"The most beautiful April day on earth", the land of southern Henan is full of spring: camellia blossoms, rhododendrons burn, spring shoots are muddy. At the same time, this red land is also jubilant, because at this time of year, the people of Shencheng, located under the Dabie Mountains and on the banks of the Huaishui River, must welcome the arrival of a grand event, that is, the annual tea festival.
Vehicles are driving on the highways of Xinyang, and on giant billboards, words such as "The Capital of China's Maojian" enter everyone's field of vision from time to time. Tea mountains appeared on the side of the road inadvertently, and the tea pickers in the tea garden were busy, looking like butterflies flying on the tea mountain from a distance. Xinyang is a city that has an inseparable relationship with tea.
Tea is not only a business card representing Xinyang, but also the soul of Xinyang culture and customs!
Xinyang became the "tea capital" between the mountains and rivers, showing the "charm" of the northern jiangnan through the "tea capital". The degree to which the people of Xinyang love, love, and love tea is difficult to describe and describe in simple language. I would like to borrow my own series of articles on Xinyang Tea to chat with the vast number of netizens and tourists about the things that we have about Xinyang Tea.
<h1>Part I: The Long River of History</h1>
When it comes to Xinyang tea, whether it is a local government official in Shencheng, an economic person who sells Mao Jian, or a farmer who produces tea, he often likes to tell the following historical stories to tourists from other places:
The first is to say that Su Shi, a great writer of the Northern Song Dynasty, once passed by the banks of the River in Yiyang and tasted Xinyang tea, and after tasting it, he was full of admiration!
The second is that Lu Yu, who is known as the "Tea Saint", also came to Yiyang County and Gwangju in 754 AD, and also gave high praise to our tea here. Later, in the "Tea Classic" he wrote, the whole country was listed as one of the eight major tea-producing areas, and Xinyang belonged to the Huainan Tea District.
The third is to say that in 1915, Mao Jian, planted on The Cheyun Mountain in Xinyang, crossed the ocean and participated in the Panama International Exposition with Moutai wine, and won the gold medal, which won the morale of the Chinese people.
However, the historical story of Xinyang tea is far more than that...
<h1>Xinyang tea in a mysterious ancient tomb</h1>
In March 1987, the cultural department of the former Xinyang District excavated tomb No. 14 of the White Lion Land in the South Brick and Tile Factory of GushiCheng, which was a tomb from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
When the staff opened the coffin, they unexpectedly found that there was a layer of "leaves" on the lid of the main coffin, and this small leaf was later identified as tea by the archaeologists of Peking University!
The excavation of Tomb No. 14 of Baishidi can be strongly confirmed: first, the history of Gushi tea and even Xinyang tea is not later than 2300 years ago; second, the tea relics unearthed in Gushi are the only ones in Xinyang Tea District; third, it is a strong explanation that as early as before the Spring and Autumn Warring States, the people of Xinyang Tea District have completed the transition from wild tea trees to artificial planting. (This matter is exclusively recorded in the Science and Technology Code of the Central Plains Cultural Dictionary)
<h1>Wu Zhuangyuan and Xinyang tea</h1>
In 1817, we in Henan finally came out with the only Keju Yuanyuan in the 267 years of the Qing Dynasty, and this person was the only plant scientist in the history of China's Keju for more than 1300 years, and he was the pride of the people of Gushi County - Wu Qili!
Wu Zhuangyuan successively served as the repairer of the Hanlin Academy, the study of politics in Jiangxi and Hubei, the attendant of the military department, and the governor or inspector of Hunan, Hubei, Yunnan, Guizhou, Fujian, Shanxi and other provinces.
According to historical records, Wu Zhuangyuan "traveled all over the world, loved plants, and everywhere he went, he would collect specimens, draw graphics, and cultivate wild plants in the garden." The two works written by him, "Botanical Names and Facts" and "Botanical Names and Realities Tucao Long Edition", have a very important position in the history of the development of botany in China.
In Gushi County, the well-preserved former residence of Wu Qilian is melodious in ancient style, and the Wu Qilin cemetery located in the south of Gushi City is full of visitors.
In 2018, in order to commemorate this official who did not look like an official, the construction of the grand Wu Qili Cultural Park project was launched.
At the same time as the rising Wu Zhuangyuan memorial fever, we should not forget this famous botanist, who is also a person who has a relationship with Xinyang tea.
It was when Wu Qilian resigned and returned to his hometown, when he came to a place called Yangtianwa in the southern mountains of Gushi, only to see that there were tea gardens all over the mountains, and the tea trees and the moso bamboo color of the mountains were dyed with green mountains and echoed in the distance, forming one emerald green barrier after another, and what was more starkly contrasted with this was that the white snow on the top of the mountain had not yet melted, and this green and white were shining together and very beautiful.
Wu Zhuangyuan, who was "half a world away", saw this scene and was very emotional in his heart, so he wrote a poem "And the wind and snow look up at the sky and green, and the fragrant tea greets the spring and the world".
Later, the clever tea townspeople borrowed this poem to give Yangtianwa tea a very cultural tea name - "Yangtian Snow Green", which later lived up to expectations and became the rising star of Xinyang Tea District at the easternmost end!
<h1>Xinyang tea on the full table of Manhan</h1>
As we all know, the Manchu and Han banquets are the most famous, solemn and rich state banquets formed by the combination of manchu and Han cuisine.
The Mongol relatives' banquet in the Manchu and Han dynasties was a royal banquet set up by the Qing Emperor to entertain the Mongolian relatives who were married to the imperial family. (Generally, there is a banquet in the Tianzheng Grand Bright Hall, which is accompanied by Manchu ministers of the first and second grades.) Successive emperors have attached great importance to this banquet, and it is held every year according to routine. The Mongol relatives who received the feast regarded this feast as a great blessing given by the emperor. ）
In the Mongolian pro-clan banquet, when the guests relished tasting the anchovy shark fin, Gongbao hare, Xianglong Double Fly, stir-fried field chicken, coriander pigeon, eight treasure wild duck, bergamot gold roll, fried cuttlefish shreds, hydrangea dried scallops, fried guinea fowl, milk fish fillet, dried sea cucumber, colorful beef fillet, hanging stove pheasant, raw roasted roe deer meat, mountain treasure thorn dragon buds, lianpeng tofu and other soul-destroying dishes, hard dishes, the palace women will bring out the final farewell tea: that is Xinyang Maojian!
Of course, at that time, there was no Nanwan Reservoir, and even if it was because of the long distance, the water could not be sent to Beijing. The Xinyang Maojian on this Mongolian pro-clan banquet was specially boiled with spring water from the Yuquan Mountain in Beijing given by the emperor, but the taste was almost the same as the Maojian tea brewed with Nanwan water now.
When the Mongolian nobles, after the big fish and meat, curiously tasted this fragrant green tea that was completely different from the taste of Mongolian milk tea, they were full of praise and sighed the emperor's grace...
Late at night, sleepworms have arrived before they know it.
In order to continue the intense creation, I brewed a cup of Xinyang Maojian, and when the fragrant tea entered my body, it magically refreshed me in an instant.
Looking up at the brilliant starry sky, I was thinking: In fact, the tea culture story of the emperor is just a small wave in the long river of history, we should not only pay attention to the "yesterday" of Xinyang tea culture, but also focus on "today, tomorrow", because only by excavating and developing the current tea culture is the most intimate and true, and the most grounded!
Therefore, in the second part of the author's series of works "Talk about Those Things about Xinyang Tea", I will continue to introduce the three colors of Xinyang's current tea culture to you.
Please be patient!
<h1>About the Author</h1>
Meng Jun, an enthusiastic publicist of tourism, food, specialties and customs in southern Henan, has written a large number of literary works related to this in recent years, especially good at using "net" things to publicize, and the language characteristics of the works are humorous, vivid and grounded. His online works "China's Good Figure - Gushi Tourism Introduction to the Seven Character Classic", "Gushi on the Tip of the Tongue", "Poetry Says Tateshi", "Gushi, a Town of Beautiful Scenery", "Gushi, a Town of Food", "Poetry Says Tateshi City", "Thoughts on Promoting Xinyang Cuisine to Become the Next Shaxian Snack" have all had a high click rate on the Internet. During the Spring Festival in 2019, Comrade Meng Jun successively launched "Gushi Cuisine: "Nanshan Beishui" Battle Banquet" on the Internet, "Spring Festival Family Banquet in Nanhou Street", "Boss, come to a hot pot! "Gushi Cuisine Cooking Eight Laws", "Gushi Beauty Why Are There Many? "Gushi, the Hometown of a Rising Chef" 6 works vividly interpret the "Nian Wei'er" of the ancient land, and from the perspective of gastronomic culture, make positive publicity for "promoting Xinyang cuisine to become the next Shaxian snack". In February 2019, Comrade Meng Jun was awarded the "Gushi County Tourism Publicity and Promotion Outstanding Contribution Award".
In his spare time, Comrade Meng Jun is also committed to the study of red culture in Dabie Mountainous Area, focusing on the creation of positive energy literary works. In 2012, his red cultural work "Marshal Luo Ronghuan Shi Ming" was selected as one of the collection of essays commemorating the 110th anniversary of Luo Shuai's birth, "The Soul of the Army That Insists on Eternal Immutation". In 2016, the long poem "The Poetry of Dr. Sun Yat-sen" was selected for the "Xiangshan Poetry Journal" to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Mr. Zhongshan's birth. The long seven-character poem "Biography of Comrade Jiao Yulu" was personally approved by Comrade Zhou Lianhua, secretary of the Zibo Municipal Party Committee in Shandong Province, the hometown of Comrade Jiao Yulu, and was collected in the memorial hall of Comrade Jiao Yulu's former residence in Boshan County, and the Jiao Yulu Cadre College in Henan Province. The literary work "Lugou Soul" was once reported by Henan Provincial Television, and the work "Zhengqi Song" won the first prize of the "Four Threes" Poetry Collection Competition of Henan Tobacco System. The incorruptible government cultural work "A Generation of Honest Officials - Gushi ZhuQingfan" has received attention and praise from all walks of life.