Regional Exchanges Become More Active

The ancient Tea ship route not only brought tea to distant metropolises but also introduced modern civilization to remote mountainous areas along its path.

“The tea ship route was one of the bridges connecting Liubao Town and Wuzhou with the outside world in ancient times,” said Chen Bochang, president of the Liubao Tea International Exchange Promotion Association. In ancient times, it would have been impossible for Liubao tea to travel across provinces and even overseas by mere human labor alone. With the advent of the tea ship route and trade, these remote places like Wubao and Liubao were able to establish connections with the outside world, facilitating population movement and migration.

In Jiucheng Village, Liubao Town, Chen Fucang, born around 1870, began trading tea at around the age of thirty. He traveled extensively along the tea ship route, reaching major ports along the Xijiang River and even as far as Hong Kong and Macau. In the Foshan region, he learned many magic tricks from local temple monks, using tea as a gift. Every year during the New Year festivities, Chen Fucang's performances of “Dancing Magic Tricks” and his storytelling became a traditional highlight in the village. His son, Chen Chenglian, recounted that villagers gained a basic understanding of the outside world through these performances and developed aspirations for a better life. Later, many young people from the village followed the tea ship route to explore the wider world.

Photograph of Liubao tea trader Chen Fucang taken in Guangzhou around 1910

Besides tea, the tea ship route facilitated continuous trade between Guangxi and the regions of Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau, and even overseas. Chen Bochang mentioned that tea, firewood, bamboo, timber, and charcoal from Liubao Town were continuously transported to the Pearl River Delta region and then exported worldwide via the tea ship route. Household goods from coastal China and foreign products such as salt, bananas, and cloth, as well as seeds of technological and cultural advancements from economically developed areas, entered the mountains through this route, accelerating the civilizational progress of the Liubao tea region and Cangwu County. His grandfather, Chen Puseng, had opened a sewing shop in Jiucheng Village and used two imported German sewing machines. “These two sewing machines were transported from abroad to Guangzhou and then back to Jiucheng Village via the tea ship route.”

As tea continued to be traded along the tea ship route, tea merchants and traders expanded their horizons and established more connections with the outside world.

From the 1930s onwards, Su Baigang frequently traveled to Southeast Asia due to the export business of Liubao tea. Even amidst the turmoil of the 1940s, he continued to travel by sea to Malaysia for business negotiations. His son, Su Jinrun, founded Sanji Tea Shop in Liubao's Hekou Street and occasionally accompanied his father on business trips to Southeast Asia.

By 1940, Su Jinrun married a woman from Singapore and brought her back to Liubao, which became a notable story of an “international romance” in the area. Speaking about this today, Su Zhaohua still speaks enthusiastically: “Uncle San, Su Jinrun, went to Singapore for business and brought back Aunt San. Her family was also in business in Singapore, and with this connection, the tea business of Sanji flourished in Southeast Asia.”

Photograph of Sanji Tea Shop owner Su Jinrun marrying his Singaporean bride in Macau in 1940

Customs Merge and Integrate

The tea ship route not only promoted cultural exchanges between regions but also subtly influenced the daily habits of residents along its path.

The cultivation and export of Liubao tea not only satisfied the needs of the local population for tea to quench thirst and provide enjoyment but also led to the custom of using tea as medicine in many areas. According to the Qing dynasty physician Zhao Xuemin's “Supplement to Compendium of Materia Medica,” since the Qing dynasty, the folk in Dongguan, Guangdong, had the custom of brewing tea with sesame oil and sweet potato. In his work “Ashes of the Catastrophe,” late Qing novelist Wu Jianren mentioned that in Zhaoqing, there was a custom of preparing noon tea using dark tea as the base, combined with Herbs like broadleaf kaffir lime, atractylodes, forsythia, magnolia bark, bupleurum, and windproof grass, to treat symptoms of colds and indigestion.

Zheng Yingbin, a dealer of Liubao Tea Factory in Guangzhou, has vivid memories of the custom of using Liubao tea as medicine in the Pearl River Delta region due to his long-term involvement in selling Liubao tea. “In the 1970s and 1980s, I lived in several cities in the Pearl River Delta. I still remember that Chinese medicine shops in Guangzhou and Foshan would sell Liubao tea. When someone had digestive issues and visited a traditional Chinese doctor, the old doctor often added some Liubao tea to the prescription and recommended drinking Liubao tea regularly.”

In the tea-growing areas of Liubao Town, Wuzhou City, locals also liked to use the top-grade Liubao tea and old tea leaves (picked after the first frost) as household remedies. Tea farmer Yi Shoucheng is very familiar with this practice: “Whenever there was a fever or discomfort among the elderly or children in the family, villagers would Brew medicinal tea by adding stored top-grade Liubao tea and old tea leaves to other herbs, which often proved effective.”

In southern China, giving tea as an important gift to friends and guests is a widespread custom. In his book “Leisurely Talk About Drinking Tea,” tea scholar Zhuang Wanfang noted that residents in Guangdong and Guangxi believed that tea plants could only grow from seeds and could not be transplanted without dying, thus viewing tea as a symbol of unwavering character. Therefore, tea was used as a gift in betrothal ceremonies; when a man proposed, it was called “presenting the tea gift,” while the acceptance of the proposal by the woman was referred to as “receiving the tea” or “drinking the tea.” There is a saying that “a woman cannot accept tea gifts from two families.” This custom was reinforced and integrated into the regions connected by the tea ship route.

Jiang Yongchun, an experienced tea merchant operating a tea shop in Liubao Town, Cangwu County, is well-versed in the local customs regarding the “presenting the tea gift” ritual: “During the betrothal, items like rooster, pork, noodles, cigarettes, alcohol, and tea buds (high-quality tea made from young shoots) must be given in pairs. For the dowry when the bride is sent off, apart from rooster, pork, noodles, cigarettes, alcohol, and tea buds, betel nuts must also be included, and everything must be in pairs. The quantity of items presented during the betrothal and dowry depends on the family's financial status, but no matter how wealthy or poor, two packets of tea buds are always required.”

Image Credit | Some images sourced from the internet

Editor | Pan Shaoyun

First Review | Long Zhirong, Yan Zhenzhe, Wu Fan

Proofreading | Zhang Hao

Review | Yu Cuiping

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