“I have been in this industry (handcrafted Tea production) since 1992, dedicating my life to one thing—making tea.” As he demonstrated the “fixing the green” process, Tang Shijiang introduced himself to China Youth Daily reporter. He is the Technical Director of Yangchun Baxue Tea Industry Co., Ltd. in Meitan County, Guizhou Province, the tenth-generation Inheritor of the handcrafted Meitan Emerald Bud technique, a provincial intangible cultural heritage, and has also been honored with the title of “China's Tea Master.”
On October 24th, the “High-Quality Development Research Tour” Guizhou media delegation visited Meitan County in Zunyi City to explore the secrets of handcrafted tea production. The making of Meitan Emerald Bud involves six major processes and 21 steps, with “fixing the green” being a crucial step. “If the first fixing of the green is not thorough, no matter how refined the subsequent processes are, the aroma of the brewed tea will be insufficient, making fixing the green the most critical step in making green tea,” explained Tang Shijiang.
The local government places great emphasis on the exploration, inheritance, and protection of tea culture. In 2015, the “Handcrafted Meitan Emerald Bud Technique” was listed as a provincial intangible cultural heritage, and the same year saw the establishment of the “Meitan Emerald Bud Intangible Cultural Heritage Practice Base.” Due to Meitan's unique geographical conditions, Yangchun Baxue Tea Industry Co., Ltd. constructed a clean and standardized production line capable of producing 1,000 tons of premium tea annually, including one Black Tea production line and three green tea production lines. To implement tea industry poverty alleviation and boost the income of tea farmers, the local area adopted an “enterprise + base + professional cooperative + tea farmer” management model.
Taking Yangchun Baxue Tea Industry Co., Ltd. as an example, the company currently manages 8,000 mu of ecological tea gardens, linking up with over 20,000 mu of tea gardens through industrial assistance. It has signed contracts with 6,147 tea farmers and indirectly benefits more than 30,000 tea farmers.