The way of Anxi tieguanyin tea(2)
Till 1930s, Anxi natives had founded more than one hundred tea houses in southeast Asia. The famous ones are Linjintai, Yuanchongmei, Gaomingfa and Linhetai in Singapore, Sanyang, Mei’s and Xing’s in Malaysia, Wang & Mei’s, Wangjincai in Indonesia, Yihefa, Sanjiu, Jiyou and Bing’s in Thailand, Dong’s, Jinfang and Taishan in Vietnam. While the Wangfangchun in Macao, Yaoyang, Fuji, Qianji and Quanfang in Hongkong, Zhangxiexing, Wangruizhen, Bao’s, Longquan and Fengpu in Taiwan have been well-known by people.
In September of 1928, the Singapore tea guild was established and Lin Qingnian of Anxi was the deacon while Bai Xibi was the deacon of tea guild in Thailand. Anxi tieguanyin tea had been regarded as treasure by overseas tea-lovers or used as treasure of a shop. According to statistics, at that time, Anxi tea was sold 800 tons to Singapore, 200 tons to Malaysia, 160 tons to Thailand and 100 tons to Philippines each year.
Anxi is with mountains multiply and streams double back, people in ancient time transported tea by oxcart. To prevent dust and damp, they covered a piece of white cloth on the cart. Whenever the season producing tea, oxcarts ran along the trackway in mountains and linked to be wandering white lines, which was pretty grand. In the days of the Anti-Japanese War, no people bought tea so there was a harrowing saying as “tieguanyin tea is less than kidney bean leaf while tea trees can be cut down for using as firewood” among the people.
After the foundation of new China, restricted by planned economy, tea trade in folk stopped abruptly.
The general manager Gao Zhishui of Huahong corporation recalled: we couldn’t sell tea at that time, but Singapore needed to sell our tieguanyin tea, so we had to asked our relatives to post the tea. Two bags for one person and two jin in one bag. Once they needed 120 bags and finally the tea was locked in Xiamen, and the Xiamen revolution committee called my mother to interrogate. The production team finally wrote testimonial material to prove the tieguanyin tea was sent to relatives for drinking, and only half of that was approved to be sent.
Oolong tea has tens of varieties in Anxi such as Maoxie, Benshan, Meizhan, Foshou, Gold cassia and Tieguanyin while the most widely known by people is tieguanyin tea. Japan is the biggest importer of oolong tea especially tieguanyin tea. For most Japanese, oolong tea is tieguanyin tea. In 1979, Japanese idol team of teenagers called gossip girl said that tie guan yin tea helped them lose weight, then there was oolong tea boom in Japan at that time. The annual import volume abruptly ascended from 2 tons to 280 tons and breakthrough 1000 tons in 1981 while 10,000 tons in 1996 and 20,000 tons in 2009.
The Japanese sado is more complicated and subtle than that of Chaoshan Kung Fu tea. However, Japanese people think that it’s inconvenient to infuse oolong tea, so the Suntory Corporation took the lead to develop oolong tea in bottles, which were deeply popular with common people. Nowadays, in Japanese beverage market, there are Suntory hot oolong tea that would be strong in taste when heated, Ito Garden golden oolong tea with golden color, Asahi Excel low-fermented oolong tea and Kylin phenix oolong tea. Although the drinking way is different from that of Chinese people, drinking oolong tea has become a part of life for Japanese people.
Russia is the biggest importer and country of tea consumption for its per capita tea drinking exceeds 1.3kg while black tea takes majority of the imported tea. The arrival of Anxi tieguanyin tea has changed the tea consumption structure of Russian. In big cities like St.Petersburg, Anxi tea chain stores has expanded rapidly to form a tea street. More and more Russian travelling merchants and citizens have been addicted to tieguanyin tea’s rich aroma. In the Russia-China Country Exhibition held in March of 2007, the Anxi tieguanyin tea section was crowded with large quantities of Russian citizens who were not only indulged in the tea but also interested in the Anxi tea ceremony show and historical culture of Anxi.
Anxi tieguanyin tea is enjoying great reputation at home and abroad now and that profits from its excellent performance in every tea auctions. In 1993, 500g Anxi tieguanyin tea was auctioned by 10,000 yuan; in 1995, 500g tieguanyin tea was auctioned by 58,000 yuan in Xiping of Anxi; in 1996, 500g tieguanyin tea was auctioned by 170,000 yuan in Guangzhou; in 1998, 100g tieguanyin tea was auctioned by 40,000 yuan in Shanghai; in 1999, 100g tieguanyin tea was auctioned by 70,000 yuan in Beijing while 110,000 Hong Kong dollar in Hongkong in the same year.
That is the legend of tieguanyin tea.
This legend happened in Anxi of Fujian.
In the matter of plant, there’s no other plant having so legendary story as tieguanyin tea; in the matter of tea, there’s no other variety comes up to tie guan yin tea.
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