Study On The Construction Of Contemporary Pu’er Tea Market Discourse From The Perspective Of Folklore

In the post-modern society where consumption has become the primary aspect of social control,"folk custom",as a symbol and cultural capital,can be "practiced in life" again,with its significance lies in the establishment of social,group,individual cultural identity and the realization of intergroup communication."Folk-custom consumption" has become the core means of constructing "folk-custom identity",and it is a kind of consumption based on cultural identity that consumers can complete individual cultural identity and group integration,expressing the meaning of life,promoting the realm of daily life,and achieve spiritual transcendence.And its final expression form is to create a kind of "taste" that identifies with "traditional" life style and life aesthetics.Taking the formation process of contemporary Pu’er tea folk-custom consumption as the research object,with Taipei and Yiwu Town,Yunnan Province(where the related consumption originated)as the main research scopes,this paper adopted the research method of multi-point folklore to discuss how to shape cheap common goods into "things of good taste" with folk-custom consumption attribute in the complex interaction between folk narration and market discourse and finally form folk-custom identity.It also discussed the complex relationship among the folk narrative,market discourse,consumption symbol and folk identity in the field of folkcustom consumption.Around the consumption field of Pu’er tea,there are two main market discourses: "the older the tea is and the more fragrant the tea is" in the place of consumption and "the newer the tea is and more fragrant the tea is" in the place of origin.In the process of constructing these two kinds of discourses,Pu’er in historical classics and Pu’er in present time doesn’t have a continuous relationship.Folk-custom practitioners from the place of origin and the place of consumption have their own stories about Pu’er tea for a long time,which makes the price of Pu’er tea sharply increased in the entanglement of the two market discourses.In just ten years,Pu’er tea has become the second largest tea after green tea,changing the pattern of China’s tea market and expanding the consumer group of Pu’er tea:First of all,it discusses the construction of market discourse of "the older the tea is and the more fragrant the tea is" for old Pu’er tea.The topic of old Pu’er tea originates from Taipei.In the process of constructing the culture of Pu’er tea,"Tea People" in Taipei,as a cultural elite,puts forward the appreciation standard of "the older the tea is and the more fragrant the tea is" by using the folk-custom identity psychology of the "old things" in the traditional values,and constructs the “time”cultural view of old tea by narration.Under the control of the market forces,this narration makes use of the non-renewable features of the tea to construct the market discourse that “the old tea is the most precious tea”,which promotes the market value of old Pu’er tea,leads to the development of the consumer market in the mainland,and makes Pu’er tea go to the global trading system again.This market discourse-"the older the tea is and the more fragrant the tea is"-is the main driving force for the folk-custom consumption of contemporary Pu’er tea,forming the core consumption symbol of "cultural time".Secondly,it discusses the construction of market discourse of "the newer the tea is and more fragrant the tea is" for Pu’er tea.Driven by market forces,in order to compete with the market discourse of Taiwan old Pu’er tea,the place of origin begins to shape the local image positively.On the basis of the original historical landscape and natural landscape,it actively utilizes the market discourse of "the newer the tea is and more fragrant the tea is" to inherit the historical legends and stories of Pu’er tea.At the same time,it conducts the new landscape construction according to the "processed" folk-custom narrative,so as to establish a “spacial culture” view in the place of origin for new Pu’er tea.It replaces the simple and single “time discourse”with complex “spacial discourse in the time discourse”,realizing the regional consumption attributes in the “holy-land space” of the place of origin under the “time culture”.Meanwhile,the market discourse takes advantage of rareness to construct the consumption symbol of "ancient tree and ancient town",making the price of new tea rise violently.State and local governments,foreign commercial forces,local cultural elites and regional social forces participate in this construction process.This kind of market discourse forms a game and consensus with the market discourse of "the older the tea is and the more fragrant the tea is",pushing the old Pu’er tea and the new Pu’er tea in the market,expanding the consumption catalogue of Pu’er tea,providing more "narrative text" for the Pu’er tea consumer market,and jointly practicing the leading role of "elites" in the formation of folk customs.Pu’er tea market presents the multiple privative market discourses,which constantly interact with each other in the market flow,showing the diversified game relationship of obedience,resistance and melting.The newly-entered discourse increases the cognitive cost of Pu’er tea,and rich folk narrative makes Pu’er tea show an extremely active state in the consumer market.The mutual construction of market discourses and folk-custom narrative is the driving force for the sustainable development of the consumption custom of Pu’er tea.Driven by the consumer market,the "traditional" lifestyle and the aesthetic taste of life as a "taste" represented by Pu’er tea are formed,and the traditional culture is incorporated into the daily life of individuals and consumer groups.Through the symbolic identity of the consumption object,it ultimately realizes the presentation of individuals’ spiritual settlement,life realm improvement and the life meaning."Daily Thing" in the traditional life has become special groups’ "Daily Thing" after "NonDaily Thing" in the post-modern consumption society,but it isn’t a "Daily Thing" for the public.It not only represents the personal cultural identity,but also realizes the folk-custom identity function of artistic communication within the group.Taking the consumption formation of Pu’er tea as an example,this paper starts from the path of "discourse-process" to discuss the consumption path of "identity",which constitutes a theoretical loop between “materials,culture and symbols” and “human,social and consumer aesthetics”.The fact that cultural elites use folk narrative to construct the inner texture of culture is uncovered,the mutual construction mechanism between Pu’er tea and the production of its consumption symbols,inner folk-custom narrative,and market discourses are analyzed,and the logic of mutual construction between “folk-custom narrative”,“market discourse”,and “folk-custom identity” are interpreted.The purpose of this paper is to provide case studies for the theoretical construction of folk-custom economics and theoretical guidance for the development of regional folk-custom economy.