Tea is an important cash crop in China，and its planting area ranks first in the world.With the large-scale development of tea plantations，a large number of natural vegetation complexes have been cut down to concentrate and connect.The biodiversity of tea plantations is decreasing day by day，resulting in the deterioration of surface ecology and soil ecology，the aggravation of plant diseases and insect pests，and the decline of tea yield and quality.In order to solve the problems caused by the neglect of ecological construction in tea plantations and improve the ecological，economic and social benefits of tea plantations，the tea industry in the new era urgently needs to develop ecological tea plantations.This article reviewed the evolution of the ecological tea plantation concept and the development of its connotation.The ecological tea plantation model explored in the long-term practice of some tea areas was summarized.On this basis，this article puts forward the definitions and construction points of three new modes of ecological tea plantation，i.e.block mixture，three-dimensional and integrated mixture of tea trees and secondary plants in ecological tea plantation.In terms of the main problems existing in the development of ecological tea plantation，some suggestions including building the promotion and application system of the ecological tea plantation theory，improving the technical system of the ecological tea plantation，expanding the cultural and tourism service functions of the ecological tea plantation，constructing the carbon sink methodology of ecological tea plantation，and establishing the certification system of ecological tea plantation were put forward to promote the development of ecological tea plantation in China.