Chibi, Hubei, 21 Oct (ZXS) -- Topic: "Change and Immutability" in Yangloudong Ancient Town, the Source of the "Wanli Tea Ceremony"
Written by Wu Yili
At the foot of Songfeng Mountain in Chibi, Hubei, Yangloudong Mingqing Stone Street is crowded. The tea factories, tea estates, inns, post offices, and grooves run by wheelbarrow tea carts on the stone road all tell the story of the prosperity of the area more than 400 years ago.
On October 21, Yangloudong Mingqing Slate Street welcomed many tourists. Photo by Zhang Chang
Chibi Yanglou Cave is one of the sources of the "Wanli Tea Ceremony", which is famous for producing green brick tea and is known as "the world's first ancient town in the tea industry". During the heyday of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the two-square-kilometer Yangloudong Ancient Town gathered more than 200 Chinese and foreign tea merchants, and tea from the nearby area was distributed, processed, and transferred to Hankou through the Yangtze River waterway, and then transferred to the Han River to Xiangyang ashore, merged into the overland tea ceremony, and transported to Russia and other European countries.
The scene of the past is gone, and now digital technology is used in tea planting, quality control, packaging, sales and other links.
In the big data platform project studio of Yangloudong Tea Culture and Ecological Industrial Park, the staff only need to click the mouse, and through the Internet of Things big data platform, the growth of tea seedlings can be presented on the big screen in real time. In the event of yellowing of leaves, pests, etc., the sensor can sound an "alarm".
Lai Pingan, general manager of Hubei Green Brick Tea Industry Development Group, told reporters on the 21st that the industrial park has built more than 500 acres of digital tea gardens, installed a remote video surveillance system, built a weather monitoring station, an intelligent irrigation system, and equipped with a soil moisture monitor. "In ancient times, tea was grown by the right time and place, but now the staff sitting in the monitoring room can water according to different climates and humidity, ensuring the tea harvest and realizing 'planting freedom'." Come to Ping An introduction.
But what remains unchanged is that the inheritance of Chibi green brick tea has never been interrupted and still affects the world today.
Chibi green brick tea. Photo by Zhang Chang
Chen Junhai, the fifth-generation representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage "Zhao Liqiao Brick Tea Making Skills", has passed on the green brick tea making skills to more than 30 young people. He said that the production process of green brick tea is quite complicated, including 6 major processes and 72 processes such as finishing and Wudui. In order to facilitate transportation and preservation, it is generally pressed into the shape of bricks.
The joint application of "Wanli Tea Ceremony" is accelerating, and Yangloudong Mingqing Slate Street is one of the recommended points for the "Wanli Tea Ceremony" application, attracting tourists from all over the world to play, sketch and taste tea. Visitors walk into the China Green Brick Tea Museum and trace the past and present of Yanglou Cave. This ancient town, which thrives on tea, has been rejuvenated in the integration of tea tourism.
"Whether it is ancient tea making or advanced digital technology, I am shocked and proud. Tea is a treasure of Chinese culture, and we hope to spread Chibi tea culture to all over the world. Yang Xingming, president of Canadian Huayi Media, who came to visit Chibi, said.
On October 21, Yangloudong Ming Qing Slate Street was full of tourists. Photo by Wu Taotao
At present, Chibi City has set its sights on the development of the tea industry to a broader market. By the end of 2022, the city's total tea output was 71,000 tons, of which 68,000 tons of brick tea, the output value of the entire industrial chain reached 16 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), and the sales volume in overseas markets was nearly 20 million yuan. Pieces of chibi green brick tea start from Yangloudong Ancient Town and are exported to more than ten countries and regions such as Russia, Japan and South Korea. (End)