Many Tea merchants viewed Jiangkou in Guangdong and Doucheng as key nodes on the ancient Tea Ship Route, setting up transshipment points to transfer Liubao tea for onward transportation.
Summer in Guangdong is punctuated by sudden downpours. In Doucheng Town, Duancheng County, Yunfu City, a heavy rainstorm dispersed the heat of the afternoon. Deng Zhi brewed a cup of Liubao tea at home and began recounting past tales to his guests.
Deng Zhi's grandfather and uncle ran Tongfa Long Trading House in Doucheng and Yingji Tea Shop in Liubao Town, Guangxi, respectively. One was responsible for production, the other for sales, controlling the family's tea business until the 1950s. At its peak, other tea merchants would entrust them with the storage and transportation of Liubao tea.
When speaking of his family's former glory, Deng Zhi couldn't help but light up. Over 60 years have passed since the main branch of the Tongfa Long Trading House in Doucheng changed hands, rebuilt into a new shop. The Doucheng wharf has also undergone significant changes, but the memories linger in the elderly man's mind…
Establishing a Transshipment Point in Jiangkou
The Hejiang River, 433 kilometers long, flows through Fengkai County, Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province for 196 kilometers before merging into the Xijiang River at Jiangkou Town.
Tea transported from Liubao Town, Wuzhou City, Guangxi, was transferred onto wooden sailboats in Libu or Mudou Town and sailed downstream along the Hejiang River. Below Libu, the river winds sharply, making navigation difficult, especially after passing through Dazhou Town in Fengkai County where rapids and shoals are common. However, conditions improve significantly upon reaching Jiangkou Town.
The Tranquil Hejiang River
The continuous flow of the Hejiang River enters the Xijiang River at Jiangkou Town. From here, the river widens significantly, and the current becomes calmer.
Natural advantages have made Jiangkou Town an essential stop on the ancient Tea Ship Route since ancient times. According to historical records in Fengkai County, warships, passenger boats, merchant ships, and timber rafts continuously traversed the Hejiang River from the Qin Dynasty until the early 1960s, often stopping at various water stations to rest and replenish supplies. In 1921, the Republic of China government established a Grain transshipment station in Fengkai County to transport military rations collected from Fengkai and Cangwu, Guangxi, to this station, then onwards via the Hejiang and Xijiang Rivers to Zhaoqing, Guangzhou, and other places.
Wooden Sailboats on the Xijiang River in the 1920s
The wharf at the confluence of three rivers in Jiangkou Town today is over 2,000 meters long, with more than 20 small freight wharves along the shore. The river is dotted with numerous small boats, giving a glimpse into the bustling scene of boats coming and going at the Jiangkou wharf before the founding of the People's Republic of China. Although some ancient wharves and water stations in town have been abandoned, collapsed houses' blue bricks and stones can still be seen near the wharf when walking along the riverbank.
In Jiangkou Town, Dongfang No. 1 Road runs alongside the Sanjiangkou Wharf. This old street still retains many old houses today. This old street features prominent architectural characteristics of the Cantonese style, with a central axis of a street flanked by residences on both sides. The shops and residences generally have small storefronts and deep interiors, triangular roofs, and top layers covered with blue tiles for water drainage. Although most of the preserved old houses on the street are now dilapidated, their structures remain sturdy, reflecting the compact layout during construction, a typical Lingnan style of “bamboo tube buildings and narrow alleys.”
Deng Mingsheng lives in Deqing County, Zhaoqing City, Guangdong, but in the 1930s, his grandfather Deng Yincai came to Jiangkou Town from the main branch of Tongfa Long Trading House in Doucheng to meet the Liubao tea arriving by river. He leased a shop on Dongfang No. 1 Road and opened a branch of Tongfa Long in Jiangkou, which was run by his wife Chen Shaoxing, dedicated to the transshipment of Liubao tea in Jiangkou. The shop was a three-story building, with a warehouse for storing Liubao tea on the ground floor and living quarters on the second and third floors.
The Jiangkou branch no longer exists today, but in Deng Mingsheng's memory, the shop was only about 20 meters from the wharf. Boats coming down the Hejiang River could unload tea, and then load goods needed upstream for the return journey, making it extremely convenient.
“In addition to my grandmother managing the Jiangkou branch, Grandfather Deng Yincai employed up to three clerks to help with the business locally,” Deng Mingsheng recalled. When Liubao tea was unloaded in Jiangkou Town, his grandmother arranged for large cargo ships to transport the tea to Doucheng, her hometown in Yunan County, Guangdong, based on orders from Guangzhou or Nanyang. Once the main branch in Doucheng had all the goods ready for shipment, they were taken together to Guangzhou.
Not only did Tongfa Long Trading House set up a transshipment point for tea in Jiangkou, but many other tea merchants who purchased tea in the Liubao production area also had such points in Jiangkou, such as the Su family, who operated a Liubao tea business and had reception shops in Jiangkou and Doucheng during the same period.
After the tea merchants' goods arrived in Jiangkou from Liubao Town, they were unloaded at the wharf and transferred to large wooden cargo ships capable of carrying tens of tons. These cargo ships had masts and oars, flat heads, and long bodies, with drafts exceeding one meter. They relied on wind power for navigation, using human rowing when there was no wind. After being loaded with goods, these large cargo ships sailed down the Xijiang River for nearly 40 kilometers to reach Doucheng in Yunan County. Once the goods destined for Doucheng were fully loaded, they continued to Guangzhou. Occasionally, if the large cargo ship had to wait for additional goods in Doucheng, the goods that needed to be shipped urgently were transferred again to smaller Huaweidu boats or other vessels that could depart immediately.
Using Huaweidu Boats for Tea Transportation
Doucheng, not far from Jiangkou Town in Duancheng County, Yunfu City, Guangdong Province, is another crucial node on the ancient Tea Ship Route.
Doucheng is located on the south bank of the middle reaches of the Xijiang River in western Guangdong and is a critical waterway between Guangdong and Guangxi. Nowadays, it can reach cities like Wuzhou and Nanning in Guangxi by sailing upstream and cities like Zhaoqing, Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Zhongshan, and Jiangmen by sailing downstream, with vessels over a thousand tons able to navigate year-round. However, in those days, the water and sand conditions in the Xijiang River section from Jieshou to Doucheng were complex, with shallow shoals and numerous rocks.
A Small Boat Docked at a Wharf Along the Xijiang River in the 1920s
Therefore, the short waterway journey from Jiangkou to Doucheng, covering just dozens of kilometers, could be completed within half a day if the weather was good and the water conditions normal. But during the autumn and winter when the water levels were low, wooden cargo ships coming down from Jiangkou still had to navigate carefully to avoid mishaps.
Before the 1950s, the Doucheng wharf