Draft:Tea brand of Wuyi Dahongpao in Fujian

• Comment: In accordance with Wikipedia's Conflict of interest policy, I disclose that I have a conflict of interest regarding the subject of this article. AirZe (talk) 15:15, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

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Tea, silk and porcelain were once the most popular and iconic Chinese products in the West in the early era of globalization.

Fujian is the birthplace of oolong tea, black tea, white tea and jasmine tea. It is also an important starting point and birthplace of the ancient Maritime Silk Road and Tea Horse Road.

Wuyi Dahongpao is one of the most famous tea brands in Fujian. Its tea family belongs to the Camellia order, the family Theaceae. Dahongpao tea trees are shrubs with half-opened crowns and densely branched branches. The leaves are wide oval, dark green and shiny. If they are new buds, they are dark green with purple, revealing the hairy leaves. The flowers are large, with sparse and slightly long filaments of different heights. The flowering period is from March to September. When the early spring tea buds of Wuyi Dahongpao sprout, the whole tree looks bright red like fire from a distance, as if a red robe is covering the tree, hence the name.

In Wuyi Mountain, "Dahongpao" is a household name. It is well-known to everyone. Because the four tea trees on the Jiulongke rock wall are named after Dahongpao. Among the many folk legends in Wuyi Mountain, the most attractive one is the legend of Dahongpao.

There are many folk legends about the origin of the name of Dahongpao tea tree. Some say that the abbot of Tianxin Temple used the magic tea grown in Jiulongke to cure the illness of a scholar who went to Beijing to take the imperial examination, which made the scholar the top scorer. In order to repay the abbot of Tianxin Temple for saving his life with the magic tea, the scholar went straight to Jiulongke, the birthplace of the magic tea, after returning to Wuyi Mountain, took off the Dahongpao gifted by the emperor, and put it on the magic tea tree. From then on, people named this magic tea "Dahongpao". Another saying is that when Emperor Kangxi went to Jiangnan for inspection, he was seriously ill due to acclimatization and was bedridden. Many good doctors could not cure him. Later, someone presented a bag of Wuyi Mountain tea to the emperor for drinking. Unexpectedly, Kangxi recovered from his illness after drinking it. When Kangxi learned that this magical tea was originally produced in Wuyi Mountain, he immediately sent someone to Wuyi Mountain with a red imperial robe and hung it on the tea tree as a gift. "Da Hong Pao" got its name from this.

Wuyi Mountain writer Mr. Wang Changqing once wrote: "Wearing a red robe is a symbol of imperial power, a unique honor that only feudal emperors can enjoy; the four tea trees located on the Jiulongke rock wall can be named Da Hong Pao and enjoy the same honor as the emperor. This is a great wonder in the history of Chinese tea. The tea trees that were originally unknown immediately became famous and renowned because of the emperor's love and gift, becoming the national "king of tea", which was highly respected and admired by people all over the world." Of course, the uniqueness of Da Hong Pao also lies in the fact that it grows on the rock wall in the deep valley of Jiulongke. The soil here is excellent, with little sunlight and water dripping all year round, so the tea is red and thick. After the careful craftsmanship of the tea maker, it can be brewed nine times without losing its original osmanthus fragrance, which is amazing to all tasters.

"Dahongpao"  is just one of the big brands in China, and it is tea drinkers that tell which kind of tea goes to their own preferences

References

1.周武：福建为何盛产茶叶, https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1552614 2.刘福明:武夷山名茶“大红袍”的传说,https://www.wuyishantea.com/xingweng/wenzai/003.htm