Photo : Bangqi
Format: A Cong’er
When discussing Pu’er tea, those Yunnan people who have just drunk Pu’er tea often argue loudly that the Ancient Tea-Horse Road started from Xishuangbanna. It’s not completely unreasonable, not to mention that people have drawn a lot of pictures. But is there really a truth if there are pictures? Next, let’s take a look at those Yunnan accents amidst the noise about the Ancient Tea Horse Road.
1
Ancient Tea-Horse Road = The Way to Sell Pu-erh Tea?
There is a saying about the ancient tea-horse road, which is more representative, that is, centering on the origin of Pu’er tea and taking the road of selling Pu’er tea as clues, a sketch of the ancient tea-horse road was drawn. Let’s look at the picture first.
▲ The idea reflected in this picture can be expressed in words like this.
The ancient tea-horse road is divided into three roads, namely “tea-horse north road”, “tea-horse west road” and “tea-horse south road” . Let’s talk one by one.
The North Tea Horse Road is the road from Puer tea to Beijing through Kunming. This road is said to be the way for Puer tea to be offered. Nowadays, tea sellers especially like to mention the so-called royal family and tribute tea. Therefore, in this context, the connection between Pu’er tea and the royal relatives must be dug out from the grave of history. It is said that Jia Baoyu On their birthdays, they drank once; when Qianlong was the prince under his father, he also entertained a certain distinguished guest with Pu’er (tuan tea at that time), and wrote a hymn, saying that drinking tea inspired him greatly.
——It is said that this is the “main channel” for Pu’er tea to flow into the Central Plains market. However, obviously, this is different from the original meaning of “Northern Tea-Horse Road” and the Ancient Tea-Horse Road to Tibet.
▲ In the workshop of a temple in Shangri-La, craftsmen are polishing the nose of a huge bronze Buddha statue. Along the Tea-Horse Road, not only goods but also technology are spread. It is already a very common phenomenon that many craftsmen and craftsmen in Dali find jobs in temples in Tibetan areas. Photography: Mike Yamashita
The Tea Horse West Road is the channel through which Pu’er tea passes through Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-La, and Qamdo to Lhasa, and then from Lhasa to Nepal and India. This road “is an ancient tea-horse road hidden in the mountains of western Yunnan and also hidden in Chinese history books. For one or two thousand years, its life has only been passed on by generations of tea merchants, horse drivers, explorers, and monks. Sustained through difficult walks.”
This statement is generally correct, and it is also the original meaning of the Ancient Tea Horse Road.
South Chama Road is the transportation route for Pu’er tea sold to Southeast Asia. As shown in the picture, from right to left, there are different directions for selling to Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Myanmar, India, etc. Among them, the line that sells to Myanmar and Thailand has the best business and the largest transportation volume, that is, the line from Menghai and Daluo to Jingdong in Myanmar. Thailand does not directly border Yunnan, but from this line, you can reach Thailand after turning a corner.
2
Pu’er is the center of the Ancient Tea Horse Road?
▲ Mengding Mountain in Ya’an, Sichuan Province was once rich in Sichuan tea that was imported into Tibet. Its history can be traced back to Wu Lizhen, who is said to be from the Western Han Dynasty.
Such a description of the Ancient Tea Horse Road may make people in Sichuan feel uncomfortable. If the Ancient Tea-Horse Road is a trademark, then this trademark has almost been registered by Yunnan and Pu’er Tea. But to do so, to be fair, is not quite fair. At Sichuan University, a foreign scholar who studied Tibetan tea once gave a report. He mentioned that the inland tea came to Tibet, and the quantity was mainly from Sichuan, but the ancient tea-horse road was mainly carried out by Yunnan people. This phenomenon, I have to say, is related to the shrewdness of the Pu’er tea merchants.
▲ The “brick tea” in Ya’an, Sichuan and other places basically relies on people’s backs. Probably this road to Tibet is more difficult than Yunnan, and it is difficult for caravans to operate
▲ This “Tea-Horse Road” map fully takes Sichuan factors into consideration
In the past, this ancient road was not only a channel for population movement, but also a channel for selling salt and horses. But now, after being named after tea, Yunnan tea has been made into a very old look, and ancient things, They’re affordable now, so, you know, it’s going to be a good business.
▲ In the past ten years, Yunnan Pu’er tea has been sold the most expensive so-called ancient tree pure material. Pu-erh tea tree species are different from other green teas in that they are large-leaved species and mostly grow into trees. However, in the 1950s and 1960s, many ancient tea trees from the Ming Dynasty were cut down in order to replant Taiwan tea. Now, the concept of Pu-erh tea has changed, from advocating blending to advocating pure ingredients, so Taidi tea is worthless, while the price of ancient tree tea has skyrocketed. From this phenomenon, we can also see that Pu-erh tea itself has been changing. Photography: Mike Yamashita
Going back to the above question, we can see that Pu’er, the distribution center of Pu’er tea, has become the starting point and center of the Ancient Tea Horse Road. But this distribution center is not static, that is to say, it was true that Pu’er tea was sent out from Pu’er in the past (merchants opened their stores in Pu’er, and Simao Hall is a treaty port with customs), but this phenomenon remains. It didn’t take long for Pu’er to decline, and its status was replaced by Menghai in Xishuangbanna.
▲ The Simao Customs before liberation. In the late Qing Dynasty, Simao also became a bargaining chip on the negotiation table between China and the colonists. It was forced to open as a treaty port (1895), and then the customs was established (1897)
On this point, it is necessary to say a few words. The time of Pu’er’s decline was probably the early years of the Republic of China. In 1938, a Han scholar passed through Pu’er on his way to Xishuangbanna, and wrote down his observations. He said: “There is no city whose rise and fall is as short as Pu’er. It is only two hundred years since Pu’er was established as a county in Guiliu, but it has gone through many vicissitudes.” The person who said this is Yao Hesheng. He wrote a beautiful book called “Shuibai Yi Fengtu Ji”, which mainly talks about Xishuangbanna, but also involves what he saw and heard on the road.
▲ The distant view of Ning’er City in 1887 (copper engraving), painted by French Louis de la Porte when he passed by
▲ Simao City in the late Qing Dynasty, painted by Louis de la Porte of France
The reasons for the decline of Pu’er include falciparum malaria (1919) and Xishuangbanna’s land reform. The former factor led to a sharp drop in population in the center of Pu’er—the two towns of Simao and Ning’er, as well as the surrounding countryside, which led to a sharp decline in business.
▲ The office yard of the Cheli County Government in 1935. At that time, “one country, two systems”, Xishuangbanna had chieftains, but also local administrative departments. This was taken by Zhou Guangzhuo, Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during his inspection in 1935
The latter reason led to Pu’er having a strong competitor. Xishuangbanna’s reform of land return means turning the original chieftain’s land into the government’s land (the result was not successful, the original land became the dual management of the chieftain and the government of the Republic of China). This political reform promoted economic reform, which gave birth to the prosperity of tea. Because the place of reform is the west bank of the Lancang River today (Jiangwai Liubanna), so it quickly rose up and became a place that feels like an upstart.
▲ Menghai Market in 1935, photographed by Zhou Guangzhuo
Let’s count the time, Menghai started to have tea houses in 1910. In the past, of course, it also grew tea, but it provided raw materials for Pu’er and Yiwu, but now some tea houses have begun to place their production and sales centers in Menghai. By 1938, for more than 20 years, the place had become extremely prosperous. In 1937, there were more than 20 private tea houses. In 1939, the China Tea Company controlled by the Nanjing National Government also set up a factory here.
That’s why Yao Hesheng said that Menghai “is an upstart, a local rich man, whose huge wealth is hidden under his ragged clothes”. The Menghai of that year was really a bit like some coal-producing places in China today.
Well, that’s it, let’s not go into details. Anyway, Pu’er has not always been the center of Pu’er tea, let alone the only center of the Ancient Tea Horse Road.
▲ This picture is a schematic diagram of the “Six Ancient Tea Mountains” and the “Six New Tea Mountains”, with the new on the left and the ancient on the right. The commerce of the ancient six tea mountains may be traced back to the Ming Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, a large number of people from Shiping were attracted by investment promotion, and they made a lot of tea in Xiangming and Yiwu, Mengla County, Xishuangbanna. As a result, the six ancient tea mountains prospered, among which Xiangming tea mountain was the most, and Xiangming tea mountain The residents here are mainly Yi people (note: not Dai, nor Hani).
3
The Ancient Tea Horse Road, where does it start and where does it end?
Speaking of a road, we always have to ask where it starts and where it ends. This is life experience, human nature. But for the Ancient Tea Horse Road, it may be very difficult to figure out the starting point and the ending point.
The reason is that it is historical, it is folk, and it is something we can no longer relive. Therefore, although we can go to Shangougou to look for the relics of the Ancient Tea Horse Road today, the relics do not represent the whole of the Ancient Tea Horse Road. Therefore, many of our discussions about it today are almost blind people feeling the elephant. The face is quite grounded, convinced of what it is, but it is far from the truth when you open your eyes.
Does the Ancient Tea Horse Road start in Pu’er, Xishuangbanna, or Ya’an? And the end point, is it Lhasa, India, or Nepal? Or is it Beijing, Thailand or Laos as mentioned above?
▲ This is a Tibetan Buddhist monk photographed by Mike Yamashita. In the view of this National Geographic photographer, Buddhist culture is also an essential element of the Ancient Tea Horse Road. The picture comes from his “Looking for Shangri-La · Exploring the Lost Tea Horse” Ancient Road
A more reliable statement should be that the Ancient Tea Horse Road has neither a starting point nor an ending point. The starting point we see in the map is just the starting point of a certain area, or to be precise, the distribution center of a certain area.
▲ The salt well on the Yunnan-Tibet line, this place is named after the salt production, it is obviously the center of a region, so it cannot be said that it is smaller than an ancient tea mountain in Xishuangbanna in the sense of “ancient tea-horse road”
And the end point is the same, it may indeed exist the end point of a certain area, but this end point may not end, but it is the center for the next round of exchange. For example, after the tea was transported to Lhasa, it did not end its journey, but became a valuable commodity exchanged around Lhasa.
▲ The merchants on the Yunnan Tea-Horse Road painted by Louis de la Porte of France, not only have horses, but also people carry them
The tribute tea in Beijing has not stopped its footsteps. It may have been awarded to a certain important person who served in Jiangnan, or it may have been given to the British Macartney Mission who visited Emperor Qianlong in Rehe in 1793 (it is said that these distinguished emperors rewarded them and were thrown away by the mission. Probably black Huh, thought it was something bad).
Let’s use blood vessels as an analogy. Some of the lines we know may be large arteries, but after entering the skin, there are still a number of capillaries. The circulation of items such as tea and salt only ends when they penetrate into the capillaries.
Also, if the ancient tea-horse road is not viewed from the circulation of tea, but from the circulation of salt, then the discussion of the starting point and the ending point is another matter. At that time, Pu’er and other places are not important anymore, maybe Heijing, which you don’t know, is more important.
▲ Pot salt produced in Mohei, Ning’er County in 1935, photographed by Zhou Guangzhuo. At this time, the center of Pu’er tea has moved south to Xishuangbanna Menghai and other places, but Ning’er is still one of the centers of the salt road. The blackened salt wells have bred some very wealthy merchants. In the next four or five years, they founded Mohei Primary School and invited many excellent teachers from the Southwest Associated University in Kunming (many of them are underground members of the Chinese Communist Party). Around salt, many stories. The Ancient Tea Horse Road cannot be misled by the words, there are many other things besides tea
130 years ago, a foreigner traveled from Kunming to Dali. When he came to the land of Chuxiong, what he complained most was the oncoming horse team. These horses (muses) did not carry tea on their backs, but salt. These salts are going to be sold to Kunming, but where are they shipped from? The young man named Ma Jiali didn’t say anything, but we guess that it might come from the black well in Chuxiong.
Therefore, when talking about the ancient tea-horse road, don’t be fooled by the tea leaves. If you are really easily fooled, I suggest you stop eating salt for a week and see what is most important to you.
By analogy, it is not difficult to find that in Southwest China, including Yunnan, Tibet, and Sichuan, the Ancient Tea Horse Road is by no means a pure tea trade network, and its connotation and significance are much greater.
