“Although any period of history has its irreplaceable uniqueness, China from 1978 to 2008 is the least likely to be repeated. In a large country with a population of nearly 1.3 billion, the rigid planned economic system is gradually disintegrating. A group of small people have turned China into a huge testing ground, and under the watchful eyes of the public, it has made an irreversible transition to a commercial society.”
In Wu Xiaobo’s “Thirty Years of Stirring”, he described these thirty years in a certain way. This ingenious and delicate logic is divided into five parts, including “unrest without rules” and “march of national brands”. Among them, 1993 and 2008 are also regarded as special time points by him. The division of time coincides.
In the 1990s, state-owned enterprises entered a wave of restructuring, countless entrepreneurs worked hard in all walks of life, and the private economy gradually grew outside the system. In the wave, the industry may be divided into hot and cold, and people’s livelihood matters are not big or small. For the frontier land of Yunnan, Pu’er tea has become a rare and precious commodity that connects the eastern coastal areas.
At that time, there was basically no market space for Pu’er tea in mainland China, which was still on the way to solve the problem of food and clothing. However, in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries, the warm and affectionate Pu’er tea foundation built due to historical origins quickly established a relationship with Yunnan. A market for commerce and trade.
Pu’er tea is a special existence in the Chinese tea culture system. Among the actual Pu-erh teas that we can see today, they can be roughly divided into three ages: number-grade tea, India-grade tea, and seven-child cake according to different ages. The Pu’er tea produced from 1993 to 2008 is our definition of label-grade Pu’er tea. In 1993, the unified purchase and marketing system was completely abolished, and the traditional and long-standing Pu’er tea ignited the hope of revival in the liberation of the planned economy.
The era of Jia Chuan’s label level is the rise of the customized tea market in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asian countries, the continuous emergence of private tea companies, the “post-era” of the Chinese tea label, and the emergence of various Pu-erh tea brand trademarks… The development of Pu-erh tea Towards clarity in chaos. Objectively speaking, the Pu-erh teas of the label-level era are naturally superior and inferior, but more often, the label-level Pu-erh teas flow the unique glory of that era.
Since 2003, the national and local levels have been constantly formulating and improving the standards of Puer tea. Until 2008, with the official promulgation and implementation of “GB/T22111-2008 Puer Tea National Standard” as an important node, Puer tea has entered a comprehensive revival. and another stage of development. Today, 14 years have passed since the important time of 2008, and the world is standing at a new crossroads in the past century.
From top to bottom, we are immersed in the context of “great changes unseen in a century”, and the bizarre life Farther and farther away from the slow time of the past, the virtual world, online social networking, and live broadcast economy… are not only words that represent modernism, but the power behind them is changing people’s lifestyles like never before, and impacting all walks of life at the same time. The life and death and direction of the industry.
Looking back on that era now, the feeling of suddenly looking back seems more and more profound. Perhaps, in such a macro process, looking at the era of Puerh tea in a few years later will highlight its special significance and unrepeatability in the historical stage. I remember that on a quiet afternoon in the suburbs of Menghai County recently, the manager of Langhe Tea Factory (Lao Langhe) invited us to have a look at the live broadcast bases of various live broadcast platforms located on the mountainside. Pressed tea cakes, fast and efficient logistics…
The old tea master has her hands behind her back, and her back looks out of place in the slightly impetuous young team. On the return journey, she sighed: “I feel that during the period of the defined label level, Time is slow. At that time, most of the merchants we met were monks, tea masters, and businessmen.
Certain cultural connotations gave them their own unique understanding of tea. We tea makers naturally followed in their footsteps, making tea carefully and meticulously. Taste tea and do business in a down-to-earth way. These memories are always worth recalling.”
Two years ago, we sorted out the 15-year history of label-grade Pu-erh tea for two consecutive issues, counting the past events intertwined during that time. This is the third time we have talked about the label-grade Pu’er tea, retelling the story of the pioneers of tea people and tea merchants in the frontier land of Yunnan participating in China’s “thirty years of turmoil” story.
As a concrete and special footnote of the era, most of the brand-name Pu-erh teas themselves have become popular commodities in the market. Their unique taste, long and deep memories of the times, and the unique era of entrepreneurs behind them The spirit is at the moment of drinking the old tea soup, so that the distant time can be touched closer. After all, we can always get something out of every look back at history… so that we can have a future as rich as tea soup.
