In the history of the survival and continuation of the Chinese nation, the dragon has always been with us, and its unique spiritual power has influenced the national culture and even the formation and development of the national character. Therefore, it is revered as the symbol of the Chinese nation. symbol. Mr. Wen Yiduo believes in "Fuxi Kao": "It takes the snake as the main body, and accepts the feet of beasts, the hair of horses, the tails of hyenas, the antlers of deer, the claws of dogs, and the scales and whiskers of fish. 1. "But its form belongs to legend. The dragon is the totem of the ancestors of the Huaxia tribe. At the end of the clan society, there were dozens of tribal totems. After a long period of mergers, only the "Feng Clan" and the "Snake Clan" remained. Legend has it that the totem of the Wuyi Clan at that time was Xiaolong (Snake Clan). . According to legend, Wuyi Mountain was the place where the Yue people lived in ancient times. The Yue people had the surname Si. Their ancestor was the concubine of Shaokang in the Xia Dynasty and was named Wuyu. Later, it was passed down as Wuyi. Wuyi is the Wuyi people who immigrated from Jiangxi and other places. It is also said that Wuyi was originally Wuyi, which is the name of the water god. Professor Zhuang Wanfang believes: "These legends are related to the name of Wuyi, and the names of Wuyi tea and Oolong tea are also related to a certain extent. According to the annotation of "Shuowen Jiezi", it says: 'Tea means bitter tea, and the sound is from the grass.' Tea is the current name The pronunciation of "tea" is "yu", so Wuyi tea was called "Wuyu" in ancient times, which refers to the black fish, which symbolizes oolong tea. Therefore, there is a certain basis for calling Wuyi tea "Oolong tea" in ancient times. On·Oolong Tea Name Examination"].

The image of the dragon and its meaning were originally created by the people. And it diverges in Chinese culture due to the two ends of secularization. While feudal rule was increasingly intensified, the dragon's historical power to dominate people's destiny was further exaggerated and revered, and was introduced into the court. The supreme ruler regarded himself as the "true dragon emperor". .The dragon is endowed with the benevolent qualities of God and is also regarded as a mascot that can bring happiness to people. The so-called "dragon and phoenix present auspiciousness" and "dragon group and phoenix cake" (which means dragon soaring and phoenix flying) are named after the dragon. Things abound, which shows that Chinese people have a special love for it. The dragon is the symbol of the Chinese nation. The ancient emperors claimed to be the incarnation of the dragon, and claimed that the items used by the emperor and the real dragon were precious. "Dragon" is often used as the title or a pattern is used to show the majesty of ten thousand vehicles. Therefore, it seems logical that oolong tea is named oolong based on its appearance. The Northern Song Dynasty's "Shijiyuan" mentioned Beiyuan Dragon Tea, and Taizong sent envoys to make Dragon and Phoenix tea for the common people to drink. Beiyuan tribute tea in the Song Dynasty was called Longtuan. Although the grades were different, it was still described with the word dragon. After Longtuan was changed to loose tea in the Ming Dynasty, the name Beiyuan Longtuan was also inherited. The name of oolong tea can only evolve from the Dragon Tuan Phoenix Cake Tribute Tea in the Song Dynasty, because after the Dragon Tuan was changed to loose tea, the tea leaves were sun-dried, fried, and roasted, and the color was jet black with fish-like strips (also called dragon). In order to express the preciousness of Wuyi tea, merchants used oolong as their trademark. After becoming popular in the market, it was collectively called Oolong tea, translated as (Oolong tea). [See Zhang Tianfu's "Selected Works of Zhang Tianfu"]

. Why was "oolong" the name of tea? When did the name of oolong tea appear in history? There are several theories as follows:

. Named after place names: Some people think that the name of oolong tea is related to place names. The earliest connection between "oolong" and tea occurred in the 11th century Northern Song Dynasty Liu Yan's "Long Yun Ji" mentioned oolong tea: "Today's first tea, take the source of the water as the top, to Ruri Zhu, Shifeng, Mingkeng , Shuanggang, Wulong, Yandang, Guzhu, Shuangjing, Yashan, Yuelu, and Tianzhu, although their flags, flags, guns, and trumpets are outstanding, they cannot compete with the source of the valley." The 10 famous teas recorded in "Long Yun Ji", including Ri Zhu, are excellent products with tender tongue flags and spears, but they are not as beautiful as the Heyuan tea. Heyuan was the name of Beiyuan, Jianzhou at that time. Rizhu is in Pingshui, Shaoxing, Shuanggang is in Yanshan, Jiangxi, Yandang is in Kuocang Mountain in southern Zhejiang, Shuangjing is in Xiushui, Jiangxi, Yashan is in Xuancheng, Anhui, Yuelu is in Changsha, Hunan, Gu Zhu is in Changxing, Zhejiang, and Tianzhu is in Shu, Anhui. The city and Minkeng are in Jiuhua Mountain, Anhui, but where Shifeng and Wulong are is yet to be investigated. There are many place names in our country that are called "Oolong". For example, there is Wulong River in Fuzhou, Wulong Lake in Lushan Mountain, and Wulong Ridge in Jiande, Zhejiang. Teas have been named after places since ancient times, but the name of Oolong tea There is no definite evidence yet whether it originated from the place name. At that time, oolong tea harvesting technology had not yet appeared, and it was not the oolong tea it is today, but a kind of tea named after the place of origin. It can be seen that tea has been known as oolong for nearly a thousand years. It has a long history and deserves attention. .Named after the tea tree variety. Wuyi tea tree group varieties have always been called "vegetable tea". Tea trees named after tea tree varieties, such as Wuyi Oolong, may have been transplanted by the ancients a long time ago. After the introduction of tea trees, many different single-clump or famous-clump varieties were carefully selected and bred by temple monks.

In 1937, Zhuang Canzhang reported in the "Anxi Tea Industry Survey" that Soft Branch Oolong was transplanted to Jian'ou by Su Long from Anxi. After planting it, local tea farmers thought it was an excellent variety, so they propagated and cultivated it. They named the tea tree variety with the homophone of Su Long and made it. The finished tea is also called oolong tea. In 1942, "New Chronicles of Chong'an County" stated that Wuyi Oolong tea trees were transplanted from Jianou. This is the theory that Oolong tea (varieties) came from Anxi. . Named after the finished tea: Shi Hongbao's "Min Miscellaneous Notes" (1857) "There are many famous tea brands, and my hometown (Hangzhou) is commonly called Wuyi. Fujian customs are only divided into floral, small varieties, and famous varieties, and the famous varieties are the best. , small species come next, floral scent comes next, and recently there is a kind of oolong from Shangsha County, which is said to be above the famous species, like sparrow tongue, lotus heart and so on."

. Longtuanfeng cake is the predecessor of oolong tea

. To talk about the formation and development of oolong tea, we must first trace its origin to Beiyuan tea. Beiyuan Tea is the origin of early tribute tea in Fujian and the most famous tea after the Song Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, Beiyuan tea in Jianzhou became famous all over the world. The important finished product of Beiyuan tea is Longtuanfeng cake, but there are few historical records and not many researchers as to the nature of its raw materials. According to common sense, the raw materials before being pressed into dough cakes are collected from the new shoots of the tea tree. According to the tea-picking poem that Huangfu Ran sent to Lu Yu: "... Far away on the upper cliff, the leaves are covered with warm spring breeze. The sun is setting in the basket,..." According to the analysis of tea expert Professor Zhuang Wanfang, "To pick a basket It takes a day for the fresh leaves to be swayed and accumulated in the basket, and steaming can only begin at night. This raw material has undergone partial red change invisibly, and its essence is already semi-fermented, which is the so-called oolong tea category. Zhuang Wanfang believes that some poems left over from ancient times can be analyzed to get a rough idea. "For example, in Fan Zhongyan's "Tea Fighting Song": "The final dynasty is filled with baskets." Bai Yuchan's "Shui Tiao Ge Tou: Chanting Tea": "Take the branches and sparrow tongues, pound them with dew and smoke, and form a pile of purple clouds. Gently grind the gold. Green dust will fly up. The old dragon group, the true phoenix marrow, When you click it, you will feel the taste in a cup of rabbit hair, and your tongue will be filled with it." The author also described the collection and preparation of Long Tuan Feng Cake at that time, as well as the tea soup he drank. "The flavor is strong and fragrant, and the taste lingers on the tongue", which has the same characteristics as Wuyi rock tea today. "Take the sparrows from the branches" (of course not the tender buds and leaves of today), steam them, mash them when it is hot and there is smoke, and pile them into a pile like a purple cloud pile, which may mean that the bottom of the leaves forms a half-red and half-green color. meaning. After being mashed and then piled, just like what is now called "post-fermentation", the leaves turn purple. The ancients also called them "purple bamboo shoots", and then they are molded and pressed into dragon ball cakes. According to Professor Zhuang's analysis, the origin of oolong tea should be in the "dragon and phoenix flourishing" era of Beiyuan in the Song Dynasty. The poets of the previous dynasties vividly described the nature of the raw materials of oolong tea when they described the tea-making process as "a pile of purple clouds". Concise words and sentences provide valuable information. .According to the current scientific classification point of view, green tea is called non-fermented tea because its enzymes are inhibited and fermentation does not occur; black tea is called black tea when the enzymatic oxidation of the buds and leaves is fully promoted and the buds and leaves turn red. The enzymatic partial oxidation of the buds and leaves turns purple or brown, which is called oolong tea between red and green tea. The development of tea should be oolong tea first and black tea later. Zhuang Wanfang said: "Ziyundui is a vivid description of the essence of oolong raw materials. The refined words and sentences provide valuable information for the development of oolong tea. Therefore, it is indeed scientifically based to say that Beiyuan tea is the predecessor of oolong tea." Therefore, when studying the formation and development of Fujian Oolong tea, we must first trace the origin of Beiyuan Longfeng Tea. Beiyuan Longtuanfeng Cake Tea is the earliest tribute tea in Fujian and the most famous tea after the Song Dynasty. It is the predecessor of Fujian Oolong tea.