Wuyiyancha Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The making of Wuyi rock tea can be traced back to the Han dynasty; through successive developments it reached a perfected craft of rock-tea making in the early years of the Qing dynasty, pioneering the production of oolong tea.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Wuyishan City lies in the northwest of Fujian Province and holds titles such as "World Cultural and Natural Heritage" and the only "Hometown of Chinese Tea Art" in the country, conferred by the Ministry of Culture; it is the home of rock tea. The unique "rock bone and floral fragrance" (yan gu hua xiang) of Wuyi rock tea (Da Hong Pao) is created by Wuyi Mountain's distinctive ecological environment, climatic conditions and exquisite traditional craft. Its traditional production process consists of ten steps, each interlocking and indispensable; the key steps that determine tea quality are "compound withering," "judging the leaf to make the leaf, judging the day to make the day," "water running and returning to yang," "double frying and double rolling," and "low-temperature long baking." Wuyi Mountain is the birthplace of black tea and oolong tea; the tea customs that accompany the Wuyi rock-tea craft have a strong local character—customs such as "shouting to the mountain," tea-tasting competitions and the tea ceremony are appreciated by both refined and popular tastes and enjoy a broad popular base. Yet driven by market-economic interests and the impact of mechanical production processes, and compounded by older artisans neglecting to pass on their skills, the traditional rock-tea craft shows signs of endangerment and urgently needs protection.
Documented production process
The unique "rock bone and floral fragrance" of Wuyi rock tea (Da Hong Pao) is created by Wuyi Mountain's distinctive ecological environment, climatic conditions and exquisite traditional craft. Its traditional production process consists of ten steps, each interlocking and indispensable; the key steps that determine tea quality are "compound withering," "judging the leaf to make the leaf, judging the day to make the day," "water running and returning to yang," "double frying and double rolling," and "low-temperature long baking."
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The craft of making Wuyi rock tea (Da Hong Pao) is centred on the Wuyi Mountain tea region in Wuyishan City, Fujian Province; rock teas from Tianxin, Jiuqu, Niulankeng and other places each carry their own terroir. Wuyishan City lies in the northwest of Fujian Province and holds titles such as "World Cultural and Natural Heritage" and the only "Hometown of Chinese Tea Art" in the country, conferred by the Ministry of Culture; it is the home of rock tea. The Wuyishan City Cultural Centre is the protecting unit of the item.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The national technical supervision authorities have approved Wuyi rock tea as an original-region protected product, and the State Trademark Office has also approved its use of the "Wuyishan Da Hong Pao" trademark. Ye Qitong (from the official archival record of the associated inheritor): male, Han, born in November 1945, a native of Wuyishan City, Fujian Province. Representative inheritor of the national-level intangible cultural heritage item, the craft of making Wuyi rock tea (Da Hong Pao) (third batch). Senior tea appraiser. He studied the manual traditional making of Wuyi rock tea under a folk tea maker from Shangrao, Jiangxi, mastering all the production steps of the Wuyi rock-tea craft, and later learned rock-tea appraisal and management from his father, Ye Xianshun. Since 1961 he has devoted himself to inheriting and researching the traditional craft of making Wuyi rock tea (Da Hong Pao), and has trained a large number of traditional-craft talents. He also took part in collating and compiling Wuyi rock-tea texts such as the Chinese Famous Teas series and Wuyi Rock Tea, and chief-edited books including Famous Mountain, Spirit Tea—Wuyi Rock Tea. Chen Dehua (from the official archival record of the associated inheritor): male, Han, born in August 1941, a native of Wuyishan City, Fujian Province. Representative inheritor of the national-level intangible cultural heritage item, the craft of making Wuyi rock tea (Da Hong Pao) (fourth batch). Maker of Wuyi rock tea (Da Hong Pao). To further promote Wuyi rock-tea culture, he presided over the construction of a baking-green building that three-dimensionally reflects the Wuyi rock-tea craft, providing physical proof for the preservation of traditional tea-making methods. At the same time, taking dynamic transmission of the craft as his own duty, he has devoted himself to research and promotion of tea varieties and attaches importance to the introduction and breeding of tea seedlings.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Ye Qitong 03-1329
- Chen Dehua 04-1854
- Wang Shunming
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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