Oolong Tea Processing Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
Zhangping narcissus tea began in the late Qing. Liu Yongfa, a tea farmer of Daohui Village in Shuangyang, introduced narcissus tea seedlings from Shuiji Town in Jian'ou, bringing northern Fujian oolong methods into western Fujian, where they merged with local tea-making to create the Zhangping narcissus craft. Thereafter the craft passed from Liu Yongfa to his descendants and also to the Hakka Deng Guanjin; Deng then passed it to the southern Fujian native Zhang Qisheng. Several dialects relayed within one craft, which now reaches the fourth generation.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Zhangping narcissus tea craft is one of the representative oolong-tea making crafts of China, spreading across Zhangping City, Fujian, and its surrounding areas. Zhangping City lies in southwestern Fujian, a typical "nine parts mountain, half part water, half part field" landscape. It lies in a southern subtropical mountain agricultural zone, with mild climate, ample sunlight, and plentiful rainfall; forest cover of 78.1% provides a thick humus layer that, together with red and yellow earth, forms a specific soil structure, creating favorable conditions for tea growth. The Zhangping narcissus craft innovates on the basis of inheriting the traditional oolong crafts of northern and southern Fujian. From "reading the weather to work the leaf" to "reading the leaf to make tea," these maxims summed up by tea farmers through long practice run through every process step. First, one flexibly decides the plucking time by weather changes and the sunning duration by sunlight intensity; from the leaf's color change and aroma release one decides tossing, pan-firing, and so on—"following nature and the unity of heaven and humanity" becomes the spiritual essence of Zhangping narcissus making. Second, it adopts the rare packaging craft of compressed tea, making the tea convenient to use, store, and transport. More importantly, the natural gaps after compression both effectively control aroma escape and allow the tea to undergo better secondary fermentation, making the beneficial microbes' fermentation more complete. Zhangping narcissus tea is walking-stick shaped, with a black-green tinged yellow "three-band color"; its liquor is orange-yellow or golden clear; its aroma is clean, high, and lingering, with an elegant floral note. Hot and cold Zhangping narcissus differ sharply: the hot brew releases floating aroma with rich, mellow returning sweetness, while the cold brew is fresh, brisk, and sweet-mellow—a distinctive character. In the late Qing, Liu Yongfa of Daohui Village in Shuangyang introduced and planted narcissus tea seedlings from Shuiji Town in Jian'ou, fusing northern Fujian oolong craft with local tea-making to create the Zhangping narcissus tea craft. The Zhangping narcissus craft absorbs the strengths of northern and southern Fujian oolong, and holds significance for studying China's tea-making craft and the exchange and development of tea culture.
Archive of process records
From "reading the weather to work the leaf" to "reading the leaf to make tea," these maxims summed up by tea farmers through long practice run through every process step.
Pressing into the walking-stick shape
An unusual pressing step forms the walking-stick shape, whose tight gaps hold aroma in and let the tea keep evolving.
Reading the leaf through the three-band colour
The three-band colour records the toss-fry heat; each stage of leaf colour and aroma sets what is done next.
Two characters, hot and cold
The same infusion gives bold returning sweetness hot and fresh briskness cold, so drying and storage are stricter than usual.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The distribution center of Zhangping narcissus is Zhangping City and its surroundings, with the core mountain gardens around Shuangyang Daohui. The tea gardens mostly lie on higher-altitude mountains with 78.1% forest cover, thick humus, and intermingled red and yellow earth, yielding plump leaf. Those who practice this craft come from different native places—locals, Hakka, and southern Fujian people each bring a line of technique, finally combining into one tea, which makes it especially unique among the teas of western Fujian.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Oolong Tea Processing Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The narcissus craft has always been transmitted master-to-apprentice; Liu Yongfa passed it not only to his descendants but also to the Hakka Deng Guanjin, who passed it to the southern Fujian native Zhang Qisheng, now reaching the fourth generation. Zhangping narcissus tea sells far to Japan and Southeast Asia, not only promoting Chinese-foreign cultural exchange but also providing abundant material and strong evidence for historical study of the Maritime Silk Road in western Fujian. At present, narcissus tea has become a local economic pillar and a prosperity industry; transmission of its craft benefits nearly 50,000 villagers.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wei Yuede 03-1420
- Wang Wenli 03-1421
- Zhang Xingyu
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。