Green Tea Processing Craftsmanship

Ⅷ-148Traditional CraftsmanshipQuannan, JiangxiBatch 4 (2014)Extension ItemFeatured

01 · Historical Records

Legend has it that leicha (ground tea) originated from the "medicinal drink" of Central Plain people who pounded green herbs into a pulp and took it with water, and is a dietary custom formed by the Hakka ancestors through the accumulation of migration, production, and daily life. According to historical records, Hakka leicha evolved from the congee tea of the Han and Wei dynasties and the whisked tea (diancha) of the Tang and Song dynasties; it began north of the Yellow River and was brought to southern Jiangxi (Gannan) by the Hakka ancestors when they migrated south.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Gannan Hakka leicha making craft is a traditional tea-making technique in which the Gannan Hakka use fresh tea leaves, glutinous rice, sesame, soybeans, peanuts, salt, and various green herbs as raw materials, grind them into a tea paste with a grinding bowl and pestle, and then brew it for drinking. Gannan Hakka leicha is made throughout Quannan, Ganxian, Xingguo, Yudu, and other counties in Jiangxi Province, with Quannan County being particularly representative. The Gannan Hakka leicha making craft is distinctive, integrating multiple process steps such as grinding and brewing. Its basic raw materials are fresh tea leaves, glutinous rice, sesame, soybeans, peanuts, salt, and various green herbs. When making it, the prepared materials are first placed in the grinding bowl in proportion, and the pestle is used to pound and rotate along the inner wall's grooves to grind them into a tea paste. When drinking leicha, the ground paste is put in the bowl or a large basin, brewed with boiling water, then a little high-mountain tea oil is poured in and stirred briefly with the pestle, yielding a sweet, moist, fragrant leicha of amber color and a refreshing, delicious taste. Gannan Hakka leicha has both the sweet taste of tea leaves and the delicate fragrance of sesame, peanuts, and beans, as well as the pungency of ginger; complemented by fried rice, peanuts, bean flakes, rice cakes, and tangpi, it becomes a Gannan Hakka leicha feast combining fragrance, sweetness, bitterness, and spiciness. As an indispensable part of Hakka daily life, the Gannan Hakka leicha making craft is inseparable from Hakka culture. Most Gannan Hakka live in mountainous areas in clan settlements; leicha is self-produced, self-made, and self-used, preserving the pleasure of tea while being little affected by external economic influences, becoming an indispensable part of Hakka life. The Gannan Hakka leicha making craft integrates multiple ingredients and is an important vehicle for the transmission of Gannan Hakka culture.

Documented Process Records

The Gannan Hakka leicha making craft is distinctive, integrating multiple process steps such as grinding and brewing.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

After arriving in Gannan, it also assimilated the local tea customs, forming a distinctive Gannan Hakka tea-drinking custom that has been passed down through generations.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

It has a long history and values naturalness, simplicity, and harmony; its antique quality reveals a peculiar charm, it accords with Chinese traditional cultural standards and ceremonial norms, embodies the Chinese philosophy and health concept of "harmony between heaven and man," and is an important component of Chinese tea culture with considerable social and cultural value. Liao Yongchuan (per official inheritor archival records): Male, Han ethnicity, born in March 1958, a native of Quannan County, Jiangxi Province. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item "Green Tea Making Craft (Gannan Hakka Leicha Making Craft)." A Gannan Hakka leicha making technician. Influenced by Hakka culture since childhood, he learned the leicha making craft from his parents. Since becoming director of the Longyuanba Town Cultural Station in 1996, he has actively carried out research and inheritance work on the Gannan Hakka leicha making craft. Combining pharmacological knowledge and the drinker's physical condition, he adds different ingredients when making leicha to nourish the body—for example, in the damp heat of spring and summer he uses Houttuynia (yuxingcao) and mugwort (aiye) to prevent heatstroke and dispel dampness; in the dry autumn he uses chrysanthemum and honeysuckle (jinyinhua) to nourish and moisten the lungs; in the cold winter he adds cinnamon bark and pepper to dispel cold and keep warm; the leicha he grinds is fine, moist, and refreshing, and is quite favored by people. He actively participates in the transmission and dissemination of the leicha craft, not only teaching it to his children but also frequently conducting leicha making training at schools and in communities.

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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