Fuding White Tea Lecture Hall Opens My White Tea Journey

Fuding is a name full of good fortune. Fujian has quite a few place names containing the character "fu" (fortune). The provincial capital Fuzhou calls itself "the City of Fortune." In the dictionary, "ding" is explained as "illustrious, grand," so what Fuding possesses is a tremendous fortune indeed. Fuding City is located in the northeastern part of Fujian Province, adjacent to Wenzhou, Zhejiang, and is the place of origin of white tea, one of China's six major tea categories. It is known as the "Hometown of Chinese White Tea." Lu Yu, the Sage of Tea, wrote in The Classic of Tea: "Three hundred li east of Yongjia County there is White Tea Mountain." This description, reminiscent of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, refers to Taimu Mountain in Fuding.

I first encountered white tea at a tea estate in Taimu Mountain. It was early 2007, and I had come to Taimu Mountain to attend the first "New Writers, New Works" award ceremony held by Fujian Daily. It was the rainy season, and Taimu Mountain's fantastical peaks and bizarre rocks were all hidden in the misty rain and fog, which left everyone feeling a little disappointed. Then a poet suggested: "If you cannot see Taimu's true face, then drink a cup of Taimu Mountain's tea." The tea estate was run by the poet himself. Secretively, he took out a small pinch of downy tea leaves. The leaves, unremarkable in appearance, unfurled in a glass cup when brewed with boiling water, rising and sinking three times, each one standing upright, half floating on the surface and half gradually settling to the bottom. He introduced it: "This is the finest grade of Fuding white tea - Silver Needle White Hair." Since ancient times, famous mountains have produced famous teas. With such fine mountains and fine waters, and such fine tea, no wonder that poet could write such beautiful verses.

This cup of white tea forged an indissoluble bond between me and Fuding. In 2008, I went to work at a tea magazine, and my first business trip was to Fuding, to attend the "White Tea in My Eyes" field reporting event. The second time I went up Taimu Mountain, I went to see the tea gardens. After the rain cleared, mist and clouds wrapped around the mountain, and the distant peaks, like ink wash paintings, appeared and disappeared through the clouds and smoke. The tea trees, nurtured and moistened by cloud and water, had taken on a touch of immortal spirit, and the tea pickers among the vegetation seemed to have transformed into tea themselves. I suddenly understood the deep meaning of the character "cha" (tea), and Fuding white tea, with a color like mountain mist and ethereal thoughts in its heart, must surely be tea from heaven.

In Taimu Mountain, the mother tree of Fuding white tea - the ancient Green Snow Bud tea tree - is still preserved to this day, and the legend of Lady Taimu discovering white tea and saving the world is still passed down. In 2009, I went to Fuding to attend the China White Tea Culture Festival, went up Taimu Mountain for the third time, and made a special trip to visit the ancient tea tree. In 2010, Taimu Mountain, the "Immortal Capital on the Sea," successfully claimed the title of "World Geopark," and Fuding white tea's premium product "Taimu Silver Needle" was also successfully selected as one of the "Top Ten Famous Chinese Teas of the Shanghai World Expo" for the United Nations Pavilion.

In Fujian, besides Fuding, Zhenghe also produces white tea. Zhenghe white tea comes from the mountainous region of northern Fujian and has a note of soy milk, light and plain, while Fuding white tea grows between the mountains and the sea of eastern Fujian, with a little more freshness and openness. Savoring Fuding white tea is like a person gazing at the sea, with the wind blowing gently on the face. So I feel that the best white tea should be grown on the sea.

Islands generally lack fresh water, yet the wonder of Yushan Island in Taimu Mountain is that it has two heavenly lakes, one large and one small, with spring water constantly welling up from the bottom of the lakes. Encircling the small heavenly lake is a ten-thousand-mu grassland known as the "Tianshan of the South," while along the shores of the large heavenly lake lies a vibrant tea garden. Sunlight falls on the green buds and leaves, the terraced fields stretch gently toward the lake, and a peak stands on the opposite shore, with a few wisps of floating cloud resting halfway up the mountain, making one temporarily forget that beyond the mountain lies the sea. But when you suddenly remember that this white tea is actually grown on the sea, you cannot help but marvel at this island, this expanse of lake water, and these green spirits.

From the dreamlike tea garden come now and then the laughter of the tea-picking women, wearing bamboo hats and carrying tea baskets on their backs, their nimble hands flying like shuttles as they pick the tender buds and leaves.

I think, if it were a moonlit night, sitting alone by the small heavenly lake, warming a pot of moonlight to brew tea, even if there were a Jade Pool and immortal palace in heaven, how could it compare to being in the human world? I think the white tea grown on this most beautiful island must be the finest white tea in the world. A friend who writes essays wrote when leaving Yushan Island: "On the way back I saw flight." What I saw were fresh green leaves, breathing evenly in the sunlight, dancing freely in the sea breeze. They are green dreams, picked, withered, roasted, naturally oxidized, until finally brewed, quietly passing through their time, leaving us a lifetime of aftertaste and sweetness.

At the end of 2010, I came to Fuding again to attend the "One Hundred Writers from Across the Country Look at White Tea" event, and with my own hands planted a white tea tree amid the green mountains and waters. I remembered that two years earlier, when I came to Fuding for an interview, a tea farmer in Taimu Mountain had said to me: "Tea trees have life and spirit. Treat tea as you would a friend. Only by planting tea with a grateful heart and communicating with the tea with your heart can you grow good tea." This is the blessing of white tea. And this ordinary Fuding Da Bai Hao will grow in place of me deep in the white clouds, bathed in nature's sunlight and rain.

Every trip to Fuding is accompanied all the way by the fragrance of tea. Looking back suddenly, I was surprised to find that in just 4 short years, I had actually gone up Taimu Mountain 5 times, and white tea had become a rare confidant in my life. What kind of destiny is this? By the banks of Tongshan Stream, at the foot of Taimu Mountain, a city of mountain scenery, a city full of tea fragrance. I suddenly thought of a beautiful promotional film for a certain Jiangnan ancient town, which fits perfectly to describe my past and present lives with Fuding white tea. I have been to many places, seen many beautiful sights, and drunk many good teas, yet for some reason, Fuding alone makes me want to stay. If life is a journey, then perhaps white tea is a rare romantic encounter along this journey.

Everyone who has been to Fuding will come back carrying good fortune and the fragrance of tea, I believe.