Civilization History of Longzhu Tea in Kaixian County

It should be said that the history of tea in Kaixian county has a history of nearly 3000 years of civilization. Kaixian County is a place of Cuba, and it is also a residential area of Ba people who live in "Zhou Wuwang, where there are songs and dances before, and then there are songs and dances". According to historical records, Ba people had been drinking tea since about the end of Shang Dynasty and the beginning of Zhou Dynasty, and in BC 1066, when King Wu of Zhou Dynasty cut down, Ba people had already regarded their own tea as a "tribute" treasure. Before the Tang Dynasty, the production scale of Kaixian tea industry was very small. According to the records of the later Han Dynasty, Kaixian's products only listed well salt and citrus, indicating that tea production at that time had just started. In today's words, the whole production of tea is still in an original ecological state.

According to 1990 "Kaixian County Records", "Tea planting in Kaixian County began in the Han Dynasty and flourished in the Tang Dynasty. Tea is produced in all mountainous areas and has good quality. " Qing Jiajing's "Kuizhou Zhi" contains: "The tea of' Chaling' in the north of Kaizhou City has excellent taste and no miscellaneous flowers." During the Song and Ming Dynasties, due to the development of tea production in southeast China, the economic center of tea gradually shifted from southwest to east, and the court paid little attention to Sichuan tea. During this period, there was little information about Kaixian tea, so it was impossible to look it up. However, Longzhu tea became a royal tribute in the late Tang Dynasty, which was related to Wei Chuhou's poem Chaling and played a key role in the spread of Longzhu tea. Qing Xianfeng's "Kaixian County Records" contains: Tang and Kaizhou tribute ramie, tea, citrus and so on. In the Tang Dynasty, Kaizhou tribute became a landscape. Tea, ramie, citrus, well salt and plantain seeds are continuously sent from Kaizhou to the capital Chang 'an along the ancient road of Qinba salt tea. There are so many products as tributes in one place, and it is a relatively remote place. We have reason to say that Kaizhou is rich in products. Since the Tang Dynasty, it has become a hot spot, with famous Tang ministers Wei Chuhou, Song and He.

In the Song Dynasty, Kaixian tribute tea was listed as a first-class tribute tea. According to Zhan Zhou, then the official of Kaizhou and the founder of "Thousand Words Shelving Cabinet Method" of China Archives Management, it was recorded in "Legend of Dragon Pearl Fairy Tea" that "since the Han and Tang Dynasties, the incense in Dragon Pearl Temple has continued, and Dragon Pearl Tea has spread far and wide, becoming the fairy of tea, and Dragon Pearl Tea tribute". In the Song Dynasty, after tribute tea entered the royal family, there were strict corresponding regulations between tea and official products, and there were also strict grade differences in the gift and use of tea. For example, "Dragon Tea" is only for the emperor, or it can only be drunk by the emperor to the ruling, prince and princess royal; "Phoenix Tea" is for royalty, college students and generals. So Longzhu tea is the best tribute tea in Song Dynasty.

In Qing dynasty, the development of tea production in Kaixian county experienced the process of development, decline and redevelopment. According to the records of Kaixian County, "Longzhu tea was listed as tribute tea by the court in the fourth year of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, and the tea production was developed. The county produces 2000 tons of tea, mainly in Zhengba, Dajin, Hot Springs, Yanshui and other places; Xianfeng was destroyed during the year and recovered in the late Qing Dynasty. " During the Kangxi period of Qing Dynasty, the production and cultural communication of Longzhu tea reached its peak. According to legend, Li Zongxi, a famous minister in the late Qing Dynasty, was famous for his clear name and won the favor of Cixi. Li Zongxi once presented Longzhu tea to Cixi, which was regarded as health tea by Cixi, thus making Longzhu tea a royal drink and tribute for the court. During the reign of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, the tea in the south of the Yangtze River was very famous, but Longzhu tea was still listed as a tribute, indicating that the quality of Longzhu tea did not decline at that time, and it was in full swing, and Longzhu tea became a tribute. It can be said that Longzhu tea has reached the highest "honor" in the whole feudal period.