1. Yunnan Secret Land
In the first echelon that can be called a secret in China, in addition to most of Xinjiang and Tibet, there must be Southwest Yunnan, a historical jewel.
This long history originated in the Tang Dynasty.
As the starting point of the Yunnan-Tibet Tea-Horse Road, several important towns in southwestern Yunnan: Xishuangbanna, Lincang, and Simao (Pu'er) are famous for their high-quality large-leaf green tea.
Before the end of the long rainy season, businessmen from Yunnan led camel teams loaded with tea, crossed the muddy Hengduan Mountains, and headed for remote Tibetan areas.
They went north to Jianchuan and Lijiang, passed Benzilan to Yanjing, and then walked along the Lancang River to Mangkang and Zuogong in Tibet, and then went to Tibet in two ways.
This is a lonely journey, which usually lasts for a year. They exchange horses and precious medicinal materials from Tibet, and then return to their hometown through the snow.
This ancient trading method is called "tea-horse trade".
2. Alpine Village
More than 90% of Pu'er tea raw materials come from the three major tea regions of Banna, Lincang and Simao. It is further subdivided into counties, mountains, and villages (villages). Generally speaking, a village is the smallest unit.
These villages are generally distributed on the mountainside at an altitude of 1200-1800 meters, where the vegetation is lush, the rainfall is abundant, the products are rich, and the sea of clouds can be seen in four seasons.
In order to resist humidity, the Hani people in Bama Guzhai, Nannuo Mountain, built a dry-column building with a whole log as the base and a whole plank as a fence.
They use wooden piles to raise the ground floor to house farm tools and vehicles, and raise poultry; the second floor is the residence, kitchen and tea room, and there are also special tea frying rooms and drying and drying rooms.
The roasted Pu-erh raw tea, in this most familiar environment, accepts the transformation brought about by time.
Shuangjiang Town in the Lincang Tea Area is named after the Xiaohei River flows into the Lancang River, and Iceland Lake in the upper reaches of the Xiaohei River gave birth to Iceland Village, the seat of the tea nobles.
Every March, after a winter recuperation, the tea trees accumulate abundant energy.
The Lahu tea pickers set off at 5:00 a.m. to go to the back mountain where the ancient tea trees grow, and make sure to complete the picking work within 2 hours after sunrise.
Due to the scarcity of production, hundreds of centuries-old tea trees in Icelandic Village enjoyed the preferential treatment of picking, frying and storing individually, and sent them to the hands of dignitaries and dignitaries 2,000 kilometers away.
The mountain roads in Upper Iceland Village are extremely muddy and dangerous, and the roads are often damaged by landslides, so there are still caravans in Iceland Village.
Within two months after Grain Grain, the Blang people living at the foot of Jingmai Mountain in the Simao tea area also started their work in the early morning. They will set off to Jingmai's 10,000-acre ecological tea garden to find a unique plant - crab legs.
This is a parasitic plant that resembles the arthropods of crabs. Dried crab feet are sweet in nature and can be used in soups and medicines; they can also be brewed with Pu'er cooked tea to neutralize and warm.
They are hidden in the branches of tea trees, often mixed with mosses, orchids, and ferns, and their positions are unpredictable, making the search lively and interesting.
Because summer Pu-erh tea is bitter and thin, farmers gradually no longer make summer tea; they have enough time to look for crab feet—a reward from the tea mountain.
3. Harney Diet
Before the 1990s, due to the special living environment, the Hani people in Xishuangbanna seldom grew vegetables, but went to the mountains to look for wild vegetables. But it is winter that really tests them.
Although Banna is located in the subtropics, the winter on the high mountains slows down the growth of wild vegetables. The Hani people try to break open the wild plantain tree to get the tenderest part in the middle - the plantain heart. Since then, this delicious herb has been included in the Hani people's recipes.
The staple food is chicken porridge, supplemented with scrambled eggs with stinky vegetables, braised chicken offal with bracken, and fried plantain hearts. This is the highest etiquette for Hani people to entertain guests.
The rice wine of the Hani people is considered to be bestowed by the gods, so regardless of weddings or weddings, happy or sad, they must drink alcohol, and wine has become the first food of the Hani people.
Sitting around the table of the Hani people, while enjoying the gifts from the mountains, you will always hear "Yayo" and "Yami" (meaning men and women) singing the toast song in the language of the Hani people:
Let's hold it up together/This glass of mellow wine/Everyone has done it together/I wish everyone health and happiness
4. The ancient road Today's tea gave birth to southwestern Yunnan and brought unprecedented prosperity to the post stations and villages along the road.
From hustle and bustle to loneliness, from prosperity to solitude; the alternation of time and space for thousands of years has allowed people who have been engaged in tea planting since ancient times in southwestern Yunnan to leave the mountains and come to the broader plains.
The once natural moat has become a thoroughfare, and the tea-horse trade market that has existed for hundreds of years has improved its efficiency and changed its appearance with the development of transportation.
The Ancient Tea-Horse Road finally turned into a period of song-like years, passing away with the wind.
Only the majestic villages along the way and the gurgling mountain springs witness the interweaving of commodities and civilizations, the dialogue between valleys and plateaus; they tell the happy or sad years and the vicissitudes of the past.
On the Benzilan, there are no more caravans running; the Jinsha River is still surging, as if the Han, Tibetan and Dongba peoples blend and agitate along the bank. Because of the people coming and going, the thorns and songs all the way, civilization is brought to the world. further afield.