Visiting media personnel attend “The World in One Frame: A Wonderful Encounter with Baoshan” event as part of the 2026 Overseas Media Tour, at Yongchang Hall in Baoshan on July 27.

Foreign media experience wonderful encounter with the charm of Baoshan

A group of 19 media personnel from Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Bangladesh last week enjoyed a six-day visit to Baoshan City in Yunnan province, China.
The tour was organised to foster media and people-to-people links under the theme “The World in One Frame: A Wonderful Encounter with Baoshan”.
The three individuals representing Laos come from the Vientiane Times, the Pasaxon newspaper, and Lao National Television. They joined media delegates from other countries to explore Baoshan Arabica coffee’s “bean-to-cup” chain, and viewed treasures such as the Yongzi go stones and black copper inlaid with silver. 
In 1993, Baoshan Arabica coffee won the Eureka Gold Award at the 42nd Eureka World Exhibition of Inventions in Brussels, Belgium, making it the only coffee product in China to have ever received a world gold award. In 2023, Baoshan Arabica coffee was included in the National List of Famous, High-Quality, Special, and New Agricultural Products, as well as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs’ List of Agricultural Brand Excellence Cultivation.
Baoshan City, located in China’s southwestern frontier and bordering on Myanmar, serves as a key hub and frontier gateway in the development of the Belt and Road Initiative and in Yunnan province’s role as a connecting point to South Asia and Southeast Asia.

A visit to Qinglong Street in Banqiao.
At the Gaoligong Mountain Tea Expo Park, the group toured tea gardens to learn about tea cultivation and traditional processing methods.

During the week-long tour of Baoshan from July 26 to August 1, the group visited the Longling dendrobium germplasm research centre and Gaoligong Mountain tea gardens, and experienced the Chinese heritage of Heshun and the hot springs in Rehai.
In Baoshan’s Longyang district they learnt about western Yunnan’s cultural heritage and the charm of traditional Chinese culture. At Qinglong Street in Banqiao, everyone admired handcrafted items such as black copper inlaid with silver and Jiama woodblock printing.
At its peak, Qinglong Street was lined with inns, tailors, restaurants, and tea houses, with a constant flow of caravans and the jingling of mule bells, making it a bustling commercial hub in western Yunnan, when it was known as the “Number One Market in Western Yunnan”.
At the Yongzi Cultural Industrial Park in Jinji Township, the group observed the traditional processes of selecting materials to make Yongzi go stones, which are considered another national treasure. This particular craft is a millennia-old art form and was inscribed on the national intangible cultural heritage list in 2021.

At Rehai Geopark in Tengchong, the group observed boiling springs, fumaroles, and other geothermal features.

This was followed by a tour of Heshun Ancient Town in Tengchong, enablig the group to experience the cultural richness of this borderland town through its Chinese heritage. Heshun is the renowned hometown of overseas Chinese in Yunnan. For centuries, its people travelled along the ancient Southern Silk Road to South and Southeast Asia, bringing back foreign architectural styles and cultural influences.
It has been honoured with titles such as National Civilised Village, China’s Famous Historical and Cultural Town, one of China’s Top Ten Most Beautiful Villages, and China’s No. 1 Most Charming Town.

A typical building in Heshun Ancient Town in Tengchong, Yunnan province.

The penultimate day of the tour involved a trip through geothermal marvels that yet again reflected time-honoured traditions, and a visit to the Rehai Geopark in Tengchong where the group walked along trails to observe boiling springs, fumaroles, and other geothermal features.
The volcanic Rehai Tourist Area is the “first city of the extreme frontier” in China’s southwestern region and is classified as a national 5A-level scenic area. Millions of years ago, the collision between the Eurasian Plate and the Indian subcontinent gave rise to Tengchong’s unique geological landscapes and hot springs. Here, 99 volcanoes and 88 hot springs coexist, a spectacular phenomenon not seen anywhere else in the world.
At the Gaoligong Mountain Tea Expo Park, the group toured the tea gardens to learn about tea cultivation and traditional processing techniques, observing each step of tea production, from weighing, steaming, pressing, and moulding of the tea leaves.
Before leaving Baoshan and flying home, the group shared their impressions and marvelled at everything they had seen, learned and experienced.
The Lao participants agreed that their in-depth tour of Baoshan had opened their eyes to the impressive undertakings and developments in the city over many years.
At the same time the programme served to foster regional media and people-to-people links, as well as strengthen understanding and the ever-growing bonds between Laos and China.

ByViphaphone Phommabouth
 (Latest Update August 7, 2026)