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Puer Tea

Page 28

by Zhang, Jinghong. ,Project Muse.


  Zou Jiaju. 2004. Man Hua Puer Cha (Casual talk about Puer tea). Kunming: Yunnan Minzu Chubanshe.

  ———. 2005. Man Hua Puer Cha: Jingetiema Da Ye Cha (Casual talk about Puer tea: large-leaf tea during wars). Kunming: Yunnan Meishu Chubanshe.

  INDEX

  “aged appeal” (chen yun), 86

  aged artificially fermented Puer tea, 13

  aged Puer tea (lao sheng cha), 20, 34–36, 39–42, 138–40, 143–44, 144f, 190; acquired taste for, 138–41; cult status, 51; history, 54; length of aging, 12, 20, 86, 143, 144f, 161, 182–83, 197, 206; overview, 206; price, 12, 35, 61–65; vs. raw tea, 54, 138, 140–41, 184, 197; at Sanzui tea-tasting event, 161, 165–69; “warmth,” 97, 182, 183

  Aged Red Mark (Hong Yin) Puer tea, 35f

  aged tea, 6; length of aging, 6, 7. See also aged Puer tea

  Ancient Tea-Horse Road (Cha Ma Gu Dao), 93–97, 99. See also Tea-Horse Road

  Ancient Tea-Horse Road (TV series), 95

  artificially fermented tea (shu cha or shu pu), 6, 12–13, 27, 45, 91, 206; brew of, 7f; invention, 44–45

  auctions, Puer tea, 100

  authentic tea, search for, 133, 162, 163, 165

  “Authentic Tea” (film segment), 203

  “authentic tea mountain Yiwu,” 33, 35

  Authentic Tea Mountain Yiwu Limited Company, 57

  authenticity: an alternative, 197–204; handcrafted, 29–30; and imagined originality, 53–54; of maocha, assessing the, 66–70. See also under tea material; Yiwu

  authenticity anxiety, commercialization, and Chinese individualism, 75–77

  Bingsheng, Huang, 116

  black tea (hong cha), 12

  “blank version” (bai ban) tea, 151, 152f, 157

  blood pressure, Puer tea as remedy for lowering, 6, 98

  blue-green tea (qing cha), 12

  bowls, tea, 138–40, 167, 176f

  broadcasting teahouses, 192

  Burma, 44, 92

  caked tea/tea cake (bing cha or yuan cha), 5, 6, 34–38, 45, 102f, 157f, 169, 182f, 187f; character in center of, 107f; handcrafted, 45, 147, 200; pressing, 36, 37, 43, 44f, 147; price, 12, 35, 42, 87; production/processing, 6, 36, 41–43, 44f, 45, 53, 57, 73, 138, 147; shaped by stone press, 43, 44f; Taiwan and, 42–43; weight, 108; Zhang Yi and, 200. See also Golden Melon Tribute tea, 37

  Camellia sinensis assamica (“large-leaf tea”), 11, 12, 88–92

  Camellia sinensis sinensis (“small-leaf tea”), 11, 88, 91

  caravans, tea, 93–97

  Central Tea Company of the Republic of China, 44

  Chen Jie, 92

  Chen Pingyuan, 161

  Cheshun Hao, entrance to, 39f

  China: transformation and the desire to balance, 16–23. See also specific topics

  China Tea Yellow Seal (Zhongcha Huang Yin), 169

  Chinese philosophies, traditional, 46, 117. See also Confucianism; Daoism

  “coldness” of raw Puer tea, 182–84, 218n4

  compressed tea (jin cha), 206

  Confucianism, 109, 117, 119, 145

  consumption revolution, 20

  counterfeits, Puer tea, 7, 9, 33, 35, 75–77, 117. See also fake Puer tea

  “crazy Puer tea,” 101

  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (film), 26

  cultural capital, 162, 171

  Cultural Revolution, 127, 193

  Daoism, 46, 117, 119, 145

  Deng Shihai, 97–98

  Di, Professor, 116–17

  Dian Qing (Yunnan sun-dried green tea), 189

  “digitizing Puer tea,” 118

  Ding village, 70, 72

  drying, 208

  Dynamic Yunnan (play), 94–95

  earthquakes, two, 110–13

  eating. See food

  economic reform. See Reform

  Eddie (friend of Zhang), 33–35

  fake Puer tea, 23, 27, 33, 89, 92, 104, 112, 200, 202. See also counterfeits

  fan, 186; history, 187–88; meanings and uses of the term, 186, 187, 189; vs. mi, 186–90; tea transformed from mi to, 187–88

  Fan, Mrs., 166, 167, 169, 170, 172, 177

  Fangcun Tea Market, 65, 101, 108, 110–11

  Farquhar, Judith, 216n2

  fermentation, 186, 205–6, 209; definition and nature of, 11; in tea leaves, deactivating (see “killing the green”). See also artificially fermented tea; postfermentation

  film and alternative narratives, 202–4

  fine processing, 56, 67, 208

  food: attitudes toward and symbolic meanings of, 16–17, 21–22; vs. tea, 130–33. See also specific foods

  forest tea (da shu cha), 67–68, 68f, 197, 201; Mr. Wen and, 67, 70, 71; overview, 6; pollarded (vs. nonpollarded), 128, 129f, 133–37, 201; price, 7, 67, 68, 123, 133–35, 134f, 139, 198; supply and demand, 198; vs. terrace tea, 6–7, 67–69, 116, 128, 128f, 133–39, 151, 198

  Gao, Mr., 63, 64

  Gao, Mrs., 203–4

  Gao Fachang, 153–58

  Gaoshan, 70

  gift, tea given as a, 5, 18, 147, 193

  gift economy, 29

  gift exchange, 29

  globalization, 180, 196

  Golden Melon Tribute tea (jin gua gong cha), 38, 83, 84, 101

  government and Puer tea, 81, 115. See also specific topics

  government regulations, 117–18. See also Quality Safety (QS) Standard and certification system

  greasy food and tea consumption, 14, 22, 33, 39, 40, 93, 132

  Great Leap Forward, 127

  Green Lake Park, 191, 193

  green tea, Puer, 184–90, 185f; techniques of fermentation and, 11

  Guan, Mr., 124, 126–27, 134

  Guangdong, 182–84, 188; supply of and demand for Puer tea in, 65, 111, 115, 175

  Guangdong traders, 40, 48, 62

  Guangzhou, 108. See also Fangcun Tea Market

  Han Chinese, 11, 37, 42, 70, 135–37, 212n2, 213n7

  handcrafted authenticity, 29–30

  handcrafted caked tea, 147, 200

  handcrafted tea, 76; U.S. consumer demand for, 67

  handcrafting Puer tea, technique of, 46; makes tea cake “loose” enough for natural fermentation, 45; vs. mechanical processing, 45, 54, 76; revived by Zhang Yi in mid-1990s, 36, 200; in Yiwu, 44, 47, 48, 51, 54

  harvesting/picking, 206–7; bloom at a high price, 61–66

  He, Hongping (Mrs. He's daughter), 148

  He, Mr., 58, 60, 73, 146–50

  He, Mrs., 148

  He San (Mr. He's son), 147, 148

  Hong Kong, 14, 41, 187, 188; history, 41; Jinghong Zhang's visits to, 9, 33, 34, 36, 38, 179; Puer tea consumption, 33, 40, 175, 179, 187, 189, 191–92; storage/stockpiling of Puer tea in, 33, 40, 48, 139, 171, 182, 183, 186; tea markets and shops in, 191. See also Zongming

  Hongtu Lantian (web name), 181–85, 187, 190–92, 195

  household tea unit (chazhung), 44. See also tea factory(ies)

  Hu, Mr., 136, 137

  Hu Ba (Mr. Hu's son), 136, 137, 150–51, 153

  Hu San (Mr. Hu's son), 136, 137

  hua (transformation), 145–46

  Huang, Mr., 169

  huyou, 165, 171; against, 165, 202

  hypertension, Puer tea as remedy for, 6, 98

  identity, food and, 17

  individualism, Chinese, 214n10; authenticity anxiety, commercialization, and, 75–77

  Iron Goddess of Mercy (Tieguanyin), 65, 97

  Ivy, Marilyn, 73

  Jian (trader from Jiangxi), 48

  jianghu, 177; hua (transformation) and, 145–46; meanings and uses of the term, 23–27, 30; as metaphor for the space occupied by, 25–28; of Puer tea and handcrafted authenticity, 23–30; rethinking jianghu and multiplicity, 199–202

  “killing the green” (sha qing), 56, 79f, 108, 207–9

  Kunming, 116, 183–84, 189–95; companies moving to Yiwu from, 64; Jinghong Zhang in, 5, 6, 9, 64, 106, 175, 179; tea establishments, 20; tea-tasting events, 163, 164 (see also Sanzui tea-tasting event); teahouses
, 8, 20, 50, 107; “Voices from Yunnan” symposium in, 113, 116, 117. See also He, Mr.; Wen, Mr.; Zongming; specific topics

  Kunming tea trade fair (2007), 7f

  Lahu people, 15f

  Lao Li, 184, 185, 188–90, 193, 195

  Laobanzhang, 48, 62

  Laos, 92

  “large-leaf tea” (Camellia sinensis assamica), 11, 12, 88–92

  Lévi-Strauss, Claude, 109

  Li, Mr., 58, 73; house, 58, 60, 60f

  Lianxiang Lou (restaurant), 33

  localization, 180

  loose tea (sancha), 206

  Lü, Mr., 41, 42, 138–41

  MacDougall, David, 203

  maocha (loose dried tea leaves), 12–13, 69–71, 129; assessing the quality and “authenticity” of, 66–70; defined, 12; fine processing and, 56, 208; Mr. Wen and, 61, 62, 66, 67, 69–72; photographs of, 6f, 66f; price, 61–67, 70, 71, 123–24 (see also Puer tea: price); rough processing and, 67, 74, 206; sun-dried in the main street of Yiwu, 66f; two kinds of, 6f. See also specific topics

  media and the downfall of Puer tea, 116

  Mekong, 48

  Mencius, 124, 125

  Menghai, 15f 43–45, 47–48, 86

  “Menghai taste,” 45, 47

  Menghai Tea Factory, 44, 139

  Mengku tea, 181–83, 185

  mi: vs. fan, 186–90; meanings and uses of the term, 186, 188, 189

  milk in America, parallels between the stories of Puer tea in China and, 214n7

  National Administration of Quality Supervision, 56

  National Tea Factory of Menghai, 44

  nationalization of tea business, aspects of Puer tea that changed in Yiwu during, 126–30

  neolocalization, 180

  nostalgia, 22, 51, 52, 72–73, 195

  Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko, 17, 21

  “original aura” of Puer tea production, 53–54, 76, 77

  originality, 28, 33, 35, 45, 52, 54, 103–4; “imagined,” 53–54

  Ortner, Sherry B., 125

  oxidation, deactivating. See “killing the green”

  packaging of tea, 20–21

  Peters, John Durham, 196

  picking, 206–7

  Ping, Mr., 174–75

  planting methods, 127–28

  pollarding: defined, 217n5. See also under forest tea

  postfermentation, 12–14, 89, 90, 186, 190, 209

  production and consumption, 196. See also under Yunnan

  production process, 13t, 206–7; stages, 56

  Puer City. See Simao

  Puer Jianghu magazine, 23, 24f

  Puer tea: cultural dilemma, 119–20; cultural value, 99–100; definition and redefining of, 12, 89–93, 128–29; financial value, 100; flavor, 97–98; historical process revealed by, 21; jianghu of, and handcrafted authenticity, 23–30; multiple visions of the image of, 196; multiply imagined home, 103–5; outward appearance, 206; “overcooked” vs. “rawness” explanations of the downfall of, 115–20; price, 12, 35, 42, 47–48, 62, 100, 110–11, 129–30, 130f (see also aged Puer tea: price; forest tea: price; maocha: price; speculation; terrace tea: price); symbolic meanings, 16–23; therapeutic effects and health value, 6, 98–99, 116 (see also greasy food and tea consumption); types/categories of, 6, 6f, 12–13, 13t, 90–91; various shapes of compressed, 6f; viewed with “bifocal vision,” 196; wrapped in simple white paper, see “blank version” (bai ban) tea)

  Puer Tea (Deng), 97–98

  Puer Tea Association of Yunnan, 113. See also Tea Association of Yunnan

  Puer tea battle (debate about the origin of Puer tea). See Yunnan: as (original) “home of Puer tea”

  Puer tea categories: date of production, 205; processing techniques, 205–6

  Puer tea paste, 98f

  Puzi (web name), 50, 175–77, 183, 184

  Quality Safety (QS) certification mark, 151, 157

  Quality Safety (QS) Standard and certification system, 55–58, 60, 63, 73, 131, 149–51, 161; “blank versions” and, 151, 157; conflicts surrounding, 73, 77, 146; focused on fine rather than rough processing, 67; Hu Ba and, 150–51; Mr. He and, 60, 146–50; producers’ “wait-and-see” approach to, 151, 153

  Quality Safety Standard requirements, 152, 153; as “tunnel vision,” 153

  raw tea (sheng cha or sheng pu), 6, 6f, 12, 27, 45, 90, 205; brew of, 7f; coldness, 182–84, 218n4

  red (black) tea (hong cha), 12

  Reform and Opening Up, 127, 133, 164, 180, 189, 193

  Reform-era China, 8, 19–21, 28, 76, 104, 120, 180

  rice, symbolic meanings of, 17, 18, 21

  rice production and tea production, 124–27, 131–33

  “ripe” Puer tea. See artificially fermented tea

  rolling, 208

  rough processing, 56, 67, 74, 206

  rubber, tea planted along with, 132–33, 154–56, 155f

  samples, tea, 118, 168, 170–72

  Sanzui tea-tasting event, 161–66, 172–77; aged Puer tea served at, 161, 165–69; ancient plus modern elements in, 166–68; multiple layers of space touched upon through, 177–78; silent tasting, 168–72; Zongming and participants from, 179

  Sanzui website, 161, 162

  self, rice as metaphor of the, 17, 21

  self-representation and taste preferences, 162–63

  seven-son tea cake (qi zi bing), 43, 44f

  Shangri-la, 95, 96f

  Shen Nong, 10

  Simao, 81–83, 82f, 83f; caravans from, 87; chain of tea trees in, 82f, 85; claimed to be the home of Golden Melon Tribute tea, 83; claimed to be the home of Puer tea, 85, 86, 88, 93, 104; documentary about people involved in tea production in, 5; earthquake in, 110; General Tea Bureau (Zong Cha Dian) established in, 39; history and overview, 81; linked to tea consumption of the imperial household, 85; meetings in tea shops in, 107; as one of the world's origins of tea, 85; renamed Puer City, 81–86, 88, 93, 110, 112, 115; tea tree resources in, 10

  Simao tea trade fair, 83, 84f, 99f, 102f

  Sin (trader from Kunming), 73

  singing teahouses, pure, 192

  Six Great Tea Mountains, 81; books about, 156, 200; family commercial brands in, 205; history, 38–39, 43–44, 49, 84–85, 156, 200, 213n4; maps of, 50–51, 70, 153; overview, 38; Puer Prefecture and, 84–85; Puzi, 50; relics of, 52; rubber area in, 156; tea companies in, 205; tea processing in, 39, 43. See also Yiwu

  “small-leaf tea” (Camellia sinensis sinensis), 11, 88, 91

  social relationships, tea production symbolizing, 47

  sorting, 207

  speculation, tea (chao cha), 107–12, 116, 119, 120

  Spring Harvest (film), 203

  stir-roasting (chao cha), 108–10, 207–8, 212n10. See also “killing the green”

  storage, 209

  storytelling at teahouses, 192

  “sun-dried basic tea leaves” (shai qing maocha), 129

  sun-dried tea, 11, 66f, 90, 151, 172, 183, 188, 189, 207, 208

  Taiwan, 41–43, 45, 49, 50, 138–39, 189; Jinghong Zhang's visits to, 9, 141; Puer tea collected in, 6, 33, 39; tea cake and, 42–43; tea purchased from, 14, 41, 42; tea quality and, 48, 66, 190. See also specific topics

  Tao, Xia, 110

  Taoism. See Daoism

  taste preferences, 43–48, 182–83; factors and influence, 162; fermentation and, 186; “standard”/“collective,” 183. See also tea-tasting events

  tea: drinking alone vs. with another person, 176; history, 10; symbolic meanings, 16–23. See also specific topics

  Tea Association of Yunnan, 114. See also Puer Tea Association of Yunnan

  tea bowls, 138–40, 167, 176f

  tea cake. See caked tea/tea cake “tea capital,” 171

  tea factory(ies) (chachang), 44, 111, 213n10; in Menghai, 48; Mr. Gao's, 63; Mr. He's, 60, 146–50; national, 44, 45, 126, 129, 205; state-owned, 41. See also specific factories

  Tea-Horse Road, 51, 52, 72, 87f. See also Ancient Tea-Horse Road

  tea material, methods of ascertaining the origin of, 118–
19. See also authenticity

  tea production. See production

  tea-tasting events (chahui), 163, 164f, 173–78; contexts in which they emerged, 163–65. See also Sanzui tea-tasting event

  teahouses: ancient and modern elements and materials in, 166–68; Kunming, 8, 20, 50, 107; types of, 192

  teas: named after places, 11; types of, 11–12, 90

  telling stories teahouses, 192

  terrace tea (tai di cha or xiao shu cha), 69f, 154; vs. forest tea, 6–7, 67–69, 116, 128, 128f, 133–39, 151, 198; overview, 6, 7; price, 67, 68, 71, 133, 134f, 139, 198

  terroir, 103

  Tibet, 40

  tradition: new, 190–95; protecting, 194–95

  transformation (hua), 145–46; and the desire to balance, 16–23

  transformations, multiple, 158

  translocality, 104

  transport, modes of, 14

  tu cha (earthy/indigenous tea), 157

  values, “great,” 97–100

  “Voices from Yunnan—The Clarification of Puer Tea's Current Situation” symposium, 113, 116, 117

  “wait-and-see” attitude, 151, 153

  Wang, 74–75

  Wang Hai, 117

  “warmth” of aged Puer tea, 97, 182, 183

  Wei, Mr., 169

  Wen, Mr. (trader from Kunming), 61, 64, 66–72, 175, 203; maocha and, 61, 62, 66, 67, 69–72

  white tea (bai cha), 12

  Xiaguan Bowl Tea Grade B (Xiaguan Yi Tuo) of 1988, 172, 173

  Xiao Hu, 70, 71

  Xishuangbanna, 44, 86–88; documentary about people involved in tea production in, 5; tea prices in, 130. See also specific topics

  Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, 3f

  Xu (trader from Guangzhou), 64–65

  Xu Kun, 129–30, 138

  Xu Yahe, 92

  Yan, Mr., 161, 162, 166, 168, 170, 174, 177

  Yang, Mr., 173–74

  Yao people, 70, 72

  Ye, Mr., 34, 35

  Yellow Leaf Puer tea (Lao Huang Pian), 121f

  yellow tea (huang cha), 11–12

  Yi people, 37, 70

  Yiwu: an acquired taste for aged Puer tea in, 138–41; a cultural tea tour of, 49–53; handcrafting Puer tea in, 44, 47, 48, 51, 54; historical glory, 36–43; history from nationalized to private tea business in, 125–30; Jinghong Zhang's first visits to, 36; price of Puer tea in, 129–30, 130f; sketch map of central, 59f; struggling for the authentic, 72–75. See also specific topics

  Yiwu Township, 36

  Yiwu zheng shan, 35

 

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