Seven years ago, due to his involvement in editing the “Zhangzhou Tea Series,” Guo Rongfei, who had been engaged in the collection of southern Fujian antiquities for nearly 30 years, began to specialize in the collection and study of tea utensils. Among his collections, the most abundant are kung fu tea sets.

The kung fu tea sets collected from various places are all witnesses to past lives and reflect the prosperity of kung fu tea and the foreign tea trade in Zhangzhou, a representative of the southern Fujian region, during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Especially when Chaozhou, which also belongs to the kung fu Tea culture area, aggressively promotes its “kung fu tea,” these physical items can help establish Zhangzhou as the origin of kung fu tea. This is precisely the true meaning of collecting.

Guo Rongfei

01

A “Museum” Hidden in a Residential Complex

This residential complex located in the old city of Zhangzhou is easy to get lost in, even with navigation.

It appears unremarkable and even a bit dilapidated, yet it houses a miniature “museum.” When we pulled open the glass door, Guo Rongfei was sitting at the tea table, heating water and washing tea utensils.

Although he is already in his sixties, he looks much younger than his actual age. With a short haircut, a slightly hoarse voice, and fast speech, he is neat and efficient.

Varieties of kung fu tea utensils collected by Guo Rongfei

After seating us, he started brewing tea. The tea was aged Tie Luohan, and the Teapot he used was from the Yongzheng period! Not only that, but almost all the tea utensils on the table were antiques: a Ge-glazed dish from the Dongxi Kiln in Zhangzhou during the Qing dynasty (pot stand), Ruoshen cups made of powder paste from the Kangxi period of the Qing dynasty, Yuan blue-and-white porcelain shards (tea rest), and so on.

The tea table is like this, and the display cabinets around it are even more impressive, filled with hundreds of tea utensils from the Han Dynasty to the Republic of China era, forming a magnificent sight. A large part of them are kung fu tea utensils, such as roasting stoves, sand kettles, purple clay Teapots, Ruoshen cups, tea jars, and more. The variety and number of these utensils are so great that they are overwhelming, far surpassing the kung fu tea utensils in the Zhangzhou Museum in terms of richness.

Various purple clay teapots collected by Guo Rongfei

Since 1988, Guo Rongfei has entered the world of collecting. His categories are extensive, including ceramics, coins, Silver ornaments, Zhang embroidery, and more. However, most of them are antiques from southern Fujian, with a strong local cultural flavor.

What he collects is a history of the daily lives of people in southern Fujian.

Guo Rongfei is well-versed in the functions and evolution of different kung fu tea utensils

02

Tea Utensils Speak for Themselves

In the lives of people in southern Fujian, tea is more important than rice, which they call “teami.” For quenching thirst, refreshing oneself, entertaining guests, weddings and funerals, ancestral worship, and deities, tea is indispensable. A Cup of tea, three meals a day, four seasons a year, a lifetime.

Tea utensils are tools that present the color, aroma, taste, and charm of tea. Like dining utensils and wine utensils, they are necessities of daily life. Among the kung fu tea utensils collected by Guo Rongfei, although there are some famous purple clay teapots, the makers of most are unknown craftsmen who remain obscure and unsung.

Different shaped purple clay teapots, showing the patina of time

Huang Yongsong, founder of Taiwan's “Han Sheng” magazine, once said, “‘People find stability with objects, and objects last long with people.' Because they are often used, from surface stability and convenience of use, they achieve spiritual reliance and stability.”

These tea utensils, each carrying the touch of the craftsman and user, and the simplicity and warmth of ordinary life. When people carefully examine them, they will tell a story, a legend.

Ming and Qing dynasty ceramics from Zhangzhou kilns in the Zhangzhou Museum

The southern Fujian region, represented by Zhangzhou, is where kung fu tea art first appeared, with a verifiable history of over 300 years. Da Bin jars, Ruoshen cups, Dazhuang stoves, Guanxi fans, and long bamboo baskets formed an exquisite and elegant tea life scene for the people of Zhangzhou in the 18th century. The large number of purple clay teapots unearthed in tombs in Zhangpu County, under the jurisdiction of Zhangzhou, is astonishing.

“From the mid-Ming dynasty, the Moon Harbor of Zhangzhou gradually prospered and became a new commercial port for international trade in the era of great voyages,” said Lin Nanzhong, a historian and expert on Zhangzhou. From here, there were 18 routes, with sea merchants trading directly with 47 countries and regions in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Northeast Asia, and through the port of Manila in the Philippines with European and American countries, piecing together a grand global trade map.

In overseas trade, tea, ceramics, cotton silk, sugar, fruit, and other goods have always been major commodities. On the “Taixing” ship that sank while sailing from Xiamen to Java (now Indonesia) in 1822, many Yixing Mengchen teapots, sand kettles, roasting stoves, blue-and-white porcelain cups, covered bowls, porcelain bowls, poetic tea dishes, tin tea jars, and more were salvaged.

“These (tea utensils) are closely related to surviving items and unearthed artifacts of kung fu tea utensils in southern Fujian, Taiwan, and Japanese sencha utensils.”

03

Establishing the Authentic Origin of Kung Fu Tea

For more than three decades, countless antiques have passed before his eyes. Just as people have birth and death, objects experience creation, decay, gathering, and dispersion. In the long course of time, anyone is merely a temporary custodian of an object, and an object is passed down through repeated gatherings and dispersals.

Some say that those who love collecting are lovers of life. Tea utensils themselves come from the ordinary life filled with the warmth of daily routines.

Guo Rongfei's collection of kung fu tea utensils is a “passionate declaration” from a southern Fujian native who loves drinking kung fu tea and is deeply attached to his hometown.