BEIJING -- China has issued guidelines to promote upgrading of the tea industry, setting a target for the total size of the full industrial chain to reach 1.5 trillion yuan (about $216 billion) by 2030.

The guidelines, jointly issued by five government departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, aim to remarkably improve the quality and efficiency of the tea industry. By 2030, China plans to establish a tea industry system that is well-supplied, environmentally friendly, intelligent and internationally competitive.

The guidelines also set targets for 2028, aiming for steady progress in major traditional tea-producing regions and continued improvements in the quality and efficiency of distinctive local tea industries. They call for a boost in industry-chain modernization, along with a broader range of products and consumption scenarios.

To meet these goals, the guidelines outline a series of key tasks, including strengthening sci-tech innovation, nurturing market entities and advancing specialized industry clusters. They also encourage efforts to expand the use of tea raw materials and components into sectors such as home products, daily chemicals, cosmetics and health care.

China is known as the hometown of tea. For thousands of years, tea has been deeply rooted in Chinese culture and has been an integral part of the Chinese people's daily life.