Zhongxin Net Xinyang, 4 April Topic: The inheritance of the "tea guard" in Dabie Mountain

Authors: Yang Dayong, Kan Li, Li Chaoqing

"Sproute, tea picking, harvest..." Every time Xinyang Maojian spring tea mining season, the shouts of local tea farmers when offering tea are heard from Cheyun Mountain in Xinyang, Henan, Dabie Mountain.

Cheyun Mountain is one of the birthplaces of Xinyang Maojian culture, and the mountain is often cloudy and mist, spinning like a wheel, hence the name Cheyun Mountain. On the eve of this year's Qingming Festival, Xinyang Maojian entered the large-scale picking season. Before mining, tea farmers near Cheyun Mountain spontaneously came to the peak of Cheyun Mountain to hold a tea sacrifice ceremony to pray for smooth wind and rain and a good harvest of tea.

The picture shows the cascading tea plantations on Cheyun Mountain in Xinyang. Photo by Yang Dayong

Woodjun, who is in his 50s this year, is a native tea farmer in Cheyun Mountain and has insisted on participating in tea sacrifices for many years. When it comes to Woodjun, locals know him as a master tea maker who adheres to traditional crafting skills.

"Insisting on handmade tea is the inheritance of traditional skills and adherence to traditional taste." Woodjun said that since he was a child, he grew up listening to the stories of tea makers here guarding tea, planting tea, picking tea and roasting tea, and generations of local "tea guards" guarded the old tea trees in Cheyunshan from being destroyed, guarded the traditional production skills for generations, and kept the inheritance of Xinyang Maojian tea culture.

Today, Woodjun has also become a "tea keeper", a master of Chinese tea making, and a person in the inheritance story of Xinyang Maojian tea culture. In decades of perseverance, he has taught traditional tea roasting techniques to many people.

The picture shows tea pickers busy picking spring tea. Photo by Ouyang Guowei

"As long as anyone is willing to learn, I will teach without reservation." Woodjun said: "If the traditional production skills of Xinyang Maojian are to be passed on, the new generation of 'tea keepers' must continue to pass on. ”

"When I was seventeen or eighteen years old, I came to Cheyun Mountain to pick tea, and later because of the tea bond, I married into this village, and worked with my husband to maintain the tea plantation, pick tea, make tea, and sell tea here." Woodjun's wife introduced that since she came to Cheyunshan, she and her husband have been guarding the tea garden for more than 30 years.

Today, the daughter of Wood Jun and his wife has also become a new generation of tea people, inheriting tea culture in new ways such as e-commerce and live streaming goods, inheriting the traditional production skills of Xinyang Maojian, and selling Xinyang Maojian all over the country.

Zhou Zuhong, a national non-genetic inheritor of Xinyang Maojian green tea making skills in his 70s this year, is also a "tea keeper". Zhou Zuhong began to learn handmade tea from his father at the age of 17 and has more than 50 years of experience in tea making.

The picture shows Chinese tea master Woodjun roasting tea. Photo by Wu Wen Wen

"Handmade tea is not only a technical job, but also a physical job. Afraid of hardship, not a real 'tea keeper'. Zhou Zuhong said that once traditional production skills are missing, Xinyang Maojian also lacks "soul".

Under the influence of Zhou Zuhong, his son-in-law Xiao Xingliang also became the district-level representative inheritor of the traditional skills project of intangible cultural heritage in Xinyang City, "Xinyang Maojian Tea Making Technique". Xiao Xingliang said that hand-roasting tea is very tiring, and many people do not want to do it, but traditional production skills must be passed on.

The picture shows the beautiful tea plantation in Xinyang. Photo by Ouyang Guowei

Xiao Xingliang's daughter Xiao Junjing chose to return to her hometown to start a business after graduating from university. Over the years, she has been spreading Xinyang tea culture through the Internet, especially Xiao Junjing's live broadcast room is loved by tea lovers and has become a local "celebrity". "Internet celebrity", tea culture communicator, Xinyang Maojian non-genetic inheritor... For a while, Xiao Junjing had many "identities", but Xiao Junjing said that she preferred the title of "tea girl".

It is known that the tea industry is a characteristic industry of Xinyang, and the city's current tea garden area is 216.8 million mu, with a tea output of 150,120 tons and a total output value of <> billion yuan. There are more than <>.<> million practitioners like Zhou Zuhong, Woodjun and Xiao Junjing, each of whom guards the mountains and tea here in their own way. (End)