At the 45th session of the World Heritage Conference held recently, "Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forest Cultural Landscape in Puer, Yunnan, China" was successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List, becoming the 57th World Heritage Site in China and the world's first tea cultural heritage. In November last year, "Traditional Chinese Tea-Making Techniques and Related Customs" was also successfully evaluated and inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In other words, the success of the application is not only Chinese tea itself, but also the lifestyle around Chinese tea.
Chinese has a long history of drinking tea, and it is said that as early as the Shennong era, tea entered the life of Chinese people. According to the evidence available at this stage, at the latest by the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, tea has been regarded as an independent drink, which is more similar to the contemporary definition of "tea". At that time, the taste of tea may be bitter, and Hua Tuo's "Food Theory" once said that "bitter tea is good for a long time", that is, drinking tea for a long time can make people's thoughts clear and beneficial to thinking. Perhaps tea has the effect of awakening the spirit, and monks in monasteries in the Southern and Northern Dynasties also used tea to help their practice.
Tea is the "Jiamu of the South", growing in the south and flourishing in the south. The poet immortal Li Bai once wrote a poem "The nephew of the A's tribe Zhongfu gave Yuquan cactus tea", which recorded the cactus tea from Yuquan Temple in Dangyang, Hubei Province. In the preface to the poem, it is mentioned that cactus tea is "fragrant and ripe, different from others, so it can return children and help people to live." Dumen Temple, not far from Yuquan Temple, has a relationship with the Devil Descent Tibetan Zen master of "Southern Tea and Northern Transmission". According to legend, the Devil Descent Tibetan Zen Master once asked Master Shenxiu at Dumen Temple, and later passed on the Northern Sect Zen method to Taishan Lingyan Temple, and at the same time promoted tea drinking, bringing the lifestyle of southern people drinking tea to the north, laying the cornerstone for the popularization of tea in China.
After the "South Tea North Transmission", it ushered in the highlight era of tribute tea. The most valued "Yangxian Tribute Tea" in the middle and late Tang Dynasties is closely related to the tea saint Lu Yu. During the Tang Dynasty, Li Qijun was appointed as the assassin of Changzhou, when monks offered tea, and Lu Yu was also there. Lu Yu believed that the quality of Yangxian tea was excellent and "can be recommended above", Li Qiyun followed it, and then drove Guzhu Mountain in the south, making Guzhu tea and Yangxian tea become tribute tea. Since then, Jiangsu and Zhejiang tea has flourished and become the new favorite of the powerful. However, the tribute tea looks glamorous, but behind it is the bitterness of the people in the tea area - "choose day and night, pound the faint and morning", the people work day and night, just to complete the task of delivering tribute tea.
In the Song Dynasty, due to the change in the structure of the political group, the focus of tribute tea shifted to northern Fujian, that is, "Beiyuan Gongcha". Beiyuan Gong tea belongs to the "steamed green research paste cake tea", one of its characteristics is cumbersome processing. When it developed to the Huizong Dynasty, it was even more skillful. Of course, the more extreme the pursuit of tribute tea, the greater the consumption of manpower and material resources. At the same time, because the income from the tea tax was considerable, the Song court continued to change the tea method to ensure the source of profits, until the "Cai Jing Tea Law", which was known for its harshness, appeared. The Song Dynasty was probably a watershed in the form of Chinese tea, with steamed Qingtuan cake tea continuing from the previous dynasty and innovation on the other, and loose tea popular among the people. After the Ming Dynasty, perhaps steamed Qingtuan cake tea was not very suitable for the lifestyle of people at that time, so it slowly faded out of the historical stage.
Before the Ming Dynasty, most of the opportunities for Hanmen to turn over were to enter the dynasty as officials through scientific examinations. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the active social atmosphere brought more possibilities to readers. Many readers abandoned the imperial examination and turned to the flourishing commerce or handicrafts of the time. When the commodity economy is prosperous and the social atmosphere is active, the demand for products is naturally more diverse, and it pays more attention to innovation and aesthetic taste. For example, the "originator of fried green tea" Songluo tea came into being in such an environment. Or the big tea merchant Min Wenshui at the end of the Ming Dynasty, also relying on innovative tea-making technology and aesthetics, occupied a place in the tea industry, Dong Qichang, Ruan Dacheng, Zhang Dai, Zhou Lianggong, Gao Shiqi, etc. have written poems for him.
In fact, the tea-making process after the Ming Dynasty is very close to today. For example, Wang Fuli's "Tea Talk" during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty said, "Stir-frying and roasting, when cooking, half green and half red", "tea is picked and spread, spread and spread, the aroma is fried as soon as it develops", which is in line with the production skills of oolong tea today. Another example is Robert Fuqiong, the "tea thief" who visited China four times in the mid-19th century, and the processing process of Chinese "black tea" recorded by him is very similar to the production process of oolong tea and floral black tea today. Perhaps it was the literati of the Ming Dynasty who began to write and engage in business, paying attention to the research and development of niche tea products, creating an increasingly exciting tea category in later generations, and also laying a deep foundation for today's six major tea categories and reprocessed tea production techniques.
Tea in Chinese history is important not only because it is "needed for the people's birthday", but also because it carries many functions such as national taxation and diplomacy. Before the middle of the 19th century, tea was a unique resource in China, and tea varieties and tea-making techniques were in Chinese hands. For example, when the Northern Song Dynasty confronted Western Xia, tea became one of the strategic materials for the Song court to control the lifeline of Western Xia. Historically, the "tea and horse trade" has been carried out for a long time, exchanging tea for nomadic war horses and strengthening national defense forces. Similar arguments were still common in the Ming Dynasty, which shows the importance of tea in national strategy.
In the middle of the 19th century, China's tea varieties and tea-making technology flowed out, and Britain planted tea in its colonies Sri Lanka, Darjeeling and other places, officially ending the situation that Chinese tea dominated the international market.
Today, "traditional Chinese tea-making techniques and related customs" has become a world intangible cultural heritage. There is no doubt that traditional Chinese tea-making skills are diverse and exciting, especially those passed down from generation to generation by artisans in various places. This is not only a legacy, but also its vitality to cope with the new era. And a complete set of tea-making techniques can make tea better, but also more in line with the aesthetics of the times.
So, are the ancient tea-making techniques still applicable to the contemporary industrial environment? There is no doubt about that. For example, the famous Wuyi rock tea, in addition to mature commercial operation, the key is its core competitiveness that is difficult to replace. Wuyi Mountain has a unique Danxia landform, the raw materials of the pit tea garden are thick and durable, if you make green according to the ancient method, to achieve the degree of "stir-frying and roasting, when cooking, half green and half red", and then moderate roasting, the final "rock bone flower fragrance" naturally has a certain degree of recognition in many Chinese tea categories, and is not easy to be replaced. Another example is the Songluo tea created in the early years of the Wanli Dynasty in the Ming Dynasty, the literature records that the reason why the Songluo tea is excellent is that it is first selected before stir-frying, so that the standard of tea and green raw materials is consistent, and then "the tender tea is held in the bell, the zaza has a sound, and it is fried well", the process of finishing and kneading is completed, and then "baked in another simmer". It pays attention to the standard of raw materials, stir-frying in small pots, and roasting on a simmer, which are the three major processing rules for making top-quality green tea. As early as 400 years ago, Chinese explored the mature technique of making fried green tea, which has been passed down to this day.
Lu Chengyin, an expert in tea science, once proposed that the new internationalization strategy of Chinese tea should focus on the product form of "famous tea + tea culture". The nature carried by famous tea is the "traditional tea-making technique" that can really make a good tea, and the "tea culture" is the lifestyle and spiritual outlook extended by tea. The new life of "traditional tea-making technology", in addition to the tea-making technique itself, is more important whether the tea it makes is delicious, whether it conforms to the aesthetics of the times, and whether it can be recognized by the market. To achieve these goals, it is natural to incorporate the management of tea gardens in the production area, make good use of local tea seed resources, prepare suitable processing sites and equipment, and have the participation of excellent tea makers to make a good cup of tea with vitality. Of course, compared with the tea-making technique and tea lifestyle, these are material. However, it is precisely because of good material conditions that intangible cultural heritage can take root, develop healthily and sustainably, and become a living intangible cultural heritage that can create new value.
News clue reporting channel: Download the "Qilu One Point" APP in the application market, or search for the WeChat mini program "Qilu One Point", and 600 reporters in the province are waiting for you to report online!