Editor's note: People gather because of tea, and friends meet with tea. Small tea, condensing large energy, has become a pillar industry. The 5th Hunan Anhua Black Tea Cultural Festival will be held in Anhua County from October 21 to 24, on this occasion, the red network Anhua Black Tea Channel to carry out large-scale media reports, looking for tea in Anhua, in a cup of tea to see the changes in the revitalization of Theanhua, tell the story of Anhua in the fragrance of tea.
Li Li, chairman of Hunan Baojiachong Tea Farm Co., Ltd. Xie Liang/Photo
RedNet Moment reporter Liu Zhixiong correspondent Peng Can Yiyang reported
A few years ago, when talking about the Chu family's tea making farm, Li Li would always shed tears. She had heard about the glory of Bao Jiachong, had experienced the decline of Bao JiaChong, and now, she wanted to revive the brand of Bao Jia Chong like Anhua Black Tea.
Since coming to the tea farm at the age of 17 and taking over as chairman in 2015, Li Li has been working in Baojiachong for 30 years. When it was difficult, she also thought about leaving, but her feelings for Bao Jiachong made her stick to the struggle to this day.
The former Baojia Chong Tea Garden, photographed in 1992.
From glory to lows Leave a heart that loves tea
Founded in 1917, the Hunan Provincial Tea Workshop has had several glorious years of history.
It was once the first tea school in China, the earliest state-owned tea farm integrating tea teaching, scientific research and production, and once created the first mechanization of tea production in Hunan.
In 1958, Bao Jiachong was the first to successfully develop graded black tea, which is an important base for national export tea products. In 1959, the green tea treasure "Anhua Pine Needle", a representative of needle-shaped green tea in China's special green tea, was once one of the three famous teas in Hunan and won gold awards in various expositions.
"The southern part of Anhua County that you see today, from the China Black Tea Museum to the low dam, was once a tea garden in Baojiachong." Li Li said, "Looking at the construction of the southern part of the city over the years, I am very emotional, and for the construction of the southern part of the city, I have made a major sacrifice. ”
When Li Li entered Baojiachong, the tea farm was going downhill. Due to the rigidity of the mechanism, in the first few years of the opening of the market, the operation was not smooth, and for a time even the wages of employees could not be paid. Li Li began to learn to make tea at that time, and the tea farm could not pay a salary, so she divided the tea garden to make tea for everyone to sell.
"Anhua pine needle is difficult to learn, I followed the public school to make tea, 5 years can barely do it, but to make it to see the tea is so beautiful, I feel a sense of accomplishment is particularly sufficient." Li Li recalled that in the 90s of the last century, in addition to lamenting the difficulty of making tea in Anhua Pine Needle, she was grateful for the old tea people. She said that the older generation has paid too much effort for the praise of the family, and many people have made a lifetime of tea in the praise family, and when they talk about the past of the praise family, they are full of bitter tears.
"Like the Chinese tea master Xia Fuming and other old tea people, as the backbone of The scientific research and technology of Baojiachong, other tea farms are rushing to get it, but many of them choose to stay in Baojiachong, from glory to trough, and then stay, are people who really love tea." Li Li said.
Anhua pine needles in brewing.
Re-raising the banner of a century to awaken the dream of revival
The revival of the Baojia Chong Tea Farm began with the restructuring in 2015 and began in the centennial celebration in 2017.
In 2015, the Baojiachong Tea Farm finally officially began to restructure, the old employees raised money to invest in the shares, and a Baojiachong who only had paper information left to start again.
"The land, factories, and other means of production have been recovered as state-owned assets, and only those of us and some documents are left, but fortunately the belief in revitalizing the brand of Baojiachong is there." Li Li said, "When the system was reformed, I didn't think of being the person in charge, everyone highly recommended, I held the idea of trying, I found that the stalls were getting bigger and bigger, and now I can't retreat if I want to, I have to be responsible for everyone." ”
In 2016, the restructuring was completed, and on the basis of the process of Anhua pine needle, Bao Jiachong created Anhua red needle and Anhua black needle, and the "three needles" became the fist product of Bao Jiachong.
Anhua pine needles.
The praise family chong in everyone's memory was awakened again, it was 2017, the centenary celebration of the praise family chong. Subject to insufficient funds, the big things and small things in the field celebration are all the employees themselves. "When I was preparing for the meeting, my husband complained about me, saying that I had to install a bed in the office and not go home." Li Li said, "But the centenary celebration must be done, and that celebration is like a signal of our inheritance and rejuvenation, awakening the memories of many old tea people." ”
Huang Yihuan, a professor at Hunan Agricultural University, cried at the scene, saying that she did not expect that the brand of Bao Jiachong was still retained, and she thought that all this had become the reinforced concrete of the city. This year, the old tea people of Baojiachong participated in the handmade tea making competition, so that the production method of Anhua pine needles reappeared in everyone's field of vision, and many media described it as re-emerging.
In order to support the operation of the Family Chong and pay the employees, Li Li sold the family's real estate and went around looking for friends to borrow money. When making spring tea, Li Li had to get up at 6 o'clock and go home at 11 o'clock at night, and there were too many people to receive, resulting in a voice that was difficult to speak when she arrived home. "I don't know how many tears I have shed in the past few years, and I want to give up many times."
From buying fresh leaves on credit, to winning brands such as "leading enterprises" and "old brands", successfully applying for entering the intangible cultural heritage list and obtaining the national geographical indication product certification, Bao Jiachong has traveled a long way in recent years, behind which Is Li Li as the helmsman leading all the staff and workers in the starry night.
Li Li often receives tea guests at the Baojia Brewing Tea Culture Experience Center. Xie Liang/Photo
In 2020, after several twists and turns, Bao Jiachong decided to take responsibility for himself and break into the market by himself. "Because of the adherence to quality, our cost is relatively high, but the market is not good for tea, and dealers need profit margins." Good tea is our bottom, but the bottom can not be eaten as rice, this tea has to be sold. Li Li said.
Driven by the banner of Anhua pine needle, the sales of black tea and green tea in Baojiachong are considerable, especially red needle and black needle, the market response is quite good, although there is a new crown pneumonia impact in the past two years, Baojiachong is bucking the trend and has become one of the few enterprises that maintained growth during the epidemic. Li Li said that on the basis of inheriting the craft, it is necessary to adapt to the requirements of the new era and the needs of the market, and innovation is the core of the praise family.
At the 5th Hunan Anhua Black Tea Cultural Festival, the groundbreaking ceremony of the Baojiachong Anhua Pine Needle Tea Tourism Industrial Park will be held, and they intend to build a heritage workshop for more people to come to the sightseeing experience and feel the cultural charm of the century-old tea farm and the fragrant tea charm of Anhua pine needle.