| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺北教育大學 === 台灣文化研究所 === 99 === Abstract
There are three possible origins of Dong Ding tea. It could be from the indigenous tea trees. It could be Lin Fengchi who brought the seedling from Fujian Province. It could be brought by the early settlers. The indigenous tea tree, the Shui-Sha-Lian tea had declined during the Dao-guang period as the tea in Taipei rose up. The following two are more possible. Either Lin Fengchi, the candidate for imperial examination, brought the seedling from Wuyi mountain in Fujian and Lin Sanxian grew it at Dong Ding, or the Su ancestors at Dong Ding brought and grew it.
The Dong Ding Oolong tea plantations in Lugu Township originally center at the Dong Ding tableland or the Da-Shui-Jue tableland, with the altitude from 500 meters to 800 meters above sea levels. The soil are diluvial red soil and sand stone-shale yellow soil, with moderate pH. The climate is sub-tropical, with the annual average temperature at 20 degrees, the annual average precipitation at 2500 mm, and the annual relative humidity at more than 88 percent. The weather is foggy throughout the year. These conditions are good for growing tea trees and cultivating excellent Dong Ding tea. Dong Ding tea mostly remains its handmade style in its growing management, plucking, processing, and refinement. The tea leaves are much fermented and rolled inside the cloth bag at high temperature for several times. The tea leaves are roasted enough and have a special roasted fragrance called the “Dong Ding flavor.” The tea leaf strips are tight and rolled in a semi-spherical shape with dark green color. The brewed tea is golden or honey yellow. It looks obviously-roasted bright. The tea smells fragrant and tastes mellow with sweet and rich aftertaste. Dong Ding tea is rich both in flavor and fragrance.
The main type of Dong Ding tea is Qingxin Oolong. With Anxi style processing, moderate climate, and farmer’s cultivation, the quality of Dong Ding Oolong is established. Since the 1970s, with the development of Taiwan economy and the rise of people’s income, drinking tea has become a trend. This turns Dong Ding tea, which was originally a secondary crop, into the main crop with high economic value in Lugu Township. After tea became the main industry in Lugu, the people’s lives improved a lot. In 1974, the Lugu demonstrative tea farm and the Lugu high grade Dong Ding tea production area were set up, which brought the tea industry of Lugu into a new stage of vigorous development. In 1977, Taiwan Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Department guided the president of the Lugu Farmer’s Association to hold the first “best tea competition” of Dong Ding tea, which is a turning point for Dong Ding tea development. So far, the competition Dong Ding tea has become the sales target of domestic tea. Now among the best tea sales in the tea production areas of the country, those which are held by Lugu’s tea industry organizations, such as the Lugu Farmer’s Association, the Dong Ding Tea Leaf Production Cooperative Agency, and the Yong-long, Feng-huang Community, are valued most.
Tea is the main economic crop in Lugu Township and influences the economy and culture in the town. The Farmer’s Association guides and founds “tea life ceremony”. It digs into various tea art techniques, and helps promote children tea art culture in elementary schools and junior high schools in town. This makes the tea art culture flourish in Lugu. “The dialogue between tea and music” is the cultural property initiated in Lugu during the 1990s. “Tea and music” tightly combines tea with traditional Chinese music, and is an important item of Lugu tea art culture. The Farmer’s Association and the tea life ceremony promote the tea town culture, using tea art to link tea industry with tea culture. Nowadays the tea art culture development in Lugu is diversification, including tea and literature, tea and drawing, tea and dance, tea ceremony arrangement, tea dessert making, tea meal making, children tea art, tea and music appreciation, etc. These tea culture activities make Dong Ding tea an important cultural property.
Key words: Dong Ding Oolong tea, Lin Fengchi, best tea competition, Lugu, tea art culture
|
|---|
