Green Tea Processing Craftsmanship

Ⅷ-148Traditional CraftsmanshipLuanshiyuan, AnhuiBatch 2 (2008)Newly Added ItemFeatured

01 · Historical Records

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. The Lu'an Guapian tea of Lu'an City, Anhui Province, originated from Lu'an tea. As early as the Ming dynasty, Xu Guangqi's Complete Book of Agricultural Administration (Nongzheng Quanshu) noted: "The flake tea of Lu'an Prefecture is of the finest grade of tea." In the Qing dynasty, Lu'an Guapian was listed as a tribute, and its making reached its zenith. In July 1971, when U.S. Secretary of State Kissinger first visited China, the Chinese government presented Lu'an Guapian to him as a national gift.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

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. At that time the production and making of this tea were mainly concentrated around Mabu Street in Lu'an. After the founding of New China, Premier Zhou Enlai and other state leaders spoke highly of Lu'an Guapian.

Stir-frying in the raw pan

The sun-withered leaf goes into the raw pan, where timing and heat decide whether it will shape or turn dull.

Tossing and pressing in the finished pan

In the second pan, tossing and pressing alternate to flatten the leaf into even, thin slices.

The final high fire

A long, fierce final fire drives off the moisture so the slices stay crisp in storage.

A tea made of leaves alone

Only the leaf is used, with no buds or stalks, a construction Xu Guangqi praised in the Nongzheng Quanshu.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The production area of Lu'an Guapian is concentrated around Dushan, Huangjianhe, Tongxin Temple, Longmenchong, Yingjiangchong, and Hongshigeng in Yuan District, Lu'an City, while in the Qing dynasty the center of production and making was around Mabu Street. Today the mountain plots of Yuan District still yield the tea, but under the same name the various makers have already differentiated their methods: those with fine workmanship and small output hold to the old way.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Green tea is currently mainly produced in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, Sichuan, and other places, among which the most famous are West Lake Longjing of Hangzhou and Wuzhou Juyan of Jinhua in Zhejiang; Huangshan Maofeng, Taiping Houkui, and Lu'an Guapian in Anhui; and Dongshan Biluochun of Suzhou in Jiangsu. Lu'an Guapian is still being produced, with its production area mainly concentrated in Dushan, Huangjianhe, Tongxin Temple, Longmenchong, Yingjiangchong, Hongshigeng, and other places in Yuan District, Lu'an City. Chu Zhaowei (per the official archive records of the related inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in November 1966, a native of Lu'an City, Anhui Province. Representative inheritor of the fourth batch of the national-level intangible cultural heritage item "Green Tea Making Technique (Lu'an Guapian)." Lu'an Guapian green tea-making technician. Born into a family business of tea production and management, he followed his elders in making Lu'an Guapian from childhood and mastered the essence of its traditional craft. He has his own distinctive handcraft characteristics in controlling the withering time of fresh leaves, the time and temperature in the raw-wok firing, the tossing and pressing to shape in the ripe-wok firing, and the rhythm and timing of the old-fire baking. He led the research and promotion of restoring the traditional production craft of Lu'an Guapian, comprehensively raising the brand recognition and reputation of Lu'an Guapian; the Lu'an Guapian products he made were repeatedly used to present to distinguished guests at home and abroad and were collected by several tea museums domestically and internationally. He has diligently passed on the craft, with apprentices throughout the Lu'an Guapian production area.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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