In 2022, the Proposal on Saving and Protecting Xinyang Tea Historical and Cultural Heritage submitted by Xinyang CPPCC Cultural and Historical Committee was listed as the key proposal of the Seventh Session of the Fifth Session of CPPCC, and was supervised by the leadership of CPPCC, which gave me the opportunity to visit Ganjiachong Village, Liulin Township, Shihe District.
Previously, Xinyang Old Journalists Association invited Ms. Liu, the granddaughter of Gan Yijing, the father of Xinyang Maojian Teahouse and the founder of the teahouse, as a guest, to visit Gan Yijing's century-old tea garden and teahouse, and made a live video of WeChat official account. This time, I went to the scene to check. As can be seen in the video, Gan Yijing's century-old house is in a worrying state and needs urgent repair.
Xinyang has a long history of growing tea. The history with physical objects to test began in the Warring States period, and the history with written materials to test began in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, flourished in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song Dynasty and declined in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. 1936 "Rebuilding Xinyang County Records" published by Hankou Hongxing Publishing House records: "Dachagou, Zhongchagou and Xiaochagou are all tea-producing areas to the north of Wudou Peak, and there are still some remaining plants."
This is the only record of tea production in Xinyang in Ming Dynasty that can be seen in historical books, and it is also scattered in a few poems of Ming Dynasty. Similarly, in Rebuilding Xinyang County Records, Shihuozhi III gives the reason why Xinyang tea declined in the Ming Dynasty, with only one plant left. "At the end of the Ming Dynasty, tea was heavily taxed and looted by bandits, so it was completely cut down." Xinyang tea in Ming and Qing poetry is mostly related to temples, and its output is very limited, which is only for monks' own use.
Until the end of the Qing Dynasty, influenced by the Reform Movement of 1898, people of insight in Xinyang began to "save the country through industry", among which Cai Zhuxian, Gan Yijing, Liu Moxiang and Wang Zimo were the representatives. Cai Zhuxian, a righteous man, advocated planting tea in the mountains, as written in the third food chronicle of Rebuilding Xinyang County Records.
Eight tea houses, including Yuan Zhen, Guangyi, Shen Yu, Hongji (now famous as Cheyun), Hou Bo, Sensen (now Wanshou), Longtan and Guangsheng, have been established successively. This is the original record of the "Eight Tea Clubs" in Xinyang, and the location, scale and output of the "Eight Tea Clubs" are also recorded in the chronicle.