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The Ancient Tea-Horse Trade Route

For thousands of years, along the unpaved and often rugged road, tea, salt and sugar flowed into Tibet, while horses, cows, furs, musk and other local products came out. The ancient commercial passage, dubbed the "Ancient Tea-Horse Road", or "Cha Ma Gu Dao", first appeared during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and lasted until the 1960s when Tibetan highways were constructed.

Six major routes :

Route One:
Begins in Xishuangbanna and Simao, home of Pu-erh tea via Kunming to other Province in China into Beijing.

Route Two:
Begins in Pu-erh (via Simao, Jinhong, Menghai to Daluo) in Yunnan Province into Burma, then from Burma into Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Hongkong.

Route Three:
Begins in Pu-erh via Xiaguan, Lijiang, Zhongdian into Tibet, then from Lhasa into Nepal and India.

Route Four:
Begins in Pu-erh via Jiangcheng in Yunnan into Vietman, then from Vietman into Tibet and Europe.

Route Five:
Begins in Pu-erh via Simao, Lanchang, Meilian in Yunnan into Burma.

Route Six:
Begins in Pu-erh via Meila in Yunnan into Burma.

The Tea Saint

See Lu Yu

The Tea-Horse Trade in Ancient China

In the Nouthwest territories of China lived many minorities who used meat and diary products as their food. Tea was the main source of vitamin C ans as important as food. The northwest people had to import tea from central China. At the same time, their fine horses were a great treasure for the ancient war lords. In many Dynasties the emperors used the so called Tea-horse Trade to exchange a great amount of war horses by using much less valued tea, so that they could control the economy and politics of the remote area by this unfair trade.

The first Tea-Horse Trade was opened in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), under the Emperor Suzong, when the Mongolia people used their herds for exchange of tea. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) the Tea-Horse trade was under a harsh control by the government. Specific officials were assigned to supervise the trade in the remote areas. The Tea-Horse Trade was abolished by the Mongolia governors in the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368 AD). In the later Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD), the Tea-Horse Trade was resumed and became more important to the government. In the Hongwu Era in the early Ming Dyansty, one of the best racing horse could exchange at most 120 Jins of tea (one Jin equals about 500 grams or slightly more than one pound), averagely one horse could exchange 40 pounds of tea only. In the Qing Dynasty (1636-1911 AD) China was reigned by another minority the Manchu People and the Tea-Horse exchange was much less cared by the government. In 1735 the Emperor Yongzheng stopped the official Tea-Horse Trade. Tea-Horse Trade as a policy lasted for almost 700 years during five dynasties.

Tea-Horse Trade was also used to control the people in the Southwest China such as today's Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi Provinces and Tibet area.

Tie Guan Yin Tea

TieGuanYin is a premium variety of Chinese oolong tea associated with Anxi in the Fujian province. Named after the Buddhist deity Guan Yin, it has also been translated as "Iron Goddess of Mercy". Recently the tea has been grown in Nantou, Formosa where it thrives.

Tie Guan Yin Tea is the major drink for people in Fujian Province for many centries. They take tea as an important part of the daily life. The whole tea drinking procedure has become a ceremony called Gongfu Tea (Gongfu Cha, Kongfu Cha)

Tie Guan Yin Tea is believed to have many medical effects such as lower the blood pressure and imporve the gastric system function. It is one of the most famous tea products in China.