Quanzhou: "Maritime Silk Road" for tea and ceramics

Core Tip: Fujian Tea Network February 24th: There are friends coming from afar, burning a pot of spring water, a few tea leaves, placed in porcelain utensils, boiling water, hospitality, this is the unique hospitality of Minnan people

     Fujian Tea Network February 24th: Some friends come from afar, burn a pot of spring water, lick a few tea leaves, put them in porcelain utensils, boil water, and treat them with hospitality. This is the unique hospitality of Minnan people. In fact, as early as the overseas trade of the Song and Yuan Dynasties flourished, every household in Quanzhou, drinking tea into the wind, this magical oriental "leaf", as a special commodity, together with ceramics, along with the silk boarded the cargo ship, traveled across the ocean, Start a prosperous maritime trade landscape that spans more than a decade and a century.

  First, accompanying silk, open the door to foreign trade

  During the Song Dynasty, Quanzhou Port was the largest distribution center for import and export commodities at home and abroad and one of the most important ports for China's foreign trade. With the development of foreign trade, the merchant ship of the United States has sailed from the foot of the mountain on the 9th, carrying silk, ceramics, tea and other commodities to start overseas trade.

  Tea in the Song Dynasty was exported to 58 countries.

  “The sea tea road began in the Song and Yuan Dynasties; during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, tea was exported in large quantities; since the Qing Dynasty, the tea industry has begun to flourish, and Anxi Oolong Tea has been exported in large quantities.” He Rongrong, president of Quanzhou Tea Culture Research Association, said in an interview with the media. Anxi tea goes to the world along with the "Maritime Silk Road" and sells well overseas.

  "The Song will be edited" records: "The national market is the company's shipping company, Yu Quan, Guang, Zhao Yudao, and the general bribes, the ones who are the ones, silk, porcelain, enamel, scorpion, are willing to do." To the Southern Song Dynasty, tea, porcelain, silk, and wine produced in Quanzhou are also important export commodities that overseas countries are eager to obtain. According to historical records, in the Song Dynasty, there were 58 countries with trade relations with Anxi, covering Southeast Asia, West Africa and North Africa.

  In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the southern part of Quanzhou, which is centered on Quanzhou, became the main distribution center for oolong tea. Quanzhou Museum director and researcher Chen Jianzhong introduced that in the early years of Qing Emperor Kangxi, the export of tea increased rapidly. “This (tea) and Fanyi exchanged with each other, and the merchants gathered, the cliffs were ridiculous, and the people were smashed into the market.”

  The British merchant Hu Xiami had investigated the Fujian trade goods before the Opium War and purchased two Anxi teas. In his record, he wrote, "Anxi tea, Guangzhou is sold at 18 or 22", "Hefeng brand, a large box of Anxi tea, Guangzhou market price of about sixteen two." According to British business records: from 1838 to 1939, Anxi tea purchased in Guangzhou was 106,000 pounds, or more than 45,000 kilograms.

  According to the customs historical records, Qing Xianfeng eight years (AD 1858) to Tongzhi three years (AD 1864), the British imported 1800 tons of oolong tea from Quanzhou and Xiamen each year, up to 3,000 tons, and because of the time in northern Fujian Most of the teas in Jidong are exported from Fuzhou. Therefore, it is generally believed that the tea exported from Quanzhou and Xiamen is mainly produced in Anxi. In the first year of Guangxu three years (1877), the number of oolong tea imported from China by the United Kingdom was as high as 4,500 tons, of which Anxi oolong tea accounted for 40%-60%.

  Ceramic foreign trade factory in the Song and Yuan Dynasties

  The ancients said that "the instrument is the father of tea." During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, with the prosperity of Quanzhou's foreign trade and the prosperity of tea export, the ceramic industry developed rapidly and reached an unprecedented level. From the coastal to the mountainous areas, kiln smoke began to spread throughout the urban and rural areas.

  Feng Xianming pointed out in the "Introduction to Chinese Ceramic Archaeology" that the ancient kiln sites discovered in Fujian and other places were more in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. In Jinjiang, Dehua and other counties and cities in Fujian, a large number of Song and Yuan ancient kiln were discovered. “The porcelains fired in these porcelain kiln are rarely spread in the country, but have been found in many countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia, indicating that these porcelain kiln was created specifically for the export of porcelain.” That is, at the time, local There are already ceramic “factories” that mainly undertake “foreign trade” orders.

  In 1976, a Chinese Yuan Dynasty shipwreck was discovered in the Xin'an area of ​​the southwestern part of the Korean peninsula. There were more than 15,000 pieces of porcelain unearthed in the cabin. Some of them were dark brown glazed open small bowls, which were identified by archaeologists and were Dehua kiln. product. This is a trade ship from North Korea to Japan. It can be seen that Chinese porcelain was exported to Japan at that time.

  It is reported that in the Tang Dynasty, Dehua ceramic products were mainly used by local and neighboring villagers for daily life appliances. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Quanzhou set up the Department of Shipping, and Dehua Ceramics was acquired by the government and began to be sold to neighboring areas such as Vietnam. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Dehua porcelain was trafficked to the Europeans by the Dutch. In the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He sent the Western Ocean seven times, anchored several times in Quanzhou, and Dehua porcelain was one of the main cargoes loaded by the fleet.

  Second, with the overseas Chinese, the best-selling Nanyang countries

  Since the end of the Ming Dynasty, Minnan people have immigrated to the Nanyang area, which is today's Southeast Asia. Following the footsteps of these ancestors, Anxi Tea and Dehua Porcelain followed them into Southeast Asia. Tea or drink it yourself, or give gifts to relatives and friends, and porcelain is used for daily life functions such as making tea, water and food.

  Tieguanyin Chengnanyang Tea Town Zhenbao

  With the increasing number of southern Fujianese settled in Southeast Asia, tea, a daily refreshing drink, is also becoming popular in Southeast Asia. Because of the hot climate in the local area, the demand for tea by Chinese people living in Southeast Asia has gradually increased. In this context, some Minnan tea merchants began to operate the oolong tea business in the Nanyang area.

  At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, Anxi people opened tea shops in Southeast Asia. They not only actively operated the Anlong oolong tea Tieguanyin, but also strongly advocated the Tieguanyin tea culture, so that the people of Pinanxi Oolong tea continued to expand in the overseas Chinese, and Tieguanyin gradually became the "national tea." ".

  During Qianlong's reign, Wang Dong, a native of Xiping, Anxi, opened a “Winter” tea shop in Vietnam, and opened branches in 12 provinces of Vietnam to prepare the “Winter” Dahongtie Guanyin, which is well-known in the Central South Peninsula. During the Xianfeng years, Anxihu Qiu Luoyan Village Ren Hong Hongde made a “Jintai” Tieguanyin, which was commissioned by Zilin Shiguo and Lin Shuguo to distribute the “Rongtai” tea dealership in Singapore. During the reign of Emperor Guangxu, Xiping Shuyang Renwang and Wang said that the brothers opened the “Zhenchun” tea line in Jakarta, Indonesia.

  In 1921, Daping people Zhang Caiyun brothers founded Zhang Yuanmei tea line in Anxi, processing "Anxi tea" as a trademark, processing Anxi tea and shipping it to Yangon, Myanmar. Ten years later, the trademark was approved for registration in Myanmar and became a well-known brand among Burmese.

  In the 1930s, Anxi people opened more than 100 teas in Southeast Asia, including Singapore's "Lin Jintai", "Yuan Chongmei", "Gao Mingfa", "Linhetai", and Malaysia's "Three." Yang "tea", "Mei Ji" tea line, "Xing Ji" tea line, Indonesia's "Wang Mei Ji" tea line and so on. In September 1928, the Singapore Tea Merchants Association was established, and Lin Qingnian, a member of Luoyan Village, Anxihuqiu Town, served as the president for a long time. Bai Xibi of the “Yihefa” tea line has long served as the chairman of the Siam Country (present-day Thailand) Tea Merchants Association. Anxi Tieguanyin is regarded as a strange commodity by overseas tea people and is often used as a “treasure of the town shop”.

  During this period, Anxi tea was sold to more than 800 tons in Singapore, more than 200 tons in Malaysia, more than 160 tons in Siam, and more than 100 tons in the Philippines. Anxi Mountain is full of water, and in the old days, it used to transport tea. For dust and moisture, it is usually covered with white cloth on the cart. During the tea-producing season, the ox-cars between the ancient roads of the mountains are connected into a strip of white lines, and the scene is spectacular.

  A large number of Dehua porcelain unearthed in Southeast Asia

  The prosperity of tea export also promoted the trade of Dehua ceramics into another period of prosperity. During this period, the products were mainly blue-and-white porcelain. The daily-use porcelain has cups, bowls, saucers, bottles, plates, boxes, pots, etc. The porcelain carvings include Guanyin, Rulai, Dharma, Guan Gong, Shouxing, Baxian, and the lion and dragon. , cattle, horses, sheep, tigers, etc., products are mainly exported to Japan, North Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia and other countries and regions.

  Chen Wanli's "Investigating the Ancient Kiln Sites of Southern Anhui" contains: In 1957, the white porcelain box exported by China was discovered in the south of Sulawesi, Indonesia. It was identified as a product of Dehua Kiln. In 1959, in the Yalahuwa area of ​​Sri Lanka, two porcelain bowls were burned from Dehua kiln. Since 1964, thousands of relatively complete or recoverable Dehua kiln porcelains have been discovered in Philippine ruins or tombs, including the inner lakes at the southern end of Lake Manila and the port of Galera in Mindoro. . In China, celadon porcelain has been found throughout Indonesia, including Dehua porcelain. Dehua porcelain was also unearthed in Lake Celebes and Java. A large number of Dehua kiln porcelains have also been found in the Sarawak region in the northern part of Kalimantan.

  Zhuang Weizhen's "The Kiln Port and Port Problem of Dehua White Porcelain" also records: "When the Qing Dynasty was flourishing, there were as many as 25,000 Dehua porcelain workers, especially the development of Dehua kiln in the direction of fine art porcelain. The development of art porcelain has become more and more famous."

  Third, continue the tradition, revitalize the overseas market

  After the founding of New China, the foreign trade activities of Anxi Tieguanyin and Dehua Ceramics industry gradually recovered and developed from zero. On the basis of the tradition of succession, we will continue to revitalize overseas markets.

  Traditional Tieguanyin is popular in Southeast Asia

  “More than 300 tons of paper-bag tea is sold to Southeast Asia every year.” Chen Chun, deputy general manager of Gaojianfa Tea Industry, Lindong Village, Huqiu Town, Anxi County, said that paper-bag tea has continued the tradition of nearly a hundred years. These packages are like paper bags of traditional Chinese medicine, and the bread is pure Anxiang Tieguanyin. This traditional tea packaging has gradually faded out of people's vision in Anxi, but it is very popular in Southeast Asia.

  It is reported that after the founding of New China, Gao Jianfa Tea House once interrupted the direct connection with his hometown. At that time, the team operating overseas relied on the products of Chinese related export companies to distribute the Tieguanyin tea sales. The pendulum of time slipped into the 1980s, and the spring breeze of reform and opening up was like a messenger, connecting the love of the heart at home and abroad.

  Nowadays, the old branches of the old tea tree and the bright flowers are all shipped to the Singapore-based distribution company of Gaojian Tea Company on the Cros Street in Singapore. After dozens of franchised stores, wholesale and retail distribution to Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Thailand. .

  According to the historical records of China Tea Company, since the reform and opening up, Benshan and Mao Crab have become the bulk of Weinan Oolong's exports to Southeast Asia. As a representative of high-end oolong tea, Tieguanyin is mostly exported to Japan.

  As the largest consumption area of ​​foreign Tieguanyin, from the 1970s to the 1990s, Japan repeatedly whipped up the "Oolong Tea Heat", and Tieguanyin became a synonym for oolong tea. In the perception of the Japanese people, Fujian Province's popularity can be combined with the Chinese capital Beijing. When it comes to Fujian Province, many people can say that the pronunciation is slightly less accurate, "Pictures" (Tie Guanyin).

  Ceramic products are sold in more than 150 countries

  At the same time, after the founding of New China, the trade of Dehua Ceramics started from zero and gradually recovered and developed. In 1952, the Dehua County Supply and Marketing Cooperative began to purchase ceramics and sold them to the domestic market. In 1955, Dehua Ceramics resumed its export, and its main products were daily-use porcelain.

  In 1959, the exported Jiangzhong Cup, teacups, soup pots, various dishes, and 4.5-ton soup bowls were called “five famous brands” and sold well in Japan and Southeast Asia. In addition, there are a set of tableware, tea sets, wine sets, various pots, cups, bottles, etc., a total of more than 100 varieties, as well as Guanyin, Maitreya, Dharma and other porcelain carving crafts, exported to the former Soviet Union, Vietnam, Egypt, 27 countries including the United Kingdom, France, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, and Iceland.

  In 1963, the number of countries and regions where Dehua porcelain was sold increased to 78. In 1978, the export volume of Dehua Ceramics reached 10.933 million yuan, accounting for 1/3 of the total export of porcelain in the province and 50% of the varieties.

  After the 1980s, Dehua Ceramics entered a period of historical glory. Dehua entrepreneurs went abroad and introduced Western craft porcelain samples into production. The scale of enterprises expanded rapidly and the volume of trade increased rapidly, showing a leap-forward development. The main products are daily-use porcelain, art porcelain, Western craft porcelain, including complete sets of tableware, fairy statues, statues, animals, fruits and vegetables, bonsai flower baskets, etc., with a wide variety of subjects and a wide range of subjects, selling well in European and American markets.

  In 1980, Dehua ceramics exports amounted to 15.21 million yuan, reached 65 million yuan in 1990, reached 650 million yuan in 1995, and rose to 2.902 billion yuan in 2001. The products are sold to Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Africa, More than 150 countries and regions such as Oceania.

  As the country's largest production and export base of process ceramics, Dehua County was awarded the “National Ceramic Industry Foreign Trade Transformation and Demonstration Base” by the Ministry of Commerce on October 17, 2011.

  Fourth, reproduce the glory, enter the international high-end market

  Today, Tieguanyin and the ceramic industry have made great progress. For them, the future development ideas are clear and not far away, that is, to continue to enter the international high-end market and reproduce the prosperous overseas trade scene.

  Opened Tieguanyin Marketing Center in Paris

  In the Weinan area, including Anxi, the dialect called tea as “TAY”. The Dutch who first imported Fujian tea translated the tea into the Latin “THEE” according to the pronunciation of the Minnan people. Other European countries imitated: English Tea is "TEA", French is "THE", German is "THEA", Denmark, Sweden is "TE", and all are "TAY".

  If it is said that the pronunciation is mimicked as the "cultural element output" of the local tea for the first time in the Western world by means of trade relations, then many tea enterprises form a group army to go out to sea and open up the international market, which is regarded as the Tieguanyin tea culture. The prosperous tea trade is another "cultural output" to the world.

  In March 2012, five brands of tea companies under the Anxi Tieguanyin Association, including Bama, Huaxiangyuan, Zhongwei Weishi, Pingshan and Sanhe, formed the “First Group Army” and opened Anxi Tieguanyin Europe in Paris, France. Marketing Center. The marketing center is located near Notre Dame de Paris, and the store is called "Ford Tea", which is a transliteration of the French "fascination tea".

  It is worth mentioning that the marketing center is uniformly named after the “Anxi Tieguanyin” brand, and based on France, it has entered the European market.

  Wang Wenli, president of the Anxi Tieguanyin Association, said that a few centuries ago, Chinese black tea entered Europe, and later interpreted "English afternoon tea", which became a symbol of European aristocratic life; now, Anxi Tieguanyin entered Europe with the aim of bringing Chinese oolong tea Brought to Europe and brought them a brand new Chinese Oolong tea culture.

  Nowadays, more and more overseas people accept Anxi Tieguanyin tea. For example, the fine Tieguanyin tea of ​​“Fudan Tea” has been sold for seven or eight hundred euros per 500 grams, and the sales are very good.

  “After years of market cultivation, the brand innovation of Anxi Tieguanyin Oolong Tea has already gone abroad and is being exhibited around the world.” Chen Jiayong, head of Anxi Tea Company, said that the brand's front-end brand creation and back-end product quality assurance ensure Oolong tea. Brand value added has been recognized by the international market.

  At the same time, the export product structure of Anxi Tieguanyin is changing from bulk tea to high-grade tea, packaging tea and brand tea. The exporting countries are expanding from Asia to Europe and Africa. The star products produced by leading enterprises are also going to the high end of many countries. The crowd, Tieguanyin Oolong Tea is gradually striving for pricing power in the international market.

  Artistic daily pottery