The recently concluded Beijing Winter Olympics attracted the attention of the world, from the twenty-four solar terms of the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony of the "folding willows", from the mascot of "a pier is difficult to find" to the bouquet of awards carrying intangible cultural heritage, all of which show the charm of Chinese culture and reflect the more solid cultural self-confidence of the people.
Recently, in the 2022 National "Two Sessions" held in Beijing, many proposals and voices related to promoting traditional culture and enhancing cultural self-confidence have emerged. Among them, Chen Shihai, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the Fujian Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, suggested that we should vigorously promote the overseas dissemination of tea culture, let more overseas people drink Chinese tea, and form a fashionable and healthy "China fever" lifestyle.
Tea originated in China and flourished in the world, and tea culture has always been an important symbol of Chinese civilization spread around the world. Since ancient times, tea has always been an important commodity for economic and trade exchanges between China and countries and regions along the "Belt and Road", more than 2,000 years ago Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions, more than 600 years ago Zheng He went to the West, on the land and sea two important "Silk Road", tea this precious "golden leaf" has played an important role in cultural dissemination for thousands of years.
As an important part of the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation, Chinese tea culture plays a pivotal role in inheriting and carrying forward the self-confidence of the Chinese national culture. Among them, Chinese black tea is shining on the world stage, deriving the popular black tea culture at home and abroad.
Popular in the world for more than 400 years The roots of black tea are in China
There are six major types of tea in China, of which black tea is the one that goes abroad and goes the farthest. Tracing back to the source, the world's black tea originated from China, the roots of Chinese black tea are in Fujian, and the ancestors of black tea are in Wuyi Tongmu.
Located in the core protected area of Wuyishan National Park, Tongmu is the only national park in mainland China that is both a world biosphere reserve and a world cultural and natural heritage, Wuyishan National Park has unparalleled ecological and cultural resources. Black tea was born here, with its own unique cultural attributes, but also makes the story of generations of Zhengshan tea people adhering to the inheritance more moving.
In 1568 AD, the ancestor of the Zhengshan Tang Jiang clan, who moved from Henan to Tongmu Village, missed the processing time of tea green because of the Ming soldiers stationed, and then kneaded the tea leaves and roasted them with a masson pine wood rack, creating the world's earliest black tea - Zhengshan small seed by chance, opening the history of Chinese black tea and even the world black tea. Due to the enlightenment of the small species of Zhengshan Mountain, black tea in the United Kingdom from the royal family, nobles to ordinary commoners, and gradually formed a unique National Black Tea cultural system in the United Kingdom. To this day, the story of Zhengshan small black tea entering the British royal family and triggering the afternoon tea fashion is still rumored to be a good story.
Historical records show that after the birth of the Zhengshan small species, the British Robert Fujun brought its production skills to India in 1848, and the Zhengshan small species was gradually transplanted to all over the world, and gradually produced Keemun black tea, Indian Assam black tea, Darjeeling black tea, Sri Lankan highland black tea and so on. With the popularity of black tea in the world, black tea culture has penetrated into the blood of people of all countries. At present, black tea is the most widely spread and the largest consumption of tea in the world.
Jin Junmei opened a new milestone in black tea
2005 was an important turning point in the development of black tea: an innovation brought about the transformation and development of the entire black tea industry. In this year, Jiang Yuanxun, the 24th generation of Zhengshan small black tea, under the suggestion of friends, used the buds of alpine tea trees in the core protection area of Wuyishan National Park as raw materials, and led the team to develop Jinjunmei black tea through innovative integration on the basis of inheriting the culture and production skills of Zhengshan small black tea for more than 400 years.
After the birth of Jin Junmei, it quickly swept the tea industry with its clear, fragrant, sweet and mellow taste. Its advent has brought a leap forward in the development of black tea, set off a boom in China's clear drinking black tea, led to another development of the domestic black tea industry, and also made the world once again pay attention to Chinese black tea.
Drawing on the successful experience of Jinjunmei, since 2010, Zhengshantang, the founding enterprise of Jinjunmei, has spread the scientific and standard Junmei black tea production technology and profound black tea culture to many high-quality tea producing areas across the country, and has carried out black tea production cooperation with Sichuan Guangyuan, Guizhou Pu'an, Hunan Guzhang, Hubei Badong, Henan Xinyang, Shandong Zhucheng and other places to promote the development of the local black tea industry.
In 2018, the black tea group standard " Junmei Black Tea" led by ZhengshanTang was released, and the Junmei Chinese black tea industry system was basically established. Experts commented that the construction of the Junmei Black Tea Group Standard is of great significance to the high-quality development of China's clear drinking black tea, promoting China's clear drinking black tea to the world, and disseminating Chinese tea culture to the world.
Black tea, which flourished in the history of the 18th and 19th centuries, entered a decline more than 100 years ago, and now is a good time for the revival of black tea. Black tea and black tea culture in the inheritance of development, innovation in the development, Zhengshan Tang Jin Junmei brought, represents a new starting point, Zhengshan Tang Junmei China is an excellent continuation and promotion of this line of succession, excellence in the spirit of excellence.
Strengthen cultural self-confidence Enrich the connotation of the times of tea culture
The history of the development of black tea is also the history of the development of black tea culture, a cup of black tea is a drink, but also a carrier of culture and a medium of communication. Nowadays, China's national strength is strong, cultural self-confidence continues to improve, as a national enterprise that has inherited black tea for 400 years, Zhengshan Hall is rooted in the unique human and geographical environment of Wuyi Mountain, based on the inheritance of more than 400 years of history and culture of Zhengshan small species, and constantly integrates and innovates to form a unique tea culture system.
In 2014, Zhengshantang established the only professional cultural institution in the industry, the Zhengshantang Calligraphy and Painting Institute, and later set up the Zhengshantang Calligraphy and Painting Institute Exchange Center in Beijing, and actively combined tea culture with the "Belt and Road" culture and Fujian business culture to promote cross-border exchanges and innovations in the fields of classical traditional culture such as tea and calligraphy, Yanglian and poetry.
Relying on the rich tea cultural resources of Wuyi Mountain, the ZhengshanTang Calligraphy and Painting Institute takes Jin Junmei and other black teas as the carrier, organizes domestic cultural scholars to create poems, calligraphy works with the themes of Jin Junmei, Wuyi mountain and Zhengshan small species every year, and holds a series of tea culture poems, exhibitions and calligraphy competitions. Among them, the National Tea Culture Calligraphy and Painting Exhibition has become one of the landmark activities of tea cultural exchanges between the two sides of the strait, and has attracted the attention of the tea industry, calligraphy and painting circles, poetry circles and all sectors of society.
In recent years, Zhengshantang has also worked with a number of publishing houses to create cultural books such as "Zhengshantang Poetry", "Jin Junmei Poetry Collection", "Jin Junmei Calligraphy Collection", "Jin Junmei YangLian Collection" and so on, to display the style of Chinese black tea in various forms and help the spread of Chinese tea culture.
Culture and art have no borders, and in the future, Chinese tea culture will continue to be active on the world stage, bringing the experience of a better way of life to the people of the world, and the "he" cultural core it represents will become people's precious spiritual wealth. At the same time, Chinese tea culture will also become a powerful force for "Chinese culture to go global", build a "bridge" for cultural exchanges, and let the world feel the infinite charm of Chinese culture.