Yuanjiang Zhujie Tea

Yuanjiang Zhujie Tea

　　Yuanjiang Zhujie Tea is a specialty from Zhujie Village, Nannuo Township, Yuanjiang County, Yuxi City, Yunnan Province. Zhujie ecological tea is known for being cool and refreshing, richly aromatic with a sweet aftertaste, invigorating and heat-relieving, thirst-quenching, long-steeping yet not weakening in flavor, and does not leave behind tea stains.

　　During the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, Zhujie was an important transportation route, serving as the essential path to Shangjiang and Xiayangwu (now part of Laos and one of the Twelve Pu’er Regions) under the jurisdiction of Yuanjiang Military and Civilian Prefecture. It was also a vital passage for the Jiangcheng and Yiwu tea caravans entering inland China. Due to its strategic location, it has been garrisoned by troops since the Ming and Qing dynasties, which is how Yingpan (Military Camp) got its name. According to records from the Li Family Ancestral Hall in Erzhang Village, Zhujie: In the second year of the Tongzhi reign during the Qing Dynasty, a member of the Li family from Erzhang Village went to the tea mountains to bring seeds back home for planting. The trial planting succeeded, yielding substantial profits. Due to the significant profits, large-scale cultivation quickly developed in the areas around Zhujie, Yuanjiang Xiaoyangjie, and Honghe Dayangjie (originally under Yuanjiang’s administration). From the late Qing Dynasty to the Republican era, just within the three natural villages of Yingpan, Shuijing, and Erzhang in Zhujie, over ten tea businesses run by Han families emerged. At the peak of tea production, the local tea-growing area reached tens of thousands of mu. During this period, the Li family of Erzhang Village alone operated two tea brands — “Deshengxiang” and “Longshengxiang.” The Zhang family from the same village jointly established the “Xiehechang” tea brand, and later He Zuheng, who migrated here from Shiping, started the “Chunchang” brand. Within just a few years, they became the wealthiest family in Erzhang.

　　In the early years of the Republic of China, Yuanjiang Zhujie Tea participated in the provincial "Treasures Exhibition" and won a gold award. Zhujie tea was also quite well-known in Kunming. In the early days after the liberation, when the Yunnan Provincial Tea Research Institute was established to develop Yunnan’s tea industry, breed superior varieties, and collect germplasm resources, the Zhujie tea producing area was listed as one of the key regions for investigation. Renowned tea experts from Yunnan, Mr. and Mrs. Xiao Shiying and Zhang Mulan, conducted two investigations in Zhujie in 1954 and 1959 respectively. They collected specimen data, tea seeds, and evaluated Zhujie tea. “Yuanjiang Glutinous Tea” was submitted to the national authorities as a superior local variety during that time. Due to its growth in the high-altitude Ailao Cloudy Mountains, where there is no industrial pollution for dozens of miles, and where the cold air from the Ailao Mountains meets the warm, humid airflow from the Red River Valley, creating a climate perennially shrouded in clouds and mist, the unique climatic conditions nurtured the high-quality Zhujie ecological tea. Zhujie ecological tea is known for being cool and refreshing, richly aromatic with a sweet aftertaste, invigorating and heat-relieving, thirst-quenching, long-steeping yet not weakening in flavor, and does not leave behind tea stains. Thanks to its distinctive climate and soil, the tea boasts superior quality and has been highly favored by people around the world, even once served as a tribute to the imperial court. The tea plantation at the time covered more than 5,000 mu. There are still about 1,800 mu of tea gardens today, producing approximately 10 tons of dried tea per year, mainly sold to Kunming, the northeast, and coastal regions.