— 213 — 



We will revert to this interesting plant in tlie following chapters and 

 hère confine ourselves to establishing the fact only; we may turn thcn to 

 another boundary tract of China. 



This is the southern part of the province of Yun-nan, from where 

 the Song-koi, better known as Red River, descends through the adjacent 

 Tong-king. The former région, which is rather poor and does not (nowadays) 

 produce any tea, is connected with Sze-chuen (Chung-king) by a caravan- 

 road, concerning which a detailed consular report has been made by 

 BouRNE 1) for the nse of British commerce in this country. It is interesting 

 to observe that tea is transported hère in the opposite direction, viz , 

 from Tong-king to Sze-chuen, a tea-district itself; but of course this is 

 only a transit traffic This tea cornes from the hills south of Sze-mao and^ 

 P*u-êrh; actually it is grown quite close to, formerly within the frontier of 

 Tong-king; the French hâve tried therefore to divert this commerce through 

 Ha-noi^). I-pang (l-bang) in particular is reported to produce excellent 

 tea, as much as 7-803 picols (84000-96000 Ibs.) a year 3) ; when China 

 still had an emperor, he was provided with 50 picols „iniperial tea" from 

 I-pang every year, — of which, owing to the universal „interest', only 20 

 would reach their destination '*). Bourne saw, near Sze-mao, five tea bushes 

 (one of them 12 feet high, consisting of 7 stems, the biggest of which 

 measured 10 centimeters in diameter) of the sort that was grown at i-pang; 

 a spécimen (nr. 38) exists in Kew and we will revert to it in the 5**^ 

 chapter. „According to popular tradition, tea was inîroduced into tins part 

 „by the great K'ung Ming when he conquered the south" ^). Further 1 

 quote the following statements made by Bourne: ,,V/e must begin with 

 „the distinction between tea grown on the hills, I-bang, I-wu, Mansa, and 

 „the neighbouring heights, called „yen ch'a" (strong tea) and that which 

 ,,grows on the lower slopes and in the valley of the Me-khongand its tribu- 

 „taries, called „san ch'a" or „yeh ch'a" (wild tea)".^) Whether this tea is really 

 wild, is still doubtful, and even so, whether it is really tea, though Bourne 

 asserts that wild tea trees „are found hère and there ail over southern 

 China." Then he cites from one „Topography of Yunnan" (unknown to 



') F. S. A. Bourne 1888. — His route went thus: Chung-king, Yun-nan-fu, Sze-mao, 

 Yuen-kiang, Nan-ning, Kwei-yang, Chung-king. Large fragments of this report hâve 

 been taken over in „P'u-êrh tea" 1889. 



3) P. Lefèvre-Pontalis 1892. 



3) Rousse-Lacordaire (1904) says the production of P'u-êrh tea arnounts even to 

 4800 OCO - 5 400 000 Ibs. a year. 



*) See also the article on „P'u-êrh tea" 1889, p. 118. Thence it appears that the I-bang 

 tea undergoes fermentation, strongly furthers digestion and has a bitter taste. The 

 leaves are very hairy beneath and 25—75 mM. long. Compare Ch. V. and H. SolTAU 

 1881, p. 565, where a short note on this tea is to be found. 



5) Bourne 1888, p. 16. Italics are mine. Compare A. Henry 1898, p. 292. About K'UNO-MiNQ 

 we read the following in J.G. ScOTT 1906, p. 169: „In the days when China consisted 

 of 3 kingdoms, K'UNO MiNG, better known as Chu Koh-Liang, carried hisarms,o6ou/ 

 220 or 230 A. D.. as far as T'êng-yueh". J.j.M. De Groot (1882, p. 90, cp. the 

 China-Review V. VI and VII) also deals with this gênerai. 



«) Important particulars are to be found in Mr. Jonery's paper (1915). 



