Longjing tea began in the Song Dynasty and didn't really become famous until the Qing Dynasty. Historically, it was divided into five font sizes: lion, dragon, cloud, tiger and plum. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, it was merged into three font sizes: lion, dragon and plum. After the unified purchase and marketing of tea in the 1950s, it was collectively called West Lake Longjing Tea.
The unique quality of West Lake Longjing tea is produced by special environmental moisture and soil conditions and unique processing technology. Longjing tea area is adjacent to West Lake in the east, Qiantang River in the south, surrounded by mountains in the northwest, with rolling peaks, green mountains and green waters, towering ancient trees and streams flowing all over; Tea trees have been in the water vapor ecological environment of "no rain and long flow, no clouds and no water" for many years. White sandy soil and yellow loam, which are weathered by residual slope of "West Lake Yingshi" rock, siltstone and silty mudstone, contain trace elements suitable for forming high-quality tea.
Longjing tea is named after the spring, and Longjing Village has Longjing Spring, which does not dry all year round. According to legend, Longjing Spring leads directly to the East China Sea. As early as the Three Kingdoms period, people prayed for rain by the well. Li Deling, the chief soldier stationed in Zhejiang in the Ming Dynasty, was stationed at the foot of Fengling Mountain. In the 13th year of Orthodox (1448), there was a drought in Hangzhou, and the ranks went to Longjing to get water. There was insufficient traffic at that time. Li ordered soldiers to dig wells and take out the silver bars, jade buddhas, gold ingots and other sacrificial objects in the Northern Song Dynasty. Dig it out again, and suddenly dark clouds are gathering and spring water is surging. Later, Li De built a temple next to Longjing Spring and named it Longjing Temple after the spring, which is now Longjing Tea House.
Emperor Qing Qianlong visited the south of the Yangtze River six times, visited Longjing Tea District four times, tasted tea and made poems, and presented eighteen teas as imperial tea in front of Gong Hu Temple at the foot of Shifeng Mountain. These four poems profoundly describe the picking, frying, shape and quality of Longjing tea and the hard work of tea farmers. In the poem "Meeting Tea in Longjing", the taste, unique tea-making style, tea soil and picking season of Longjing new tea brewed by Longjing spring water are described, especially the praise of its elegant quality dwarfs Fengtuan Imperial Tea. The full text of this poem is:
Longjing spring, Longjing new tea, is called cooking.
Inch bud self-decaying rock, baked into Grain Rain before the season.
Why does Phoenix Group brag about how the tongue moistens the heart lotus?
Ready to refute, laugh at me, I am still Zen.
Debate: Presided over Tianzhu Temple, surnamed Xu Wuxiang, eloquent method number, 109 1 died in Longjing at the age of 80.
Scholars in previous dynasties praised West Lake Longjing Tea, and more than 40 monographs have been found. Su Dongpo and Tang Tao's quatrains "I want to compare the West Lake to the West Lake", "I have never been a beauty" and "I am not allowed to be a tea farmer when the lakes and mountains return" reflect the literati's love for Longjing tea.
After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou, Chairman Zhu De and other party and state leaders of the older generation, as well as General Secretary Jiang and Chairman, visited the tea area several times to pay attention to the production of Longjing tea. Chairman Mao's inscription "Longjing tea, flowing water, the best in the world". President Zhu De wrote "Wangxihu Tea Area", "Shifeng Longjing produces famous tea and produces 100 teams; The slope is 400 mu, and the annual income has increased. " Poetry. Zhou Enlai, Prime Minister of the State Council, visited meijiawu Village in Longjing Tea District for five times to inspect and guide the production of Longjing tea, and personally revised "Tea Picking Dance" written by famous composer Zhou Dafeng twice. Now, meijiawu Village has a memorial hall for Premier Zhou Enlai, which has become a tourist attraction in the tea area.
"tea things" has been included in the music textbook of primary and secondary schools by UNESCO. The lyrics say that "tea picking is fast and economical, changing machines is fast and economical, and changing steel is fast and economical", which expresses that West Lake Longjing tea has made great contributions to the country's economic construction in the era of material shortage.
Today, when we are about to enter Hangzhou Station by train, we can hear the beautiful melody of "tea things" played on the train, which seems to have brought us to meijiawu and Longjing Temple in those days, and listened to Premier Zhou's teachings, businessmen and national construction plans; Drink West Lake Longjing tea with Aisingiorro Hongli, and talk about the past and today's heroes.