A veritable rainbow

Other than the white walls, black roofs and yellow flowers, Wuyuan is subtly painted with four colors: green, red, black and white.

Green tea from Wuyuan is recorded in the Tea Bible of Tang Dynasty. It won a gold prize at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Expo, held in San Francisco. Its 10,000 hectares of tea groves yield some of the country's best green tea, making farmers 480 million yuan ($70.2 million) richer annually. The tea ceremony is a local ritual.

In park ponds or lakes, red fish swarm so closely when tourists feed them they seem to rub fins. The fish was reportedly brought to Wuyuan by a retired official from northern China. Since then it has become a local delicacy. In 1985, it made its way back to the capital, where it has been listed as a course for State banquets.