Yang Lasan
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Yang Lasan, Male, Deang, from Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhizhoumang, Yunnan, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Deang Suan Tea Processing Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-268). The tradition is documented in Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhizhoumang, Yunnan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Deang Suan Tea Processing Craftsmanship in Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhizhoumang, Yunnan: In Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan, the De'ang sour tea-making craft is most concentrated in the Mangshi area. Villages traditionally define their leaf-picking areas by the village deity and the woodlands, and the De'ang regard tea trees as living things. The two broad categories of method are kept apart: wet tea mixed directly with ingredients and cooked as a dish is culinary tea, ready after about two months of anaerobic fermentation; tea that is sun-dried and further finished so that it can be brewed directly is drinking tea, whose fermentation must run to four to nine months. As early as the 4th century CE, caravans carried the tea of the De'ang people along the Ancient Tea Horse Road and other trade routes to Central Asia, West Asia and East Asia.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Yang Lasan is anchored in the documented technical standards of Deang Suan Tea Processing Craftsmanship in Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhizhoumang, Yunnan. Within the documented technical tradition of Deang Suan Tea Processing Craftsmanship in Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhizhoumang, Yunnan: The craft of making De'ang sour tea is a traditional handicraft found mainly in Mangshi, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. Mangshi lies in the south-west of Yunnan on a low-latitude plateau in a southern subtropical monsoon climate, with an average annual temperature of 19.6 degrees Celsius, a clear division between the dry and wet seasons, no severe cold in winter and no extreme heat in summer, long hours of sunshine and abundant rainfall. It is suited to tea growing and provides quality raw material for the De'ang sour tea-making craft. De'ang sour tea comes in two kinds, culinary tea and drinking tea. Culinary tea is the wet tea once fermentation is complete, cooked with various ingredients in different ways into different dishes; it is a traditional De'ang food. Drinking tea is made from the wet tea by sun-drying and a series of further finishing processes, and can be brewed directly; its liquor is golden and translucent with a sweet aftertaste. De'ang sour tea uses fresh leaves of the Yunnan large-leaf tea tree as its raw material and is made through process steps such as de-enzyming, rolling, anaerobic fermentation, pounding (or crushing), shaping and drying. Culinary tea is generally fermented for about 2 months, while drinking tea must be fermented for 4 to 9 months. Sour tea fermentation is entirely different from the aerobic fermentation of other teas: it is anaerobic fermentation. Through this distinctive fermentation process the tea leaves produce a rich variety of probiotics, especially high-quality lactic acid bacteria, which can effectively improve gastrointestinal function. As early as the pre-Qin period, the ancestors of the De'ang people already had the habit of growing, making, drinking and eating tea, and the De'ang are therefore known by such honorifics as 'the ancient tea farmers' and 'children of tea'. The De'ang creation epic Dagudalen Gelai Biao recounts how the deity in charge of plants, Hunshang Bijie, became the ancestor of the De'ang people, how the tea seed was brought to the human world, and how the De'ang learned the whole process of growing and using tea. The craft of making De'ang sour tea has permeated every corner of De'ang social life and has given rise to rich and varied tea customs; it plays an important role in the marriage life of the De'ang people, in friendships, in receiving and seeing off guests, and in religious sacrifices. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Archival Records of Process Steps": De'ang sour tea uses fresh leaves of the Yunnan large-leaf tea tree as its raw material and is made through process steps such as de-enzyming, rolling, anaerobic fermentation, pounding (or crushing), shaping and drying.
Archival Records of Process Steps
De'ang sour tea uses fresh leaves of the Yunnan large-leaf tea tree as its raw material and is made through process steps such as de-enzyming, rolling, anaerobic fermentation, pounding (or crushing), shaping and drying.
Core Technique I
The craft of making De'ang sour tea is a traditional handicraft found mainly in Mangshi, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province.
Core Technique II
Mangshi lies in the south-west of Yunnan on a low-latitude plateau in a southern subtropical monsoon climate, with an average annual temperature of 19.6 degrees Celsius, a clear division between the dry and wet seasons, no severe cold in winter and no extreme heat in summer, long hours of sunshine and abundant rainfall.
Core Technique III
It is suited to tea growing and provides quality raw material for the De'ang sour tea-making craft.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Yang Lasan was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Deang Suan Tea Processing Craftsmanship, with Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhizhoumang, Yunnan as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Deang Suan Tea Processing Craftsmanship in Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhizhoumang, Yunnan: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2021 (batch 5), with Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhizhoumang, Yunnan as its declared area, and Mang City Cultural Center (Mang City Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Center) as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
As early as the 4th century CE, caravans carried the tea of the De'ang people along the Ancient Tea Horse Road and other trade routes to Central Asia, West Asia and East Asia.
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.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yang Lasan | Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhizhoumang, Yunnan | — | This page |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。