunches of long water weeds floating and swaying in the well. According to one assessment, "the spring flows from the granitic layer, containing various minerals and rich in oxygenic ion thus presenting alkalescence." The spring water near the Guangji Temple is also like this. In Yanxia Tea House, if you pick out the Yunwu Chaoqing and Maojian of last spring, and boil them in the Tiefo spring water, you will enjoy pleasant surprise.
According to the historical record, there were already Gongcha (tea as tribute) gardens in Nanyue in the Tang Dynasty. Hu Guomin, former president of Nanyue District Tourist Association, once visited seven or eight places including the Fangguang Temple, Cangjing Hall, Shangfeng Temple, Xiyang Peak and Longchi (Dragon Pond) to search for those bowl mouth-sized old tea trees with at least one or two hundred years of history. The tea gardens of the Tang Dynasty on record were located in "Shilin Peak," "the little Shilin Peak is just situated within the area of the present Pilu Cave." Based on Hu Yin's analysis, the Gongcha Garden in the Tang Dynasty should be near the Guangji Temple, but it has never been found. We cannot drink the tea of the Tang Dynasty, but we can drink with Luyu (the Sage of Tea in China, the writer of The Classic of Tea), and appreciate the natural beauty with Li Bi (a recluse in Nanyue entitled by the emperor in the Tang Dynasty) at this place as their footprints were still there.
In this rainy spring, the sprouts are still not trimmed, and the tea picking girls have not shown up yet. But the vigor and vitality of the Nanyue Tea Mountain is not hidden by time, and are about to show up as described on the book of Lianfengzhi by Wang Fuzhi (Chinese philosopher of the late Ming, early Qing dynasties): Along the mountain are tea trees blossoming with white flowers, and a gentle breeze caresses people's face, with fragrance accompanying it.