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Li Xingchang – The Pu'er Tea Inheritor Without a Secret Recipe


For millennia, this national beverage has nurtured countless master tea makers, who have passed down not only their craftsmanship but also their unwavering dedication and pursuit of excellence. For the Chinese nation, the culture of craftsmanship is an enduring legacy, a kind of grandeur found in everyday life. They create and grasp a tangible fragment of the world with their own hands, and their branded products are a reflection of their personality and aesthetic sensibilities. Among the many tea masters who can be considered true masters of their craft, we have selected the stories of four Pu'er tea artisans and their contributions to breeding, cultivation, tea making, and the transmission of their knowledge, hoping these stories will resonate with you and me.

This Pu'er Golden Melon Tribute Tea, once renowned throughout Beijing, has been treasured in the Forbidden City for over a century. When it returned to its hometown from Beijing, Li Xingchang made a special trip to see it.

Li Xingchang's family has been producers of Pu'er tribute tea for generations, and he is the eighth generation to inherit this ancient technique. The Kunlushan Royal Ancient Tea Garden, which specifically provided raw materials for tribute tea, is hidden deep behind the mountains of Pu'er. With the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, it has long since fallen into disrepair. Thirty years ago, his over 90-year-old mother did something that puzzled many: she spent her life savings to buy the management rights to hundreds of acres of this ancient tea garden.

Li Xingchang, inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Pu'er tribute tea

Li Xingchang, inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Pu'er tribute tea

According to family tradition, the processing of traditional tribute tea is extremely complex, involving 72 steps and a 36-day cycle. Li Xingchang believes that each step, done by hand, requires meticulous attention. For example, in the withering process, the heat, speed of stirring, and height of tossing must be determined based on the quantity and maturity of the leaves in the pan. Li Xingchang's tea cakes are so fine that you can blow through them, yet they won't crumble when dropped. This craft, passed down for over a century, has been included in the national intangible cultural heritage list thanks to the dedication of its generations of inheritors and their relentless pursuit of perfection in every step of the process.

Li Xingchang, a national representative inheritor of the Pu'er tribute tea making technique, travels around demonstrating and passing on the Pu'er tea making technique and founded the "Pu'er Tea Making Training Center". He hopes that everyone who comes to him to learn is not to get a certificate from him to prove that he is the inheritor's apprentice, but to have a true love for this technique.

Now, under his father's strict guidance, Li Xingchang's son is also working hard to learn this ancient craft. Seeing his son's growth and the fact that this ancestral craft can be passed down from generation to generation, Li Xingchang, as the eighth-generation inheritor of Pu'er tribute tea making, feels very gratified.

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