Black Tea Processing Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
Qimen has a long history of tea production, traceable back to the Southern and Northern Dynasties period. In the second year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty (1876), Qimen black tea (Keemun) was successfully created; once it appeared, it became famous at home and abroad for its extraordinary quality. In 1915, Qihong participated in the 'Panama-Pacific International Exposition' and won a gold award. In 1987, Qihong won a gold award at the '26th World High-Quality Food Selection Conference,' and Qimen was named 'Hometown of Chinese Black Tea' by the relevant state department.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Qimen black tea, abbreviated as 'Qihong,' is the only black tea among China's Top Ten Famous Teas, named for being produced in Qimen County, Anhui Province. Traditional Qimen black tea is entirely handmade; its quality depends on the workmanship, hence Qihong is also known as 'Qimen Gongfu' (Qimen skill). The Qihong making craft is divided into two major parts, initial making and refining. The initial making includes withering, rolling, fermentation, and drying; the refining includes sieving, cutting, winnowing, picking, re-firing, and blending. The finished Qihong has a black, lustrous color and tight, fine strips with delicate, beautiful tips; when brewed, the liquor is brilliant red and transparent, and the infused leaves are bright red. The most charming aspect of Qihong is its aroma, which tea masters at home and abroad call 'sugar fragrance' or 'apple fragrance,' within which hides an orchid fragrance—fragrant and lasting, honored as the 'Qimen aroma' (Keemun scent), for which Qihong ranks first among the world's high-aroma black teas. In recent years, affected by domestic and international tea market conditions, Qimen black tea's sales have been sluggish, and the traditional handmaking craft also lacks successors. To this end, the Qimen County Party Committee and government have specially formulated a development plan and adopted various effective measures to strive to promote Qihong production, with a view to revitalizing and carrying forward the traditional Qimen black tea-making craft.
Documented Process Records
The Qihong making craft is divided into two major parts, initial making and refining. The initial making includes withering, rolling, fermentation, and drying; the refining includes sieving, cutting, winnowing, picking, re-firing, and blending.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
All of Qihong's skill rests in the hands of the Qimen area: initial making goes through four steps—withering, rolling, fermentation, and drying—and after the tea is made it passes through sieving, cutting, winnowing, picking, re-firing, and blending to draw the strips tight and fine. The craftsmanship shows most in the fermentation and re-firing steps; off by even a fraction in firing, and the sandy, fruity Qimen aroma cannot be brought out. It is the only black tea among China's Top Ten Famous Teas, designated specifically for hand making by the name of Qimen Gongfu; it was successfully created in the second year of Guangxu, and won a gold award at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915. At present this set of processes lacks successors.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Black Tea Processing Craftsmanship · Black Tea Processing Craftsmanship · Black Tea Processing Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Wang Chang (official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in January 1966, a native of Qimen County, Anhui Province. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item 'Black Tea Making Craft (Qimen Black Tea-Making Craft).' Qimen black tea-making technician. He learned tea making from his father in childhood, entered a township-run tea factory in 1982, and in 1983 studied black tea making at the Qimen Tea Factory in Anhui, under the Chinese black tea masters Chen Jiliang and Min Xuanwen. On the basis of mastering the essentials of Qimen black tea making, he made technical improvements to the traditional black tea-making process, created the high-end specialty famous teas Qihong Huangcha and Qihong Xiangluo, and developed the processing technique for first-grade Qihong Huangcha. He actively promotes the Qimen Gongfu black tea-making craft, voluntarily teaching the black tea-making craft to base tea farmers, and has trained a group of professional tea-making talents. His products won gold awards twice in succession at the China (Zhejiang) Intangible Cultural Heritage Exposition organized by the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wang Chang 05-2849
- Zhang Chengren 05-2850
- Lin Hong
- Yu Danhua
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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