Dark Tea Processing Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
According to tradition, Xianyang fucha originated during the Xining reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Northern Song (1068 CE), at which time it was a loose tea. In the first year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming (1368 CE) the fucha processing technique was formally fixed, becoming a strategic commodity of the 'tea-horse trade.'
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Xianyang fucha making craft is a traditional dark-tea making craft mainly distributed in Jingyang County and Qindu District of Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province. Xianyang lies in the heart of the Guanzhong Plain in Shaanxi, with a warm-temperate continental monsoon climate. Its unique geographical environment, small-watershed climate, natural groundwater resources, and the tea-pounding frame invented by Xianyang people provided favorable conditions for the birth and development of the fucha making craft. Xianyang fucha is a compressed tea made from the black crude tea of Hunan and southern Shaanxi using traditional craft, in whose fermentation process the 'golden flowers' (Eurotium cristatum) grow naturally. Because its shape resembles a brick and its effect is similar to that of tufuling (smilax), it is called 'fu tea,' and it can also be packed into loose fucha. Since in ancient times it was mostly manufactured under official license, it is also called 'official tea.' The Xianyang fucha making craft consists mainly of seven process steps: ingredient blending and pile-fermentation, boiling the tea glaze, frying tea in the glaze, filling and sealing, bracing and pounding the tea, binding and piercing the seal, and natural flowering. Ingredient blending and pile-fermentation: the selected 'clear tea' is mixed and stirred evenly by formula, chopped, sprinkled with an appropriate amount of well water, blended into a pile, and fermented for about 8 hours. Boiling the tea glaze: old tea and tea fruits are taken with an appropriate amount of water and boiled first over high heat then over low heat for 12 hours to produce the new tea glaze. Then an appropriate amount of old tea glaze is taken as yeast, combined with appropriate tea and standby water, and boiled over low heat for 6 hours to form the old glaze for later use. Frying tea in the glaze: an iron wok is heated to a certain temperature, the prepared tea glaze is ladled in as a primer to wet the hot wok, and the tea leaves are poured in and fried to a certain temperature; the tea is then poured into the packs to fill them, the leaves are loaded into molds and pounded solid to form the brick shape; next the packs are cross-bound with hemp rope, and a steel awl pierces an air hole through the center of the brick—this being the filling-and-sealing, bracing-and-pounding, and binding-and-piercing steps. Finally comes natural flowering: the built bricks are stacked in a well pattern, air-dried to seventy or eighty percent, and then allowed to flower naturally for over a month. When the golden flowers have grown full and give off a fragrant aroma, the fucha is successfully made. The finished fucha has a flat brick surface, appropriate looseness and tightness, and abundant golden flowers; its fungal-flower aroma is pronounced, its liquor an orange-red bright color, and its taste mellow and thick.
Documented Process Record
The Xianyang fucha making craft consists mainly of seven process steps: ingredient blending and pile-fermentation, boiling the tea glaze, frying tea in the glaze, filling and sealing, bracing and pounding the tea, binding and piercing the seal, and natural flowering.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Xianyang fucha craft radiates from Jingyang County on both banks of the Jing River, with workshop-style production commonly seen in the outer suburbs of Qindu District; the small-watershed climate and well-water quality of the two places form the shared basis for selecting material and reading pile temperature. The raw black crude tea is shipped in from Hunan and southern Shaanxi and blended and flowered on the spot, the reverse of Hunan's locally sourced fuzhuan bricks; the tea-pounding frame and the air hole pierced in the binding-and-piercing step are tool usages peculiar to the Guanzhong area.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present the craft is transmitted mainly through master–apprentice teaching, family inheritance, and institutional training; the inheritors devote themselves to passing on and spreading the related craft and culture by studying fucha history, building heritage-skills transmission halls, and promoting the fucha brand.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Gan Yuxiang 04-1906
- Li Shengfu 05-2851
- Liu Xingyi 05-2852
- Wei Jiequn 05-2853
- Chen Guofeng
- Jia Genshe
- He Jiangang
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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