virtually no attention to the Bulang, while China-based academics have conducted some research on this minority group but constrained by a Han-centric bias. In bringing attention to Laoman’e Bulang Village, the present study offers an empirical investigation... of the government’s roles in conceptualizing and then consecrating one of ancient tea trees from this village as the “king” for economic growth. This study finds that the Bulang have indeed profited from economic changes, and that their social condition has somewhat