Yang Jichang

01 · Lineage & Regional School

At the age of fourteen he began as an apprentice, tending the fire for the tea-frying masters, and at sixteen he began frying tea himself. Within the regional tradition and school record of Green Tea Processing Craftsmanship in Hangzhou, Zhejiang: The core production area of West Lake Longjing lies around Longjing Village in Xihu District, Hangzhou, and the mountain plots of Shifeng, Longjing, Yunqi, Hupao, and Meijiawu each have their fame. Here the tea gardens are mostly on gentle slopes, and the slope aspect, soil, and number of foggy days directly determine how different the teas under the same "Longjing" name can be. In technique, each household has its own method; everyone knows the Ten Great Techniques, but applies them with different emphasis and tempo, so the resulting shape and aroma each have their own character. Since the Republic of China period, machine-made tea and hand-panning have proceeded side by side, and purely hand-made tea has instead become the minority. Tea culture flourished greatly in the Tang dynasty. Emperor Xuanzong changed the character "tu" to "cha" in the Kaiyuan Wenzi Yinyi, and afterwards Lu Yu's Classic of Tea (Cha Jing) also appeared. Before the Song dynasty, the tea consumed was mostly compressed tea—the leaves were steamed, pounded, and formed into lumps or cakes, then boiled in water for drinking, sometimes with dried fruits such as melon seeds and pine nuts added. In the Qing dynasty this changed to brewing with boiling water, a practice that continues to this day. In the Tang dynasty it was already popular to pluck the tiny newly sprouted tea buds; these tender buds were sharp like spears, with small leaves shaped like banners growing beside them, and so they were called "banner-spear" (qiqiang), a name that has endured to the present. West Lake Longjing tea originated in the Tang dynasty, became renowned through the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, and flourished in the Qing.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, of Han ethnicity, born in October 1941 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. National representative bearer of the Green Tea Making Technique (West Lake Longjing), a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. A green tea making technician. West Lake Longjing tea is known for its four excellences of green colour, rich aroma, sweet taste and beautiful shape, and its colour and shape depend chiefly on the frying process. Through long practice he has mastered the ten hand movements, including dou (shaking), dai (carrying), shuai (flinging), ting (straightening), tuo (spreading), zhua (grabbing), ya (pressing) and mo (rubbing), used in the three stages of Longjing frying: the green-killing pot, the moisture-returning rest and the final polishing pot. He pays particular attention, when the fresh leaves first enter the pot, to frying with a light, yielding force; during turning he controls the temperature strictly and attends closely to the grabbing, pressing, rubbing and pushing movements, forming a tea-frying technique of his own. Within the documented technical tradition of Green Tea Processing Craftsmanship in Hangzhou, Zhejiang: China's tea-making craft has a long history. More than three thousand years ago, tea used as an accompaniment to drinking already appeared in the ritual ceremonies of the Western Zhou dynasty. In ancient times tea was called "tu," a name that appears in the Book of Songs (Shijing). By the Three Kingdoms and Western Jin periods, tea drinking had become a common custom in the Jiangnan region. Green tea is a type of tea that is fixed (kill-green) at high temperature without oxidation or fermentation, also known as "non-fermented tea." Its production process mainly includes plucking fresh leaves, fixation (kill-green), rolling, and drying. Top-grade green tea is made from the delicate young buds that first emerge, generally plucked before the Qingming or Grain Rain solar terms; the finished tea is commonly called "pre-Qingming" or "pre-Grain Rain." Fixation uses high-temperature processes such as steaming or pan-firing to enhance the green tea's bright color and clear fragrance, and can be divided into steaming fixation and pan-firing fixation. In ancient China, high-temperature steam was used for fixation, called "steam fixation"; in modern times this changed to pan-firing in an iron wok, giving rise to "pan-fired fixation." Fixation makes the leaves soft, and gently rolling them between the fingers twists them into tight, slender strips—this is called "rolling." Rolling helps the brewed tea release its infusion and also reduces the leaves' volume, making storage and transport easier. It is mainly produced in Xihu District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province; Longjing Village by West Lake abundantly yields high-quality tea that is green in color, rich in aroma, mellow in taste, and beautiful in form, hence the name "Longjing tea." West Lake Longjing tea is a famous Chinese tea, and green tea represented by West Lake Longjing is closely connected to the daily life of the Chinese people. Through long production practice, tea cultivation and processing in the West Lake Longjing tea region gradually developed a series of tea-production experiences—selecting fine varieties, diligent cultivation, careful plucking, and scientific pan-firing; in particular, a pan-firing technique with distinctive technical characteristics was worked out during the firing process, including the "Ten Great Techniques" of Longjing tea pan-firing: shaking, wrapping, pressing, swinging, lifting, spreading, hooking, grasping, pressing, and grinding. The entire tea-making craft embodies the wisdom of local tea farmers and reveals profound cultural meaning. As the reputation of West Lake Longjing tea has risen, many tea-producing areas, seeking economic gain, have competed to imitate its pan-firing methods and pass off their tea as Longjing, confusing the genuine with the fake, thereby damaging the reputation of West Lake Longjing tea. Moreover, as urban development accelerates, the area of tea gardens shrinks year by year and Longjing tea output declines steadily. With mechanized production replacing manual operation, the ancient craft of hand-panning Longjing tea is also gradually declining. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The ten hand techniques": Ten named hand motions alternate between spreading the leaf over heat and rolling it into the flat, straight shape. "Greening, resting and finishing fires": Greening over a fierce fire, resting to even the moisture, then finishing over a slow flame while straightening the leaf. "Working with soft force": Yang Jichang lifts and turns the leaf with soft force so it never slams into the hot pan. "The arrow-shoot bud and the early-spring pickings": Only the first tender shoots, picked before Qingming or Guyu, are used; the bud resembles an arrow with a flag-like leaf.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He won first place in the West Lake Longjing tea-frying competition held by the People's Government of Xihu District, Hangzhou, in 1988, 1989 and 2006.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Yang Jichang · National Representative Bearer Archive