Since The Ming And Qing Dynasties, The Huizhou Tea Industry And Related Research

This dissertation reviews the history of tea manufacture in Huizhou from the middle Tang Dynasty (approximately between the middle 8^th century and the middle 9^th century) to the middle Qing Dynasty (around 1800 AD). Despite its large amount of output, Huizhou tea was not deemed first rate until the Longqing Reign (1567-1572 AD) in the Ming Dynasty when the people of Huizhou produced Songluo Tea by borrowing Chaoqing method (a special method of parching the raw tea) from Suzhou.Huizhou area had large tea output in general, but due to its geographic features, no mass production of the tea was employed. The geographic distribution of tea industry, restricted by the river system, formed a single pole pattern with Tunxi its sole center in the Xin'an River Basin in Huizhou, and presented a multi-central pattern in the Poyang Lake Basin, for Chahao (the tea factories) were scattered in every tea village.As was required, different tea leaves with different qualities should be picked out and parched respectively. But before the packing, the leaves were mixed together. Such a complex process was to ensure the quality of the final product.The rise of Tunxi since the 1570s in Ming Dynasty owed itself to the development of Huizhou Tea at that time and the policy taken by Qing Dynasty between 1757 and 1847 that Guangzhou should be the sole port open for foreign trade, for Tunxi was turned into the first important commercial center from which Huizhou Tea from Shexian and Xiuning was transferred to Guangzhou. The booming of the relevant industries in Tunxi boomed the population and the city itself. The prominence of Tunxi survived the Taipingtianguo Rebellion in the 1860s when Huizhou Tea was exported from Shanghai only.The tea manufacture need massive seasonal labor force and attracted many Huizhou women and non-native tea labors, whichbrought about some social problems. Especially when the tea industry came to stagnation, some non-native labor became bandits and intrigued severe social disorders. On the surface level, it was the natural consequence of the moral corruption, but the profound cause for this phenomenon was the structural surplus of rural labor force.When a family and its property were divided among its heirs, the main business was maintained. However, the tea plots were so scattered that they could hardly be listed as undividable property. The further division intensified the fragmentation of the tea plot and its property right.