Jiukeng Tea

"Jiukeng Tea" is the first agricultural product registered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in Chun'an County. "Jiukeng Tea" is also the only town-level hometown of tea in the country that has two intangible heritages, Jiukeng Maojian (鸠坑毛尖) and Jiukeng Tuancha (鸠坑团茶)!

Jiukeng Tea originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D.), flourished in the Tang (618-907 A.D.) and Song (960-1279 A.D.) dynasties, and peaked in the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912 A.D.). It has a long history and is loved by the world because of its unique color and fragrance.

The tea produced by the unique steaming technique of Jiukeng Tea is regarded by the royal family as an Auspicious Tea. Now Jiukeng Maojian is generally divided into three levels, the one that is harvested before Qingming Festival is called Maojian (毛尖), the one that is harvested before Grain and Rain (6th solar term) is called Yuqian (雨前), and after Grain and Rain is called Chaoqing (炒青). Jiukeng tea farmers basically followed the manual techniques of tea making in the late Song Dynasty. The tea leaves picking standard was "one leaf and one bud" that just appear. The Jiukeng Tea made this way is stocky and lush green with silvery hair. Jiukeng Tea is known for its four characters, that is, lush green color, strong fragrance, mellow taste, and beautiful appearance.

Anshang Rice Sheet

Anshang Rice Sheet is one of the top ten farm-flavored snacks in Zhejiang Province and an intangible cultural heritage item of Chun'an County. At the door of every local household, layers of rice sheets as thin as cicada wings are dried on long bamboo poles. The rice sheet is so thin that one can vaguely see the appearance of the person on the other side of the rice sheet against the bright sunshine.

Anshang Rice Sheet gathers the essence of various places, uses whole grains as raw materials, and uses pure vegetable juice to enhance the flavor and color. It is purely made by hand in an ancient way and involves as many as ten procedures. The product is crystal clear, thin as paper, elastic, moist, and smooth.    

To make it, you can begin with using a spoon to scoop up the rice milk and pour it into a thin layer, and then steam it in a steamer. After a while, a piece of hot rice sheet is done. You can then add your favorite farm-flavored dishes or homemade chili sauce on the rice sheet. It’s really delicious.

You can also sprinkle a layer of delicious farm-flavored dishes on the thin rice milk before steaming it in a steamer. When it’s ready, get it out of the steamer, roll it into tubes and cut the tubes into sections with a knife. In this way, the deliciousness of the farm-flavored dishes and the rice sheet can be integrated.

Badu linen embroidery

Badu (八都), originally referring to Wangfu and Yanjia towns in Chun'an County, was officially named "Baduyuan (八都源)". It borders She County (歙县) in Anhui Province and Changhua Town (昌化镇) in Lin'an, with high mountains and beautiful scenery, as well as typical Huizhou-style residential houses and ancient folk customs.

In ancient times, transportation in the mountainous areas was inconvenient, and communication with the outside world was almost cut off. In order to survive, the villagers living here planted flax plants, twisted threads, and woven linen to solve the clothing problem. For the sake of beauty and to increase thickness, women embroidered various patterns on linen aprons, rice bags, and straps.

They used the "+" stitch method to cleverly combine nature's flowers, plants, birds, and beasts with white or cyan cotton threads to embroider beautiful and pleasing patterns on linen. Badu Linen Embroidery is not just about the technique of embroidery. In fact, it also includes many kinds of agricultural work and folk arts and crafts such as growing flax plants, spinning, weaving, and blue dyeing. It is a gathering of working people’s life wisdom.

The linen used for Badu Linen Embroidery has two colors. One is plain white linen embroidered with blue threads; the other is blue linen dyed with indigo embroidered with white threads. Locally, white linen is mostly used by men, and women prefer blue. Embroidered products are generally composed of four identical patterns in the center with the content being mainly "Blessing, Fortune, Longevity and Happiness", which is then surrounded by a frame. Outside the frame, there are embroidered patterns such as peach, pomegranate, bamboo, magpie, lion, auspicious lantern, etc.

These lively patterns are put together and each has a nice name: Good Fortune in All Four Seasons, Bamboo for Safety and Peace, Peony and Wealth, Lion Rolling a Ball, Butterfly Playing with the Melon ... The peach means longevity; the pomegranate stands for many children; the bamboo is the derivative of “Bamboo for Safety and Peace”; and the lion is a symbol of bravery. Every pattern is the infinite yearning and longing of Chun’an people for a better life.

Nowadays, although Badu Linen Embroidery has fewer opportunities to play in daily use, the craftsmanship that has been handed down for thousands of years is still the hometown culture cherished by Chun'an people.

Qingxi Dragon Inkstone

Chun'an was called Qingxi in ancient times, so the inkstone was called Qingxi Inkstone, which is then called Qingxi Dragon Inkstone.

The stone of Qingxi Dragon Inkstone is mainly produced in the Yejia (叶家) and Miaoshi (妙石) areas of Weiping (威坪). The stones on Longyan Mountain are blue and black with golden halos and gold lines on them. Since Yinmingxia Village (阴呜下村) in Weiping Town is adjacent to She County (歙县) in Anhui Province, Qingxi Inkstone and She series inkstones have a lot in common.

About the historical origin of Qingxi Ink Stone, there is a record that goes:

In the early Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizu recruited a member of the Imperial Academy, Xu Zunsheng to compile the history of the Yuan Dynasty. He wrote "Longyan Mountain Records", which recorded the Qingxi Dragon Inkstone. According to it, during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Hai Rui (海瑞), who was then the prefect of Chun'an County, discovered that the stones of Longyan Mountain in Dongyuan Village were smooth and black, and were perfect materials for making inkstones. He then sent people to Huizhou to learn the skills of making inkstones, and named this inkstone produced "Qingxi Dragon Inkstone".

As a provincial-level representative project of intangible cultural heritage, Qingxi Dragon Inkstone has been exploring new ways of its protection and inheritance in recent years.

By entering the campus, entering the cultural auditorium, etc., the craftsmanship of Qingxi Dragon Inkstone was demonstrated, and a group of small inheritors and enthusiasts were cultivated.

Qinchuan masu candy

Qinchuan Masu Candy has a long history. It originated in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1121 A.D.) and thrived during the Qing Dynasty. It is a representative local traditional snack. Currently, there are more than 10 Masu Candy workshops in Qinchuan Village.

The production of Masu Candy is complicated. Chun’an is rich in high-quality rice and sesame. These two are the basic ingredients for making Qinchuan Masu Candy.

To make it, you need to soak high-quality long-shaped rice in mountain spring water for 8 to 10 hours. After steaming, adding barley water to ferment, pressing sugar juice, boiling sugar, pulling sugar, and other steps, milky barley sugar is then produced. The production of sesame powder needs more attention. Pour the cleaned sesame seeds into a small bowl and fry until you hear the popping sound, which indicates that the heat is just right. Get the sesame seeds out and let them cool, and then grind them into powder for later use.

The method of making Masu Candy is a bit like making multi-layer steamed bread: taking out the barley sugar and flattening it in a heated iron pan, sprinkling sesame powder on it evenly, and folding it repeatedly for more than ten times. Making the candy in a hot pot is like practicing iron palm (a kind of Kong Fu requiring trainees to put their hands in iron sand in a pan over a fire).

The freshly-made Qinchuan Masu Candy is sweet, crispy, crunchy and fragrant, which is very different from the powdery texture of other crispy sugar. "You can’t visit people without bringing Masu Candy." This saying shows the importance of Qinchuan Masu Sugar in the daily life of Qinchuan people. When there is a festival and a happy occasion at home, a bag of fragrant crispy Masu Candy is the best gift.

Chun'an bamboo horse

Chun'an Bamboo Horse, commonly known as "Bamboo Horse Dance", is a traditional dance that is mainly popular in Chun'an County. Bamboo Horse is divided into five kinds, red, yellow, green, white, and black, with lifelike and exquisite shapes and unique production techniques. Bamboo Horse performance is often done by a group of three males and two females or two males and three females dressed up in ancient Chinese costumes. They dance, walk (battle), sing, and chant, with a unique gait and up to 108 kinds of arrangements. With high artistic and aesthetic values and distinct regional characteristics, it is one of the most representative items of traditional Chinese dance.

Chun’an Bamboo Horse Dance originated in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279 A.D.). There are related records of Bamboo Horse Dance in historical books such as "Old Wu Lin" and "Meng Liang Lu" from the Southern Song Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were many temple fairs in Chun'an, and Bamboo Horse Dance performances were popular. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, the Tea-Picking Opera was introduced to Chun'an and was merged with Chun'an Bamboo Horse. Then, the “Two-Role Opera Bamboo Horse Troupe” appeared.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty (1636—1912 A.D.) and the beginning of the Republic of China era (1912—1949 A.D.), it developed into a "Two-Role Opera Bamboo Horse Troupe", which gave Bamboo Horse Dance performance first and then operas. In the early days, Chun'an Bamboo Horse Dance reached its peak and had over 300 bamboo horse troupes. On traditional festivals such as the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival, people will perform Bamboo Horse Dance. It is one of the most important cultural activities for local people.

Chun'an Bamboo Horse Dance has its unique eye expressions, posture expressions, rules, steps, chanting and singing. It directly promoted the formation and development of the national heritage project "Chun'an Triangle Opera" and is of great significance to the study of the source culture of the local operas.