Reporters rediscover the old 'tea road'

The Sino-Russian Tea Road, or the "10 thousand li (5,000 kilometers) of tea road" that once saw tea from East China's Fujian province carried all the way to Mongolia and Russia had its heyday almost two hundred years ago.

A group of reporters from Changjiang Daily, a newspaper based in Wuhan, Hubei province, traveled the entire length last year, hoping to rediscover the route that fell to disuse in the early 20th century. The resulting book of journals, Revisiting the Sino-Russian Ten Thousand Li of Tea Road was launched last week in Beijing.

"It's no longer a route devoted to tea business," says Li Wan, one of the writers. "But with upgraded transportation, it's just as lively now as it connects and supports communication and shipping other than tea along the pathway. "