Lanzhou has a long history of growing tobacco. As early as 1573 AD, Wanli of the Ming Dynasty, Lanzhou began to process hookahs with locally grown yellow-flowered tobacco leaves as raw materials. In 1644, Manchu entered the customs, and the Qing Dynasty replaced the Ming Dynasty. The upper-class people, mainly Manchu nobles, liked hookahs and gradually became fashionable. Lanzhou hookah, known as "silk, color and taste", is famous for its neat silk strips, bright color and fragrant smell, and its demand is increasing day by day. Huang Diaozai, a Qing Dynasty writer, wrote in The Golden Pot and Seven Inks: "During the Qianlong period, Lanzhou specialty tobacco, aluminum and copper were used to store water and suck", indicating that Lanzhou hookah had gained a good reputation in the sea and established a unique specialty status in the country during the Qianlong period.

During the reign of Kang Yong in the Qing Dynasty, the society gradually stabilized, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the economy developed, which entered a rare prosperous period in China history. Lanzhou hookah rose from time to time and flourished, promoting folk customs to the fashion of upper class. It reached its peak from Guangxu to the early Republic of China, making tobacco, alcohol and tea equally famous and becoming an important part of Chinese folk culture.

1. Tobacco planting. Local tobacco farmers of Huanghua Tobacco are commonly known as green tobacco, and its growth, yield and quality are closely related to the natural environment. Planting high-yield and high-quality tobacco leaves requires not only long sunshine time, suitable climate and soil, but also sufficient irrigation water. Lanzhou suburb and Yuzhong Chuanshui area have been the main producing areas of Huanghua tobacco in Gansu since ancient times, and are also the main high-quality raw material planting bases of Lanzhou hookah. In Lanzhou tobacco field, except for five springs to draw water from mountains, Yantan, Ningwozhuang, Zhengjiatai and Tumendun are all irrigated by water trucks to draw water from the Yellow River. The tobacco fields in Yuzhong are irrigated by spring water or well water in villages such as Jinya, Laizibao and Xiaguanying in Wanchuan River Basin, except Qingcheng, which is irrigated by Yellow River water. According to the Agricultural Geography of Gansu in the period of the Republic of China, the area of farmland planted with yellow-flowered tobacco in the province is generally about 4, mu, and the output of tobacco leaves in normal years is about 1 million Jin. The area of tobacco fields in Yuzhong accounts for about 43% of the total area of the province, and the output of tobacco leaves accounts for 67% of the total output of the province.

2. Lanzhou hookah processing. In the early 19th century, the number of such manual workshops increased to more than 14, and most of the investors were from Lanzhou, Yuzhong and Gaolan. Due to the rich profits, some Shaanxi businessmen also came to Lanzhou to invest in the management of water tobacco, such as Yilinfeng and Xiehou Chenglian, with a capital of more than 1 million taels of silver. Yuzhong is not only the most important tobacco planting base, but also the main processing and production base. Qingcheng is rich in tobacco leaves, and because of the advantages of Yellow River water transportation, hookah production entered its peak during the Qing Dynasty. There are more than 1 large and small cigarette shops, and more than 1 famous ones are Yongfengcheng, Yushunhe and Fufengtai. Tobacco planting and hookah processing and management have made Qingcheng prosperous for more than 2 years. There are many halls and hua she with blue bricks and green tiles and carved beams and painted walls. Celebrities who study to be officials and dance in literature and ink emerge one after another, becoming a rich and prosperous place in Gansu. The Wanchuanhe area mainly grows tobacco leaves, providing raw materials to the tobacco factories in Lanzhou, and the processing of cut tobacco started a little late. In the 182s, in order to reduce costs, Lanzhou's tobacco workshops moved to Yuzhong, and Yuzhong became a new processing center. In the 194s, there were more than 6 hookah workshops. There are 26 powerful workshops, including Zudetai, Zhongxingcheng and Changsheng Rong, with a capital of more than 4 million silver dollars. In 1956, 22 cigarette factories in Lanzhou formed Lanzhou Waterworks by public-private partnership, and 24 cigarette factories in Yuzhong formed state-owned Yuzhong County Waterworks by public-private partnership. The relevant departments of the province are under unified management, and the trademark "Gan, Su, He and Zuo" is used. Later, Lanzhou no longer planted tobacco leaves, and Lanzhou Water Tobacco Factory also stopped production and changed careers. Yuzhong became the only planting and producing place of Lanzhou hookah.

3. hookah market and marketing. When Lanzhou hookah flourished, the market spread eastward to rusu, Shanghai and Northeast provinces; Xinjiang and Tibet in the west; South to Fujian and Zhejiang, Guangdong and Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou; North and Ningxia, Shanxi, Mongolia prairie. It basically covers the whole country, and almost all provinces have markets. The powerful Dayanhang has semicolons in Xi 'an, Shanghai, Nantong and Suzhou. Medium-sized and above tobacco companies all send distributors to sell in big cities such as Hankou, Tianjin, Baotou, Luoyang, Taiyuan, Chengdu, Chongqing and Beijing. There are countless agents everywhere, and many grocery stores have distribution.

during the Qing dynasty, transportation was still very backward. The rivers and lakes in the south are vertical and horizontal, which is slightly convenient for water transportation by wooden boats. Land transportation in the north is mainly carried by horse-drawn mules, and there are five main transportation routes: one is to leave Pingliang in the east and pass through Xi 'an to Hankou, and ship it downstream along the Yangtze River, passing through Nanjing and Zhenjiang to Nantong and Shanghai, or take a canal from Zhenjiang to Hangzhou via Suzhou; Second, it arrives in Chengdu from the south via Guangyuan, or from Baoji south via Hanzhong, across Bashan to Chengdu and Chongqing, and then to Yunnan and Guizhou; The third is to use camels to carry along the Hexi Corridor, passing through Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and Hami directly to Urumqi; The fourth is to load the goods from Qingcheng with a leather raft, drift Yinchuan along the Yellow River to Baotou, and then transport them into Zhangjiakou by camel to Beijing and Tianjin; The fifth is to transport it to Luoyang via Xi 'an, then to Shanxi in the north and Shandong and northern Jiangsu in the east. At that time, the sales volume in Northeast China was very large, and it was transported to Shenyang by land through Shanhaiguan, loaded by water from ports such as Shanghai, Yantai and Tianjin, transported across the sea to Yingkou for unloading, and then transported to all parts of Northeast China.

4. Consumer groups. Planting yellow-flowered tobacco requires more water and fertilizer and more labor. Cut tobacco processing depends entirely on manual work, with low efficiency and high labor intensity. At the same time, it is conceivable that the road is difficult and the transportation cost is high. The price in the hands of consumers is naturally extremely expensive. Therefore, the initial consumer groups were mainly the upper class. Only dignitaries and businessmen can enjoy Lanzhou hookah. Empress Dowager Cixi in the late Qing Dynasty and President Cao Kun in the early Republic of China were the representatives of hookah lovers in that period. After squire landlords and well-off vendors also joined the mainstream of consumption. With the improvement of traffic conditions and the decline of transportation costs, citizens have gradually become the consumption targets of Lanzhou hookah. Those who hold hookahs in teahouses, wineries, bookstores and playgrounds are leisure guests; When visiting relatives at home and visiting friends at home, if you offer a hookah, it must be a gift to honor the guests. When the market sales volume is the highest, the annual sales of water tobacco is more than 12 million Jin. In 193s, cigarettes and cigarettes became popular in cities, and the market focus of hookah shifted to the countryside, and fishermen, herders and farmers became the main consumer groups.