Chinese Tea Cultivation Tradition

Timeline

1. c. -1000–200Tea mountains of Ba-Shu and Yunnan-Guizhou · SouthwestEarly peoples domesticated wild tea trees into cultivated shrubs, initially boiling young leaves for medicinal use; traditional texts such as the Shennong Bencao record their detoxifying properties. By around the Han dynasty, commercial tea activity had emerged in the Ba-Shu region.
2. 600–1200Jiangnan and Fujian tea regions · JiangnanLu Yu's Classic of Tea in the Tang systematically summarized cultivation, picking, and steam-fixed processing techniques; in the Song, whipped tea became popular, with Beiyuan tribute tea and Jian'an tea products establishing refined horticultural standards, as tea areas expanded into the southeastern hills and professional tea households emerged.
3. 1391–1450Xiuning and She County in Anhui, and the Longjing area of Zhejiang · JiangnanIn 1391 the Ming founder ordered an end to compressed tea cake production, replacing it with tribute of bud leaves, promoting the spread of loose-leaf pan-firing and baking techniques; between 1391 and 1400, tea farmers in Huizhou and western Zhejiang adjusted picking standards and garden management, laying the institutional foundation for the transformation of Ming tea culture.
4. 1500–1900Wuyi Mountain in Fujian and Chaozhou in Guangdong · SoutheastFrom the mid-late Ming through the Qing, gongfu tea systems such as Wuyi rock tea, Anxi Tieguanyin, and eastern Guangdong dancong matured; in the Qing, the Thirteen Factories of Guangzhou exported large quantities of black and oolong teas to Europe, with tea garden areas and primary-processing workshops expanding rapidly in the southeastern mountains.
5. 1950Major tea regions of China · ChinaAfter the founding of the PRC, tea research institutes and a clonal improved-variety promotion system were established, and famous teas such as Longjing and Biluochun were designated with protected origin status; today emphasis is placed on ecological tea gardens, intangible heritage transmission of handmade tea processing, and digital traceability, with China remaining the world's largest tea producer.