Research On The Social Life History Of Yichang Black Tea In Southwest Hubei

After the Opium War,the cantonese came to the southwest of Hubei region andtaught the farmers there how to use green tea as raw material to make black tea for export---Yichang black tea.The Chinese tea export soars upward because of the increasing demand of overseas market,promoting the production and export sale of Yichang black tea.But Good times do not last long,Yichang black tea had its obstacles as Chinese tea trade declines gradually worldwide.Thus,under the control of the government,a campaign was born to improve and revive it.The amelioration plan of Yichang black tea also is carried out gradually,but did not make any change to the decayed situation,thus farmers in southwest Hubei changes to farm green tea.Ethnology holds that things have life just like people.By tracing the development of the object,we can understand its life history and the development history of its regional society.Based on this,this study takes the development of Yichang black tea as the clue,selects wufeng county and hefeng county,the core production areas of Yichang black tea,as the research centers,introduces the origin,transition,declination and amelioration of Yichang black tea,and further discusses the interactive development of Yichang black tea and regional society within its life history.The first chapter reviews the history and transformation of tea in southwest Hubei province.According to the literature documents,southwest Hubei developed cultures of planting and drinking tea in the early stage of its development,while green tea took a great part of the tea production.In the middle period of Qing dynasty,mainly affected by the external environment sectors,southwest Hubei province began to produce black tea.The second chapter introduces the flow process of Yichang black tea in China.This process consists of the primary market and the intermediate market.Both the markets promoted the change of Yichang black tea from the product to commodity.This study believes that the flow of Yichang black tea is driven by market demand,and the flow creates the formation of a complete distribution system and the emergence of a new way of livelihood,promoting the transformation from agricultural products to commodity.The third chapter reviews the amelioration process of Yichang black tea.Under the background of the declination of the whole tea industry in China,the trade ofYichang black tea also declined,which became the direct reason for the necessary amelioration.The improvements are mainly based on planting and reproduction method.However,the amelioration did not restore the former glory of Yichang black tea.This study believes that the factors of the decline of Yichang black tea are mainly from the overseas market.The fourth chapter discusses the interactive development of Yichang black tea and regional society.The production of Yichang black tea has important social condition.Bureaucratization of native officers in the producing areas of Yichang black tea has laid the foundation for the entry of the Cantonese.After the Opium War,the more,China was forced to open its trade with to world,and the demand for black tea in overseas markets increased.Its prosperity has prompted the local tea industry transfored from domestic to export,and has been one of the export-oriented black tea producing areas.After declination,undern the the social background of increasing the country's economic strength and comprehensive strength of the war,it had became a region of domestic Chinese tea improvement and had became an integral part of social reformation in modern city.Today,in the context of the “The Tea road”application,Yichang black tea once again shows its importance and its singnificane has been remodeled and becomes a prominent laocal cultural symbol.