China’s first batch of tea pickers will arrive in eastern China’s Hangzhou in a few days, while drones will be used to lighten their loads by sending the leaves down hills.

Ms. Ma, 55 years old, has been picking tea in Hejia Village for five years, and is very happy with the work. "Hangzhou has beautiful scenery, and I can earn about 140 yuan (about $19.8) a day.”

Ma is one of the first batch of tea pickers that Xihu district in Hangzhou picked up by chartered bus this year. Over the next few days, tea pickers from other parts of China will also arrive in the city, with over 10,000 working in Xihu district alone.

Logistics services for tea pickers have also been upgraded. "We now have basically one bed per person and two masks per day. The three meals per day are packed and delivered depending on the number of people. They were delicious,” Ma said.

In the past, tea leaves were picked by hand and carried by workers on their backs down hills, a process that took about one and a half hours. Today, a drone can send a batch of tea leaves in only two minutes, which not only saves a great deal on labor costs and shortens delivery time, but also ensures that the leaves are fresh.