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The Tea Road originating from Yang Lou Dong has a long course of development.
The first stage of the Tea Road’s development was from Tang and Song Dynasties to late Ming Dynasty. It was then called the Ancient Tea Horse (Trade) Road that featured distribution and sales of bulk tea and Crumby-cake tea.
The well-known Tao theorists and physicians of Tsin Dynasty, Ge Xuan and Ge Hong, both practiced Tao disciplines for several years in Puqi. Later GE Hong finished his famous book of Taoism Baopuzi, while GE Hong built a garden in Yaji Mountain where a variety of medicinal materials were planted. The garden could still be traced today, and now it is called “Herbal Garden”.
Puqi was a city of great political, economic, and military significance for Liu Song Dynasty during the Southern Dynasties. Here tea trees were widely planted in temples and Taoist abbeys, whereas tea was a major medical substance offered by the monks to the great public.
Tea-horse trade originated from Tang Dynasty. At that time, tea trees were planted across Yang Lou Dong. Farmers in this area were designated by the royal court as dedicated tea planters, constituting the basic cell in tea production cycle. They were just like the tea planters today and reflected the rising tea economy in Tang Dynasty.
During Jingde Period of Song Dynasty (1004-1007), it was recorded in Wanquan County Annals (i.e. gazetteers of prefectures and sub-prefectures of Hebei) that local officials started trading tea from Hubei and Hunan Provinces for horses from Mongolia. To be more specific, local officials distributed and sold the Crumby-cake tea from Hubei and Hunan Provinces to the Western Regions and traded with Mongolians for horses. The tea trade in Hubei and Hunan Provinces was quite prosperous at that time. The Tea Road with Yang Lou Dong as its starting point experienced a long history of development.
In late Yuan Dynasty, six huge families surnamed Lei, Liu, He, Chen, Qiu, and Rao in Yang Lou Dong founded tea houses and tea-processing workshops, with their tea gardens as the basis.
When it came to the middle Ming Dynasty, tea-making industry of certain scale emerged in Yang Lou Dong. A core belt of tea planting and making centering on Cha’anling Town came into being along the ancient post road, starting from Tingsiqiao Town in the east and Yanglousi Town in the west.
During Yongle Period of Ming Dynasty (1403-1424), people in Yang Lou Dong began producing circular compressed tea with bamboo slips and strips which was called “Maohe Tea (i.e. the shape of the tea like hat)”. In the meanwhile, professional tea brokers appeared.
The ancient town of Yang Lou Dong was formed during Wanli Period of Ming Dynasty (1573-1620) when local commodity economy emerged. By then, the “Silk Road” almost evolved to be the “Zhuan Tea Road”, as merchants working along the road were delivering Zhuan Tea produced in Yang Lou Dong incessantly to different corners in the Western Regions.
The second stage of the Tea Road’s development was the period from signing of Sino-Russian Treaty of Nerchinsk to Taiping Rebellion. The road was also called “Sino-Russia Tea Road” at that time and was mainly used for distribution and sales of Crumby-cake Tea, Maohe Tea, and Zhuan Tea.
During Kangxi Period of Qing Dynasty (1662-1722), Yang Lou Dong tea-producing area became widely known for the quality tea from Furong Mountain (a core area where the ancient town of Yang Lou Dong is located today). The tea trade with the Western Regions and Mongolia was quite prosperous at that time. There were 48 tea houses and over 200 tea shops distributed along three streets and one alley of the ancient town of Yang Lou Dong. The town was extraordinarily busy at that time.
Since signing of the Treaty of Kyakhta between China and Russia in 1727 during Yongzheng Period of Qing Dynasty (1723-1736), the Tea Road had become increasingly busy. It was also the period when the ancient town of Yang Lou Dong entered its heyday. In accordance with Chronicle of Pre-Opium War Events about Foreign Trade of Chinese Tea, in 1727 (or the 5th year of Yongzheng Period of Qing Dynasty), the Empress of Tsarist Russia dispatched her ambassadors to pay a visit to China, asking for establishing trade relations. Consequently, the Treaty of Kyakhta was signed, indicating commencement of tea trade by land between China and Russia. Shanxi merchants quickly built a “trade city” (or trade fair) in Kyakhta along the Chinese borders and the incoming tea was entirely gathered here. The Russian merchants, on the other hand, came carrying their goods to trade for tea. In this way, Kyakhta ascended to be the largest place in Russia for collecting the tea from China.
During the Qianlong Period of Qing Dynasty (1736-1796), Shanxi merchants started setting up tea houses in Yang Lou Dong and Yang Lou Si. Among them, the earliest ones were “Sanyuchuan” and “Jushengchuan” established by Dashengkui (i.e. the largest firm trading with Mongolia). Their annual yield of Maohe Tea reached 800,000kg.
The royal court of Daoguang Period of Qing Dynasty (1821-1851) experimented with tea commerce in Puqi by integrating tea planting, making, and sales. All the tea merchants from Shanxi, Shaanxi, Guangdong, Anhui, Hunan, and local places gathered in Yang Lou Dong. When the Opium War erupted in 1840, the Qing Government was forced to sign the first unequal treaty - Treaty of Nanjing through which the UK merchants were entitled to initiate trade directly in China without being restricted by “Cohong” any more. From then on, those tea houses in Yang Lou Dong became engaged in black tea production and produced more than 1.25 million kilograms of black tea every year. The tea products were distributed by the UK merchants all the way back to Europe. Thus, merchants from the UK, Russia and Japan could directly source tea from Yang Lou Dong.
The third stage of the Tea Road’s development spanned from Taiping Rebellion to before the establishment of the P.R.C.
During Xianfeng Period of Qing Dynasty (1851-1862), the tea road to Wuyi Mountain, Fujian was cut off amid eruption of Taiping Rebellion in 1851. Therefore, the Chang Family basing their business on tea trade led the Shanxi merchants to shift their business focus to tea-producing areas in Hubei and Hunan Provinces. They further expanded the tea gardens and houses. After arriving at Yang Lou Dong, they joined the Zhuan Tea producing industry. With the interception of tea road in the south, domestic tea merchants (mainly from Shanxi, Guangdong, Hunan, Anhui, Jiangxi, and Hubei) gathered in Yang Lou Dong one after another to make or trade tea. After 1861, merchants from the UK,Russia, France, Germany, and Japan, also scrambled to Yang Lou Dong and became engaged in tea production. This land with an area of less than 0.7km2 was occupied by merchants from different countries. At that time, there were over 200 tea houses. A great tea market with a population of over 40,000 people took shape, and gained the name of “Second Hankou”. By that time, the tea-making industry in Yang Lou Dong was quite developed, as the Yang Lou Dong Tea exported from here accounted for over 40% of total commodity export to Russia. The products were dominated by Qing Zhuan Tea and Mi Zhuan Tea, with annual output of 13 million kilograms (equal to 0.75 million kilograms’ silver). In this period of time, Zhuan Tea was the mainstream product in the tea houses operated by Shanxi merchants in Yang Lou Dong, while Zhuan Tea bearing the trademark of “Chuan (川)” was popular in the northwest China.
In 1855, the Qing Government established Likin Bureau in Yang Lou Dong and sub-bureaus in those neighboring tea-producing counties and towns such as Daokou, Puqi, Chongyang, Tongkou, and Bodun to collect tea tax. Apart from Likin bureaus, the government also set up post offices, police stations, and higher education schools in Yang Lou Dong and placed them under the direct governance of the provincial authority. This also reflected the critical role played by Yang Lou Dong as a tea distribution and trade base during Ming and Qing Dynasties.
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