Shenkeng tea growers are rebuilding stone terraces by hand

The stone tea walls above Shenkeng are going back up, one rock at a time. Mongabay reported on October 13, 2026, that growers about 10 kilometers east of Taipei are reviving terraces that emptied out in the 1970s, when the industry shrank, forest returned, and many families turned to tofu. Researcher Li Chao-shiang of China University of Technology and grower Chien Chen-lung are among the people putting the walls back. A government-backed revival is paired with Preserving Legacies, a National Geographic Society program. An assessment summary was published in September 2026.

The work includes drip irrigation tied to soil-moisture sensors, mulch, and shade from Taiwan crepe myrtle and acacia. Cultivars in the mix include TTES No. 12, Jin Xuan, and TTES No. 23, Qi Yun. Slope movement is watched by satellite and by a national disaster-map app. Mongabay notes typhoon intensity in the region is up about 12 to 15 percent, with the strongest storms becoming more common, and 2025 losses above NT$1 billion, about $31 million. Tea is at its best between roughly 5 and 30 years of age, so a replanted terrace will not show its worth for a generation. Third-generation grower Tzeng Jih-san and his son Tzeng Hung-yi are part of the harvest. Volunteers, many of them women, still pick by hand in a mutual-aid tradition. An experimental plantation is to be named Ri Ri Shin. The walls are a response to a harder climate, not proof the hills are safe.