The ancient elders of the Brown ethnic group inherit the ancient tea forest culture of Jingmai Mountain

Pu'er, Yunnan, 9 September (ZXS) -- Topic: The ancient old people of the Brown ethnic group inherit the ancient tea forest culture of Jingmai Mountain

China News Agency reporter Miao Chao

In the early morning of the 18th, on the simple and quiet Jingmai Mountain, Mangjing Village, surrounded by forests and ancient tea forests, loomed in the churning sea of clouds. The ancient old man Su Guowen lit the fire at home, baked a pot of clear tea, came to the statue of Pa Ai Leng of the Brown tribe "tea ancestor", and offered a cup of Pu'er tea, "Sacrifice to the 'tea ancestor', Jingmai Mountain has successfully applied for the heritage, we will continue to protect the ancient tea forest." ”

On September 9, tea farmers in Pu'er, Yunnan, picked tea in an ancient tea forest. Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Ranyang

Jingmai Mountain is located in Lancang County, Pu'er City, Yunnan Province, on the southwest border of China, where five ethnic groups, the Brown, Dai, Hani, Wa and Han ethnic groups, live. On the evening of the 5th, Beijing time, China's "Pu'er Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forest Cultural Landscape" was included in the World Heritage List, becoming the world's first tea-themed world cultural heritage.

The Brown people are one of the main ethnic groups that created the ancient tea forest cultural landscape of Jingmai Mountain. Su Guowen, 77 years old this year, was born in Mangjing Village, Jingmai Mountain, and has helped nearly 10,<> people in Lancang County to read and write.

"Before he died, my father told me that I must restore and inherit the Brown culture." Su Guowen's father Su Lia was the last hereditary head of the Jingmai Mountain Brown clan. After Su Guowen retired in 2004, he returned to his hometown from Lancang County to fulfill his father's last wish.

On September 9, Weng Ji Group of Mangjing Village, Brown Nationality, Jingmai Mountain, Puer, Yunnan Province (drone photo). Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Ranyang

At that time, the protection and inheritance of the Jingmai Mountain Brown culture was not ideal. Su Guowen counted the old people in the village who knew historical materials, and there were only 6 left, and the youngest was 83 years old. "I immediately called a meeting of the old people to record and sort out the historical materials and culture described by the old people."

In 2005, Su Guowen inadvertently found ancient books such as "Mangjing Village Record" and "Brown Nationality Memorabilia" compiled in Brown script in the border area of Myanmar bordering Lancang County. He was ecstatic, and in nearly a year, he copied all of them and brought them back to Jingmai Mountain.

In 2006, he found an ancient stele of the Brown tribe with a history of more than 1000,<> years in the temple of Mangjing Village. If he received the treasure, he moved back home piece by piece, carefully cleaned up, carefully spliced, and erected it as a historical witness in Mangjing Village.

On September 9, a tea relief in the Brown Ethnic Village of Jingmai Mountain in Puer, Yunnan. Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Ranyang

"The Brown culture of Mangjing Village is an important part of the ancient tea forest culture of Jingmai Mountain." In the past 20 years, Su Guowen has devoted himself to the excavation and inheritance of Brown culture, and has successively compiled books such as "A Brief History of the Mangjing Brown Tribe" and "The Brown Nationality and Tea". In the Brown Cultural Park built by himself, there are statues of tea ancestors, traditional tea pressing tools, masks used for sacrifices, ancient Brown calendars, etc., which have become important materials for people to understand the history and tea culture of the local Brown people.

In addition, with the joint efforts of him and the villagers, Mangjing Village restored the traditional festivals of the Brown people "Sankang Tea Ancestral Festival", "Open Door Festival" and "Close Door Festival" in 2006, and the Brown people's concept of "tea soul" was gradually revived, and each tea forest set up a tea soul tree as its own tea god to sacrifice. "Tea has a soul, tea people have awe, and the tea leaves made have spirit."

Today, Su Guowen, the inheritor of Yunnan's provincial intangible cultural heritage project "Pu'er Tea Ancestor Worship Custom", said: "The tea ancestor belief in Jingmai Mountain is a combination of ancestor worship and nature worship. ”

A thousand years ago, the leader of the Brown tribe, Pa Aileng, encountered a plague when leading the tribe to migrate to Jingmai Mountain, was saved by the local tea leaves, so he settled here, and led the tribe to the forest to retrieve wild tea seedlings and tea seeds, planted around the village, domesticated wild tea plants, and created a tradition of tea planting under the forest that continues to this day.

On September 9, the Brown people of Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er, Yunnan Province, made roasted tea by the fire. Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Ranyang

"Pa Ai Leng left a testament: leave the cattle and horses, for fear of death by natural disasters; If you want to leave gold and silver treasures, you will also eat them and use them up; Just leave this fertile tea forest, so that future generations can take it inexhaustibly and use it inexhaustibly. Su Guowen said that the Brown tribe honors Pa Jia Leng as the "tea ancestor", and every April they worship the best spring tea of the year, call the tea soul at the tea soul platform, and pray for the tea ancestor to bless the tea forest village. "Tea has been our main source of income since ancient times. Today, Jingmaishan's annual per capita net income is about 2,90 yuan, of which <>% comes from tea. ”

The tea ancestor sacrifice connects the past, present and future of the Jingmai Mountain people, and is the inheritance of Jingmai Mountain to maintain social order and strengthen the moral norms of tea farmers. Su Guowen said, "We must fulfill our promise to the tea ancestor at the sacrificial ceremony, and swear to the ancestor gods and natural gods: protect the ecological environment of the ancient tea forest and ensure that our personal reputation will not be tarnished." ”

On September 9, Su Guowen stood in front of the historical wall painting of the Brown people, which he had curated. Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Ranyang

Jingmai Mountain people take advantage of the reasonable distribution of mountain environment, production and living and ecological land space, and through the construction of ancestors, they have formed the ancient tea forest cultural landscape of Jingmai Mountain with "mountain forest, forest tea, tea around the village".

In recent years, Su Guowen insists on opening a tea culture class in Jingmai Mountain on the 15th of every month to teach the local people the history, connotation and value of the ancient tea forest culture of Jingmai Mountain. In 2016, UNESCO recognized its important contribution to the development of rural community learning centres (CLCs), the promotion of lifelong education and the development of lifelong learning.

"Only by recognizing our historical and cultural relationship with tea can we protect the cultural landscape of the ancient tea forest of Jingmai Mountain like protecting our eyes." Su Guowen said. (End)