On the morning of April 20, 2024, Chen Hongmian, an old tea man in Wuyi Mountain, died at his home in Tianxin Village, Wuyi Mountain, at the age of 89.
Before his death, he said: "My life was born for tea." "His life is a life for tea, and it is as simple and natural as tea.
He has been making tea since he was 11 years old, and for more than 70 years, he has adhered to the tradition and devoted himself to tea. With a lifetime of time, with a sincere ingenuity, to protect the traditional production skills of Wuyi rock tea, and quench the eternal "rock bone flower fragrance" of rock tea.
In Wuyi Mountain, there are probably only a handful of people like him who have spent almost their entire lives making tea.
April 15, 2015 is the tea season. Under the leadership of Chen Yurong, the former director of Fujian Tea Quality Inspection Center Station, we visited Mr. Chen Hongmian and visited the Huangfuyan Mountain Farm located in the depths of Huiyuan Pit.
At that time, Mr. Chen, who was in good spirits and had a loud voice, and his almost legendary tea life, left a deep impression on us.
Remembering the deceased is for remembrance.
Sip bitter and sweet
As soon as we arrived downstairs, there was a loud voice from upstairs: "Isn't this our Xiao Chen (the nickname for Chen Yurong)!" followed by a series of hearty laughter.
We looked up and saw an old man with thin-haired and dark skin standing on the veranda, smiling at us. He is Chen Hongmian.
"It's me!" replied with a smile as Mr. Chen led us upstairs. The old man was full of anger and had a very loud voice, and people who didn't know thought he was arguing. ”
Chen Hongmian's daughter Chen Rong and son-in-law and Wenfu were all there, and everyone sat around the table, making tea while listening to the old man look back on his tea life.
In the 30s of the last century, Chen Hongmian was born in a tea Baotou family in Wuyi Mountain. His father, Chen Maoke, was the first tea research institute in Wuyishan, Baotou. This institute was established in 1941 by Wu Juenong, the "contemporary tea saint", and was the first national tea research institute in history. Therefore, Chen Hongmian, who followed his father to make tea when he was a child, left him with good memories in the tea garden and research institute.
In 2015, Chen Hongmian, who was 80 years old at the time, was in good spirits
The sky is unpredictable. With the death of his parents one after another, he was orphaned and fostered at his cousin's house.
The hardships of his childhood did not break him, but made him stronger. He learned to make tea in the cousin tea factory, and because of his father's relationship, he was also fortunate to get the guidance of Wuyi Rock Tea Taidou Chen Shuxing. Chen Shuxing told him that if he wanted to make tea, he couldn't get into tobacco or alcohol. Therefore, he did not smoke all his life, and he was deeply influenced by Chen Shuxing.
The old man's hands are full of vicissitudes, engraved with the traces of his life
Because of the collection of medicine, when he was young, he almost traveled all over the mountains and rivers of Wuyi. Mountains, rocks, pits, and streams, he knows them all well. As he learned about tea, he became fascinated by his love for tea.
In order to find a good mountain field, he is not afraid of tigers and wolves, and often goes into the mountains alone. Sometimes, when I wander through the mountains, it is dark and I miss the return time. So he put himself in a snakeskin bag to avoid the beasts, and slept until dawn.
His diligence and wisdom are admirable.
Lu Yu said: "Sip bitter and sweet, tea also." "Bitterness comes sweetly, Chen Hongmian's life is like tea.
Lean over tea
Chen Hongmian, who is studious and thoughtful, has continuously excavated the causes of the birth of good tea in his tea making career, and summed up a unique set of tea garden management and tea making experience.
He said—
"Tea may seem ordinary, but you can't learn about it in a lifetime. The tea tree is alive, you have to treat it with sincerity and respect its habits, and it will repay you with the best taste. In my opinion, making tea is like Chinese, there are many rules and regulations to follow in mathematics, and if you do it wrong, you will be wrong, but Chinese does not. How many of our thousands of years of culture dare to say that they understand it? ”
New sprouts sprout under the furnace peak
The old man used the most simple words to say the most profound truth.
He believes that the first condition for good tea is the growing environment. He began to look for good mountain fields in the mountains very early. His rich experience has taught him that the south-facing "Gu Dou" (i.e., dustpan) type with an opening in the high mountains is the most conducive to the growth of tea. Moreover, the surrounding vegetation must be dense to provide ample diffused light to the tea trees. Lu Yu said that the tea tree is the most suitable "yang cliff yin forest", referring to this kind of Chaoyang hillside under the shade. Therefore, the Chen family's tea gardens are scattered and planted in small areas.
The road to the Chenjia Tea Plantation is either a forest trail paved with fallen leaves, or a ravine, stream, and cliff. There are some narrow sections of the road, and you can only walk sideways
Chen Hongmian also never prunes his own tea trees. Although it greatly increases the cost of harvesting, the taste is far better than that of well-pruned tea trees.
The Chen family's tea plantations are scattered, and in some places there are even only 3~5 tea trees
He said that the secret of making tea is to "watch the green and make the green", which is easy to say, but difficult to do. "Especially the old fir narcissus, because the tree is old, the leaves are thin and the water is less, and there is great attention to the inverted green and the later fermentation and water retention, often the details are not mastered well, and a pot of tea is wasted. ”
Referring to the taste of the old cong daffodils, Chen Hongmian emphasized that the old clump daffodils are first of all woody fragrance, and then the taste given by the environment, and Zhengyan old clump daffodils have a "pit stream flavor". If you want to produce a "bush flavor", you must grow in an environment with a relatively shallow soil layer.
The old clump daffodil tea trees in the Chen family's tea garden are never pruned
"Old clumps of daffodil trees tend to grow 'white mushrooms' (local vernacular, a parasitic plant) that look very old, like me, when you are old, you will have age spots, and when you are old, you will have spots. The old man laughed again.
"White mushroom" growing on the branch of the old daffodil tea tree
Ingenuity
Although the big and small things of making tea at home are slowly handed over to their daughters and sons-in-law. However, in his old age, when it came to the tea season, he had to stare at making tea every night, and he was not willing to go to sleep until one or two o'clock in the morning. "I've been making tea all my life, and I'm used to it. ”
He said that he had never read in his life, but he never gave up studying. In his eyes, a small piece of tea is a thick and endless "big book". Live and learn.
As the tea made by the old man has been recognized by more and more people, many tea areas across the country have invited him to guide tea making, and he has also been invited to South Korea to give lectures and investigations.
The photo Chen Hongmian is holding in his hand was taken in a local tea garden when he went to South Korea for an investigation
He also hopes that in his lifetime, he can train a group of apprentices and let them lead others.
He also traveled thousands of miles to Xinyang, Henan Province to teach local tea farmers tea-making skills for free. Local tea farmers were grateful, and some people asked him what he was doing for it. He replied, "I hope that the next generation of you will not have to work for others." ”
Grandson Ji Chengfeng, a "post-95" engineering man, has been making tea with Chen Hongmian and Ji Wenfu since 2014. He majored in bioengineering in college, and despite his heavy studies, he never fell behind in making tea.
Chen Hongmian instructed Cheng Feng to make tea
Every year during the tea season, he would take a special leave to go home to help. He is diligent and hardworking, and he is delicate and good at thinking, and his tea-making skills have improved by leaps and bounds. Now, he has taken over his grandfather's "mantle" and has become the backbone of the Chen family.
Three generations of grandparents and grandchildren have learned tea-making skills, and they are happy
Ingenuity and craftsmanship, successors.
"The character of the rock bone flower is there, and the merit of the full moon in the heart of heaven exists. ”
May Mr. Chen Hongmian go all the way!
Source: Tea Ceremony CN