Since ancient times, the Chinese people have had a profound connection with tea, evolving from consuming to Drinking Tea, and from cultivating, picking to processing it. The industrious and wise Chinese people, based on local conditions, have utilized core techniques such as fixation, withering, yellowing, oxidation, piling, fermentation, and scenting to develop six major types of tea – green, white, yellow, Oolong, black, and dark teas – along with flower-scented teas and other processed teas, totaling thousands of varieties. In this deep-rooted relationship with tea, different tea-drinking and tea-meeting customs have been formed and passed down through generations.
On November 29, 2022, China's “Traditional Chinese Tea Processing Techniques and Associated Customs” was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This entry encompasses 44 national-level intangible cultural heritage representative projects, including four traditional tea customs: Bai ethnic three-course tea, Yao ethnic oil tea, Tea Gathering Festival, and Jing Shan tea banquet.
The Chinese tea culture is not only long-standing but also constantly renewed. To further enhance the recognition of Chinese tea customs and the entire Chinese tea culture, and to promote their protection, inheritance, development, and dissemination, the All-China Co-operative News·Tea Weekly has specially planned and launched a series on “Intangible Cultural Heritage Tea Customs.” Four experts in traditional tea customs have been invited to provide authoritative insights into the history, cultural significance, production processes, current status, and future direction after being recognized by UNESCO, showcasing the unique charm of these traditional tea customs and invigorating the vitality of this historic Chinese tea through innovation and inheritance.
This article is part of the third installment in the “Intangible Cultural Heritage Tea Customs” series, focusing on Gongcheng Oil Tea.
A Human Intangible Cultural Heritage on the Tip of the Tongue – A New Pillar for Enriching the People and Strengthening the County
– The Legendary Thousand-Year-Old National Tea Custom of “Gongcheng Oil Tea”
Author Profile
Zhou Liwei
Provincial-level representative inheritor of the human intangible cultural heritage “Yao ethnic oil tea” custom, head of the protection unit for the national intangible cultural heritage “Yao ethnic oil tea custom,” member of the Eighth Committee of the Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County Committee of the CPPCC, and vice president of the Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County Oil Tea Association.
On November 29, 2022, “Traditional Chinese Tea Processing Techniques and Associated Customs” successfully made its way onto the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This ensemble of 44 sub-projects vividly illustrates the unparalleled historical and cultural advantages of Chinese tea on a global scale and demonstrates its vibrant and progressive nature in contemporary life.
Among them, the tea customs section is particularly precious. Firstly, for its rarity: out of 44 sub-projects, only four are dedicated to tea customs: the Pan'an Temple Fair (Tea Gathering Festival) in Zhejiang, the Bai ethnic three-course tea in Yunnan Dali, the Yao ethnic oil tea in Gongcheng, Guilin, Guangxi, and the Jing Shan tea banquet in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Secondly, for its uniqueness: these four tea customs have a history spanning over a thousand years, deeply intertwined with the local history, economy, and lifestyle. They vividly demonstrate the depth and breadth of Chinese tea from multiple perspectives, such as daily consumption, folk culture, and commercial circulation, and are rightfully regarded as “living fossils” of Chinese tea.
Today, we delve into the “Gongcheng Oil Tea” from the Guangxi region, infused with Yao ethnic flair, and experience its charm and vitality through the taste buds of a living national tea history.
A Thousand-Year-Long National “Tea Life History”
Gongcheng oil tea.
“Gongcheng Oil Tea” is a combination of tea processing and consumption customs. It is primarily found in the Yao ethnic areas around Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County in Guilin City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, as well as in Guilin City, Liuzhou City, Nanning City, and other regions. It is the tea-drinking custom of the Yao and Zhuang people residing in the mountainous areas of Gongcheng and the Han people living in the plains. “Gongcheng Oil Tea” is an indispensable part of the daily lives of the locals. It was invented by the Yao people as a health drink to cope with the humid climate and miasma of the southern hills, reflecting the optimistic and positive attitude of the people of Gongcheng in the face of hardships.
Gongcheng County is located south of the Five Ridges, with mountains surrounding it on three sides, high in the north and low in the south, and belongs to the subtropical monsoon climate zone. Tea has been cultivated in Gongcheng since ancient times. The county was established in the 14th year of Daye in the Sui Dynasty (618 AD), originally named “Tea City,” under the jurisdiction of Zhao Prefecture (now Pingle County, Guilin City, Guangxi). It was renamed “Gongcheng” in the fourth year of Wu De in the Tang Dynasty (621 AD). The Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County was established in 1990.
The original name “Tea City” indicates that over a thousand years ago, Gongcheng had a notable scale of tea cultivation and trade. The local tea-drinking custom can be traced back at least 1,400 years. Since the Tang Dynasty, when the Yao people migrated from Hunan, Guangdong, and Jiangxi, they improved the tea-drinking custom, retaining the characteristics of ancient “herbal drinks,” porridge tea, boiled tea, and cooked tea, adding ingredients suitable for the climate of the Yao people in Gongcheng, improving the production process and tools, to achieve the effects of dispelling dampness and preserving health. During the interactions between the Yao and the local Zhuang and Han people, the technique of making oil tea gradually spread among the Zhuang and Han populations, becoming a popular tea-drinking method.
Drinking oil tea is a daily habit of the Yao people.
Drinking “Oil Tea” Together with Our Ancestors
Why is “Gongcheng Oil Tea” called “oil tea” rather than “cooked tea” or “steeped tea”? The answer lies in the method of preparation. When preparing and drinking “oil tea,” from the moment one lifts the tea mallet, it feels like crossing a thousand years… People from different times perform the same actions on this land, drinking the same flavors, and this is what “Gongcheng Oil Tea” embodies as a carrier, coalescing the continuous human and ethnic lineage. Therefore, we must cherish, learn, and inherit the art of making “Gongcheng Oil Tea.”
As the vice president of the Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County Oil Tea Association and a provincial-level inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage project, I have been learning how to make oil tea since childhood. My experience is that “Gongcheng Oil Tea” is very particular about its ingredients and preparation method. Its characteristic lies in the “beating,” which produces a flavor distinctly different from “infused,” “steeped,” “cooked,” or “boiled” tea. Let's learn together how to make “Gongcheng Oil Tea”!
Step 1: Prepare the Ingredients. “Gongcheng Oil Tea” uses large-leaf green tea as the main ingredient, generally selecting leaves picked during the Qingming and Grain Rain seasons. The leaf tips and branches are picked together and then go through the processes of fixation, rolling, spreading, drying, and storage to become dry tea. The key step here is quick spreading to avoid fermentation. The amount of tea used depends on the number of people drinking oil tea; typically, 20-30 grams per person per meal is enough. The amount of ginger used is 15-20 grams. Other ingredients include peanuts, garlic, scallions, and an appropriate amount of salt.
