nanfang tea market

nanfang tea market is located at shiweitangjie shancun, fangcun district of guangzhou. it has a floor area of 60000m2, a special market with multi-function of business and tourism.

in 1940s, there were only several home-made tea workshops by local villagers in manner of shop-factory and manufacturing-selling combined. since the reform and opening-up and the medium and later 1980s especially nanfang tea market has made a rapid progress, increasing its shops to current over 500 from a few decades in the past. its complete supporting facilities, warehouse, process workshop, parking, professional transport, and kindergarten and primary school nearby, facilitate businessmen’s trade, living and their children’s primary education.

as the largest tea market in china, nanfang tea market collects tea merchants and tea set manufacturers all over the country and has become the most influential distributing center of tea and tea set in china. this market is divided into three parts: tea section, tea set section, and tea artwork street.

tea section.

    tea merchants from all corner of china gather here with their various varieties of tea at all levels, including some high-quality famous tea such as longjing green tea of hangzhou, tieguanyin tea of fujian, dongting oolong of taiwan, huangshan maojian, and baishalu of hainan. tea can be classified into six categories: green tea, black tea, white tea, oolong tea, scented tea and compressed tea.

green tea

   originates in china and is the oldest. ancient sunshine withered fresh leaf to steamed cake tea, to baking dehydrated or roasting dehydrated loose tea, all belong to green tea although various shape and different style. green tea may be divided into the roasting dehydrated, the baking dehydrated, the steam dehydrated, the sunshine withered and the special. for most varieties of green tea the more tender the bud the better the tea. first bud is called lianrui (lotus pistil), comparing to leaf in bud; second bud is called qiqiang (pennon), comparing to additional tassel on spear end; third bud is called queshe (sparrow tongue), comparing to initial opening of bird mouth. soaked in boiled water, green tea will present verdant color, which may call wonderful sentiment to your mind.

black tea

  originates probably from the middle period of ming dynasty. it is processed through such technical processes as withering, twisting, fermentation and dehydration. because fermented green tea will turn to black, it is called “black tea”, and also called “fermented tea”. souchong and congou varieties appeared as early as in the qing dynasty. according to chinese processing method and product quality, black tea is divided into three varieties: congou, souchong and broken black tea. oolong is produced in fujian, guangdong and taiwan and is the earliest variety introduced in europe. the quality and flavor of oolong is between black tea and green tea, with both sweetness and mellowness of black tea and delicate fragrance of green tea, so oolong is reputed “green leaves with red edges”. scented tea is made through scenting tea with fresh flower buds, with yellow-green tea liquor, delicate aroma and good taste. the name of scented tea variety is decided by the flower name, for example, jasmine tea, white michelia tea, chloranthus tea, etc. white tea is produced in zhenghe, jianyang and songxi counties in fujian province. this variety has many pekoes and is as white as silver, so it is called “white tea”. it needs no twisting and repeated baking and sun-shining are necessary in processing, less losses of pekoes and lighter liquor color than other kinds of tea. rare varieties include “silver tip pekoe” and “shou mei”. compressed tea is a kind of reprocessed tea, convenient for storage and transportation, and can be processed into brick, bowl and ball shapes.

foreign famous kinds of tea include ground tea of japan, pekoe of india and sri lanka, snow green tea of korea, blended tea of britain, instant tea of america, etc.

china is the first country that discovered tea, so it has unique culture of using, making and drinking tea. gaiwan tea (tea in a lidded teacup) of sichuan, bamboo tube tea of yunan, jiangnan residential tea, west lake tea of hangzhou and gongfu tea of guangdong zhouzhou contain distinguished local cultural characteristics. china has so many specialties, but only tea has such unique culture. why? it is probably for that the natural functions of tea tally with the “unity of heaven and man” in chinese traditional culture. tea grows in good natural environment, with mile character and pleasant taste, beneficial to strengthening, refreshing mind and dredging main and collateral channels. thus literators use it to inspire poems and articles, taoists use it to cultivate morality and mould temperament, and buddhists use it to refresh mind. through drinking tea, people receive universal blessings, mediate worldly conflicts and return to natural sentiments. so, tea’s natural attribute is in harmony with the kernel of chinese traditional culture.

chinese literators and monks of past dynasties take sipping and tasting tea as a kind of spiritual enjoyment. they have written down a large of poems and articles on tea and advocated tea banquet, tea ceremony, tea party and other forms. tang poet lu tong wrote in his “poem of seven cups of tea” (to thank imperial censor meng for his sending new tea): “fist cup of tea moistens my throat; second cup of tea releases me from depression; third cup of tea exhausts my brains; four or five thousand volumes of characters are left within; fourth cup of tea sweats my body slightly, and all dissatisfactions give out from the pore; fifth cup of tea refreshes the bone; sixth cup of tea connects me with the immortal; seventh cup of tea is too enough, cool breeze blows gently under armpits”. in the eyes of poet tea is a drink of noble character, drinking tea is a spiritual enjoyment, a means for cultivating morality and moulding temperament, a level of arts.

tea set section and tea artwork street display various tea-drinking customs with different tea sets and different flavors in way of combination of material objects with realistic scenes. (tea set section) these old-timey, elegant, peculiar and beautiful tea tools as if bring us into a fascinating arts palace to enjoy esthetical edification and delight fully. these are ceramic pots and bowls of the western zhou dynasty and celadon bowl of the jin dynasty. as you know, drinking tea prevailed in tang dynasty, and special utensil was developed, that’s ridged-melon handled pot of tang dynasty. song dynasty is unprecedentedly prosperous period for chinaware in chinese history, at that time, a series of famous porcelain appeared, and tea bowl became main tea service. there were black-glazed bowl and hare’s fur bowl. you may ask why, because the best color of tea liquor is white in the “tea competition” in song dynasty, so it is appropriate to use black tea bowl. since the ming dynasty, along with the fashion of loose tea and change in method of making tea, special utensil for making tea——teapot appeared. till the qing dynasty, tea set had more abundant textures and forms and decorative porcelain art reached the peak, such as jinqian ruyi teapot, pea green powder enamel lidded tea bowl with landscape design, etc. red porcelain tea set is mainly produced in yixing in jiangsu province, initially appeared early in the northern song dynasty and flourished in the middle of ming dynasty, became a unique tea set beside other famous porcelain. red porcelain teapot can “show the true color, scent and taste of tea”, “make liquor color clear and leaf mellow, not lose flavor in making tea, not change color for storing tea, and is difficult to spoil tea liquor in midsummer.” longer it is used, more gentle and elegant the color is, and more mellow and fragrant the tea liquor it makes is. red porcelain teapot has graceful shape, elegant color, pure style, and profound charm. combing practical value with artistic beauty, it is the record of outstanding craft and artistic affection of great craftsmen of past generations.

it is common custom in china to serve guests with tea. it goes that “so many countries, so many customs.” every nationality has its own national spirit penetrating in its tea ceremony customs. here you can see “gongfu tea” popular in guangdong chaozhou and southern fujian. the tea liquor is infused from the teapot into the cups, representing care of mother to children. pour the tea into the cups by moving the teapot around in a continual motion over the cups so that they are filled together. each cup should taste exactly the same. this act has a nickname, that is, “the fabled lord guan making an inspection of the city”. finally drip the leftover tea respectively into the cups drop by drop. this act is called “the fabled general han xin mustering troops for inspection” and shows the great harmony spirit of equal sharing. there is also gaiwan tea popular all over sichuan. the teacup of gaiwan tea comprises three parts: saucer under, cup middle and lid upper, also called  “three-power teacup”. three powers refer to heaven, land and man. the lid upper is “heaven”, the saucer under is “land”, and the cup middle is “man”. a tea set symbolizes a small universe, a microcosm, and embodies the “lidded by heaven, carried by land and fostered by man” thought of ancient chinese philosophers. distinctive tibetan “buttered tea” is the major thing for tibetans to receive guests. its way is: pound brick tea to pieces and put into teapot for cooking, then pour the tea into a cask of more than 1 meter high. put into ghee and salt, stir with a wood stick, to mix the tea with water, ghee and salt, and then pour the mixture into the teapot for heating. thus fragrant and flavorful buttered tea is produced. when some honorable guest arrives, the host will often present hada first, ask the guest to sit down, and present buttered tea. drinking this kind of tea pays much attention to proprieties. the host shall infuse tea continuously into guest’s cup when drinking to make guest’s cup filled with tea always, and the guest shall quaff the tea when leaving to express