Once, the town of Liubao in Cangwu County was the main production area for Liubao Tea, a nationally renowned tea. After purchasing the tea that local farmers brought to them, merchants would load it onto ships at the Hehekou wharf for transportation.

In the center of Liubao Town, Cangwu County, stands an over-a-century-old camphor tree, its lush foliage shading the Hehekou wharf below.

At one time, this wharf was a hub of activity. Liubao tea from the surrounding mountains flowed into this place like water, then was loaded onto ships that sailed down the Liubao River towards distant cities.

Today, the Liubao River still flows gently, and the Hehekou wharf has been renovated. However, a stone engraving at the wharf titled “Ancient Tea Ship Route” evokes vivid images of the days when tea-laden ships departed from Liubao Town, following what later became known as the “Ancient Tea Ship Route” for external transport and sales.

The Hehekou Wharf in Liubao Town in earlier times

A witness at the starting point of the ancient route

Near the Hehekou wharf stands a house that used to be a well-preserved teahouse several years ago, belonging to Yingji Teahouse, established in the 1920s or 1930s.

The owner of Yingji Teahouse, Deng Zecai, once controlled half of the Liubao tea production and sales market. Today, his grandson, Deng Chaocheng, also has children and grandchildren. When talking about his ancestors, Deng Chaocheng said, “The teahouse was built with contributions from several tea merchants. Later, Yingji Teahouse bought it to facilitate tea collection. The teahouse covered nearly 200 square meters, which made it convenient for collecting tea, using as a warehouse, compressing tea into baskets, and loading it onto ships for transport.”

The teahouse of Yingji Teahouse before its demolition

Chajinliang worked as a hired worker at Yingji Teahouse when he was young. Although decades have passed, Chajinliang still remembers the bustling business at Yingji Teahouse. “When I worked at Yingji Teahouse, they employed three or four long-term workers every year to collect tea in Hehekou. The most they collected at one time was several thousand pounds of dried tea. All these teas were stored in the teahouse next to the wharf. We compressed the tea into baskets inside the teahouse, each basket weighing around 100 pounds. Once compressed, we carried them to the wharf to be loaded onto ships for transport.”

Bamboo products used for packing tea in southern China during the late Qing dynasty

In the hearts of many elderly residents of Liubao, the teahouse of Yingji Teahouse serves as a witness to Liubao Town being the starting point of the Ancient Tea Ship Route.

Liubao tea sells well in Guangzhou, Foshan, and Hong Kong

Located north of the Tropic of Cancer, Liubao Town has an annual average temperature of 21.2°C and an annual rainfall of 1,500 millimeters. Within the town, peaks rise high, often shrouded in mist, with elevations between 1,000 meters.

The excellent ecological environment and climatic conditions provide a strong guarantee for producing high-quality Liubao tea. During the mid-Qing Dynasty, the custom of drinking Liubao tea gradually became popular in Guangzhou and Foshan. By the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, Liubao tea was listed among the famous teas of the nation due to its unique aroma. From the mid-to-late Qing Dynasty onwards, influenced by the tea-drinking culture of Guangdong and the preference of overseas Chinese in Nanyang for Liubao tea, the trade of Liubao tea entered a period of significant development.

Many farmers in Liubao Town grow Liubao tea. Every tea season, farmers from villages such as Tangping, Buyi, Siliu, Lichong, Gaojian, and Daining carry torches and go up the mountain as a family to pick tea leaves, then stir-fry them into dried tea, and bring them to the town for sale. Chen Shicai, an elderly tea farmer from the Heishi group in Tangping Village, said, “Before liberation, there were dozens of households in Heishi Village growing tea on the mountain, with the largest household having over 20 mu of tea plants. During tea-picking season, the farmers got up at the third crow of the rooster and worked throughout the day until almost dusk.”

Tools used by tea farmers in Heishi Village, Liubao Town, for carrying tea

There were many people growing tea in Liubao Town, naturally attracting numerous merchants involved in the purchase and sale of tea. In the town, there were once many Guangdong tea merchants who had established teahouses, specifically for the purpose of collecting and processing tea. Jiang Yongchun, a tea merchant in Liubao Town, recalled, “My grandfather told me that the tea trade in Liubao Town was very prosperous. In the 1930s and 1940s, there were six or seven large teahouses in Liubao Town, including Yuansheng, Wenji, Yingji, and Yongji. Other teahouses also had agents in the town for tea collection, and some even entrusted other teahouses to collect tea for them in the town. At its peak, there were two or three dozen teahouses in the entire town.”

The prosperity of growing and trading Liubao tea in Liubao Town is recorded in many historical documents. “In Cangwu's major exports and specialties, Liubao tea ranks first, with annual export volumes exceeding 600,000 pounds.” — “A Brief Account of Guangxi's Special Products” (1937). “There are still many teas in Cangwu, with Liubao being the most prominent. Liubao tea is quite famous, and the quality of the rest is also good. Before the war, transportation was convenient, and besides local consumption within the county, all produced tea was sold in Hong Kong and Macau… Liubao Township accounts for half of the county's area, with a total area of 11,455 mu and an annual tea production of 5,450 piculs… It is widely sold in Guangzhou, Foshan, Hong Kong, and other ports. When Liubao tea is harvested, Guangdong merchants set up teahouses in Hehekou to purchase it, further process it, and make exquisite tea cakes. When brewed, its taste is similar to Pu'er tea, with an annual production of approximately 500,000 pounds.” — “Guangxi Agricultural Communications” (1945).

In 1949, an elderly man in rural Wuzhou is weaving bamboo baskets. These baskets were used to carry various local specialties, including tea

Small pointed boats travel in groups

Liubao Town is located in a mountainous area and has historically had extremely inconvenient land transportation. During the tea season, after merchants in Liubao Town purchased tea, they would compress it into baskets and load it onto ships for transport. These compressed Liubao teas would not only bear the names of the respective teahouses but sometimes also include printed tea tickets placed inside the baskets to signify authenticity. In Liubao Town, Chen Shengwen still keeps the tea