A lone brave man in the deep mountains and valleys - The Ancient Tea-Horse Road

A lone brave man in the deep mountains and valleys - The Ancient Tea-Horse Road

Lv Weitao, Curator at the National Museum of China

Zhang JinMember of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Working Committee of China Arts and Crafts Association

The Lone Hero in History - The Ancient Tea-Horse Road

What was it like to transport goods between the mountains and valleys of southwest China by the most primitive means of carrying them on horses, on people's backs, or even by crossing the river in leather bags? The Ancient Tea Horse Road, which began in the Tang Dynasty and lasted for more than 1,300 years until the Republic of China, saw such stories played out almost every day.

The Ancient Tea-Horse Road refers to a commodity trade route that was formed in the southwestern region of China since the Tang Dynasty to meet the production and living needs of the people. It mainly trades tea and horses, and uses mules, horses and people as the main means of transportation. It is mainly distributed in Sichuan Province, Yunnan Province and the Tibet Autonomous Region, with the Sichuan-Tibet Road, Yunnan-Tibet Road and other main roads as the main lines, supplemented by numerous branch lines and auxiliary lines, forming a huge transportation network.

The altitude along the Ancient Tea Horse Road is mostly between 2000-5000 meters, almost crossing the entire Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It was once the highest road in the world. In its long history, the Ancient Tea Horse Road promoted the economic and cultural development of the ethnic groups in the southwest, promoted ethnic integration, and is a historical witness to the unification of China. In March 2013, the Ancient Tea Horse Road was listed as the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Trading tea for horses to build friendship between Han and Tibetans

Tibetans need tea, but inland China, both civilian labor and military campaigns require a large number of horses, but the supply often exceeds the demand. Tibetan areas happen to be rich in good horses. Therefore, the complementary trade of "tea" and "horse", namely the "tea-horse trade", came into being.

One end of the Ancient Tea-Horse Road is Tibet. That’s because Tibetans really love drinking tea. They have a saying that “a day without tea will lead to stagnation”.

The average altitude of the Tibetan Plateau is over 4,500 meters, and it is a high-altitude cold area. The local Tibetans need to consume high-calorie fat, so tsampa, milk, butter, beef and mutton become their staple food. Without vegetables, tsampa is hot and dry, and too much fat is not easy to decompose in the human body. Tea can not only decompose fat, but also prevent heat, so Tibetans really cannot live without tea.

The earliest time when tea was imported into Tibet is generally believed by the academic community to be the Tang Dynasty. In 641 AD, Emperor Taizong of Tang betrothed the 16-year-old Princess Wencheng to Songtsen Gampo, the leader of the Tubo Dynasty. It is said that when Princess Wencheng married to Tibet, she had many boxes of various famous teas in her dowry. The Tibetan compatriots' diet was mainly beef, milk and tsampa, with very few fruits and vegetables, which made Princess Wencheng very uncomfortable. At first, she used tea to relieve the greasiness, and she felt much more comfortable. But after a few years, she had not brought much tea. Chang'an was a long way away, and she was worried that she could not supply it for a while, so she mixed some tea with milk to drink, which formed milk tea. Later, Princess Wencheng cooked butter and a little salt together, and butter tea was born.

In the 19th century, British traveler William Mocroft discovered during his trip to Tibet that people from all walks of life in Tibet drank a huge amount of tea. What intrigued him most was the Tibetans' unique butter tea, which involved adding butter and salt to the tea.

The Ancient Tea Horse Road began in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. During the Song Dynasty, the Liao and Western Xia surrounded it. The Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun were in the hands of the Liao Dynasty, and the Central Plains Dynasty lost the natural geographical barrier that restrained the northern cavalry. The Hetao area, which was rich in good horses, was in the sphere of influence of the Western Xia. The Song Dynasty's army, which was mainly composed of infantry, had to fight against the cavalry with strong mobility and impact with flesh and blood. Therefore, the Song Dynasty has been trying its best to purchase war horses from border areas to build a cavalry unit to defend the border.

At first, copper coins were used as the medium of exchange. Later, the Song Dynasty discovered that herdsmen in the area melted down the copper coins they got from selling horses and used them to make weapons, which posed a threat to the security of the Song Dynasty's borders. Considering national security, in the eighth year of Taipingxingguo (983), the Song Dynasty officially banned the use of copper coins to buy horses, and instead used cloth, tea, medicinal materials, etc. for barter. It also set up a special Tea and Horse Bureau, "to manage the profits of tea monopoly to support the country; all horses bought from the four barbarians were exchanged for tea."

The exchange of tea for horses became a custom, and the Ancient Tea-Horse Road became more worthy of its name. It is estimated that during the Northern Song Dynasty, tea from Sichuan alone was exchanged for more than 20,000 horses from Tibet each year, and more than 10,000 horses during the Southern Song Dynasty. During the Song Dynasty, Sichuan produced 30 million kilograms of tea annually, of which more than half was sold to Tibet.

How deep is the hole of the beggar? I have sweated a lot while carrying tea.

For a long time, tea from Ya'an, Sichuan, had to go through the Sichuan-Tibet Tea Horse Road to reach the towns in Tibet, crossing mountains and ridges along the way. The Sichuan-Tibet Tea Horse Road stretched for more than 3,000 kilometers and lasted for more than 1,300 years. This road was extremely rugged, and it was difficult for tall mules and horses to walk, so tea could only be transported by hand. These people who carried tea were called "tea bearers", and they were the ascetics of the Sichuan-Tibet Tea Horse Road. On the backs of the "tea bearers" were bundles of tea piled into mountains, weighing two or three hundred kilograms, but under their feet was a small path that could only accommodate one person, and if they were not careful, they would fall into the abyss.

It takes at least half a month to transport tea. Once the "tea carrier" carries two or three hundred kilograms of tea, he has to carry it from the starting point to the end point without unloading it. Because without the help of others, no one can carry these two or three hundred kilograms of tea again. Moreover, it is indeed difficult to find a flat place to stop and rest on the rugged Sichuan-Tibet Tea Horse Road. Every "tea carrier" has a T-shaped "wooden crutch" in his hand, which is used to support the ground when walking and to support the "tea mountain" on the back when resting to relieve the sense of oppression. Therefore, many crutch nests are left on the Sichuan-Tibet Tea Horse Road, which are the witnesses of the hard work of the "tea carriers" in transporting tea.

Crossing the river in leather, I suddenly got the precious Pu'er tea

In addition to brick tea from Ya'an, Sichuan, Tibetans also often drink Pu'er tea from Yunnan. Pu'er tea is mainly produced in the southern part of Yunnan Province, with the core areas including Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture and Pu'er City. Pu'er City is even named after the production of Pu'er tea. But in fact, Xishuangbanna produces more tea.

There are six of the most famous ancient tea mountains in Xishuangbanna, known as the "Six Great Tea Mountains". In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, there were as many as 100,000 people entering the "Six Great Tea Mountains" to pick tea every year, and more than 60,000 dan of tea were exported, equivalent to 300 tons. At that time, because of its good quality and careful processing, Pu'er tea once became a famous tribute tea to the court, and the court was popular with the saying "drinking Longjing in summer and Pu'er in winter". The amount of tea tributed to the court every year was designated as 66,666 kilograms, saying that the number 6 is a symbol of auspiciousness, meaning "six sixes are blessed" and "six sixes are smooth", so this amount was designated.

Pu'er tea is allowed to be sold in the market only after the tribute tea task is completed every year. At this time, tea merchants from far away will arrive as scheduled to transport the tea to distant Tibet. In order to facilitate the long-distance transportation of Pu'er tea, Yunnan has also invented a processing method for pressing tea cakes. These merchants responsible for transporting tea are called "horse gangs", that is, caravans that rely on mules and horses to transport tea.

It usually takes 180 days or even longer for a "horse caravan" to travel from Yunnan to Tibet. Compared with the Sichuan-Tibet Ancient Tea-Horse Road, the Yunnan-Tibet Ancient Tea-Horse Road can still rely on mules and horses to transport tea, but this road has to cross the hot and humid Hengduan Mountains. During transportation, the tea is often wetted by rain, and coupled with the high temperature, the tea will ferment and become moldy. Even so, tea merchants will not throw away the tea, because the journey is too far and the tea is too precious. The fermented tea will be sold at a low price after being transported to Tibet. However, what the tea merchants did not expect is that this fermented Pu'er tea is more popular in Tibet because it has a softer taste and a richer aroma.

There is another saying that Pu'er tea has to cross the Jinsha River on its way to Tibet, and because it needs to be "crossed in leather bags", the tea will ferment when it is damp. In Lijiang, Yunnan, the Jinsha River, which originally flows from north to south, makes a big turn here and changes its flow direction to south to north, then circles around the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and returns to the east again. The banks of the Jinsha River here are thousands of feet high, and there is the famous Tiger Leaping Gorge, with a drop of more than 3,000 meters. In the valley of Tiger Leaping Gorge, there is an ancient tea-horse road carved on the cliff, which is a difficult passage connecting the north and the south. Even such a difficult cliff road is not accessible everywhere, and the caravans transporting tea still have to "cross the river", and the tool used is the "leather bag".

"Ge" means "skin"; "Ge Nang", as the name suggests, is an air bag made of leather. Leather bags are generally made of sheepskin. The method of making them is probably to use a thin tube to blow air into the sheepskin after slaughtering the sheep, so that airflow is generated between the skin and the flesh, and then the sheepskin is beaten hard, and the sheepskin will be separated from the mutton. At this time, cut off the sheep's head and limbs, and then tear the sheepskin from the head downwards, and the sheepskin will peel off completely. Then, as long as the holes on the head, limbs and tail are tied tightly, it will be seamless. The boatman blows air into the leather bag, and the sheepskin expands into a bulging leather bag. This kind of leather bag can be used by people to cross the river alone, or it can be used to carry a raft and let people and tea float across the river at the same time. On the way across the river, the tea leaves are wetted by the turbulent river water, and then fermented by moisture, which is inevitable.

In short, this fermented Pu'er tea is the Pu'er cooked tea we often see today, and it is also the main variety of Pu'er tea. Who could have imagined that it was formed in this way?

Chinese soldiers and civilians join hands to build the road to China's rejuvenation

In 1933, a British expedition team forcibly entered the Awa Mountain area on the pretext of geological exploration to conduct mineral exploration, military reconnaissance and other activities. This activity was strongly resisted by the local Wa people. In 1934, the British army, with 250 regular troops as the vanguard, forcibly entered the territory of my country, occupied many places on the border, and built camps and military fortifications in these places. Immediately afterwards, a British army consisting of 2,000 soldiers entered Banhong in large numbers and forcibly mined. This behavior was strongly resisted by the local Wa gang. During the confrontation, the British army shot and killed the local people, while the local people, under the organization of the "headman", used bows and arrows, machetes, spears, hoes and other crude tools to resist. The British army burned down some Wa villages and massacred 44 Wa people. This incident is known as the "Banhong Incident".

After the "Banhong Incident", Long Yun, Chairman of Yunnan Province of the National Government, organized the "Yunnan Southwest Border Defense Volunteer Army" to go to the battlefield along the Yunnan-Tibet Tea Horse Road, and together with the armed forces of 17 Wa tribes, formed an anti-British team of more than 3,000 people. This section of the Tea Horse Road also became the most important supply line in the anti-British war. This battle, with its lofty integrity and fearless national spirit of opposing division and defending the territory, wrote a glorious and tragic page in the history of the southwest people's resistance to aggression and even the anti-imperialist struggle of the Chinese nation.

By 1941, China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression entered its most difficult period. The passage to the Chinese war zone was cut off. The ancient Tea Horse Road, which runs through Yunnan, Sichuan, and Tibet and reaches the Pakri Port on the Sino-Indian border, became an important channel for transporting international aid to China. The Japanese army and the Chinese army, which had penetrated deep into China's hinterland, fell into a stalemate. As the war continued, the Japanese army sensitively realized that in order to win the war of aggression against China, it was necessary to cut off the supply line to China in the southwest, and it could form a pincer attack on China from the north and south. So the Japanese army began the strategy of invading Burma, and China's Yunnan-Burma War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression began.

In 1942, Burma fell and the Japanese army invaded the southwestern region of Yunnan. The Burma Road was forced to be interrupted. As a result, the last land route leading to the Chinese war zone was also cut off, making it impossible for foreign aid to be transported from Burma to China. China's War of Resistance entered its most difficult period.

It was against this backdrop that a road hidden among the mountains of Yunnan, a road not recorded in detail in any historical materials, a secret passage used by countless tea merchants and horse caravans from ancient times to the present, became a vital life supply line during China's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.

This quiet ancient road in the mountains, accompanied by snow-capped rapids, used its unique geographical location to transport aid materials from Britain, the United States and other countries to Dali, Lijiang and other places, and finally transferred them to the anti-Japanese front in the mainland. According to the description and statistics of the Russian writer Gu Peter who aided China at that time in his work "The Forgotten Kingdom", during the Anti-Japanese War, the caravan transportation on the Tea Horse Road used more than 8,000 mules and horses and more than 20,000 yaks. Long-distance caravans transporting materials arrived and left almost every day, and even in rainy and dangerous seasons, they could not stop the caravans from moving forward. They are like tens of thousands of expeditionary forces on the front line. The caravan merchants on the Tea Horse Road are also relaying with their lives to keep the road open. This is a battle for the country, not money or interests.

The ancient Tea Horse Road, which had been unknown for thousands of years, seemed to have become "lively" overnight. Deep in the mountains, in the poor, backward and closed western Yunnan border, a transport team composed of "little people" is walking step by step through cliffs and fast-flowing rivers. Every day, people fall down, and people continue to embark on the journey. These border people who wear straw sandals, are untidy, live in the wilderness, and are regarded as barbaric, are using their lives to support China's few lifelines.

At this moment, barbarism seems to become lovable. When Yunnan, once a mysterious borderland, becomes a battlefield for the survival of a country, and when people see that the frontier ethnic groups that were once called barbaric and stubborn are now the backbone of the Chinese nation, it seems that the differences in civilization and economy are not so important. The overall interests of a country and nation transcend any unfair perspective at that moment. No one would have thought that such an ancient tea-horse road that was completely created by commercial factors and the frontier ethnic groups that have walked on this tea-horse road for generations are the hope and future of the Chinese nation. It can be said that the ancient tea-horse road has made an indelible contribution to China's national liberation war.