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Take a sip of tea for royal family

By Huang Zhiling and He Hongwei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-04-03 22:14

CHENGDU -- Visitors to Wenshu Fun, a street of ancient Chinese style in the city center of Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan province, were given a pleasant surprise on Friday morning, for they were treated with various kinds of free fresh tea.

The tea from Mount Mengding in Ya'an city in western Sichuan used to be sipped by the royal family, for it was tribute for more than 1,100 years in succession since the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD).

A young man from a teahouse in Ya'an performs the stunt of tea-serving in Wenshu Fun in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan province Friday April 3, 2009. [chinadaily.com.cn]

To promote Mengding tea, the city government of Ya'an is sponsoring a four-day tea-tasting campaign in Wenshu Fun which kicked off on Friday morning.

Visitors could take the time to sip tea while listening to traditional music and enjoying traditional dances pertaining to tea, seeing workers fry tea leaves and serve tea. They can also solve riddles with the theme of tea.

Twenty tea producing enterprises from Ya'an have brought top-notch tea to Wenshu Fun for visitors to taste.

Mengding is regarded as the birthplace of the world tea culture. It was where the world's first tea tree was planted, according to Fu Zhikang, executive deputy director of the Sichuan provincial department of agriculture.

But like many types of tea in Sichuan, Mengding is less known to the general public compared with tea from outside the province because it is remote and landlocked.

More publicity has to be done, he said.

As a major tea-producing area in Sichuan, Ya'an ranks first in the province in terms of tea output.

Responding to the provincial government's strategy of marketing more local tea to the outside, Ya'an has set up four outlets in Wenshu Fun to sell its tea, said Mao Kai, deputy mayor of Ya'an in an interview with China Daily website.

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