Xiaguan
Seat of Dali at the south end of Erhai; birthplace of tuocha (1902) and home of the Xiaguan Tea Factory (1941), the main maker of compressed border tea for Tibet.
At a glance#
Where it lies#
Tea places nearby, plotted by their coordinates. Only physical positions are shown, no boundaries.
Local words#
People#
- Bai 白族
- The national heritage entry identifies Yongchangxiang as a Bai merchant house from Xizhou and attributes the Xiaguan tuocha craft to Bai communities.
Market#
- Trading towns
- Xiaguan
- Prices of teas claiming this origin
- In the 2007 crash, Xiaguan tuocha fell from about 400 to 160 yuan/kg (over 60%).
History#
- 1902Yongchangxiang of Xizhou creates tuocha at Xiaguan.
- 1941Kangzang Tea Factory founded at Xiaguan (predecessor of the Xiaguan Tea Factory).
- 1942Factory's jincha sold into Tibet under the Baoyan (宝焰) trademark.
- 1950Becomes the China Tea Company Yunnan branch's Xiaguan factory.
- 1959Renamed Yunnan Xiaguan Tea Factory.
- 2007-04In the pu'er crash, Xiaguan tuocha falls from about 400 to 160 yuan/kg.
- 2011'Xiaguan tuocha making technique' listed as national intangible cultural heritage (third batch, VIII-152).
Other names and written forms 3#
- 下关街道Xiaguan — subdistrictXiaguan Subdistrict, Dali City, seat of the Dali prefecture government.
- 下关茶厂 / 下关沱茶集团Xiaguan — tea factory / Tuocha groupIn tea talk 'Xiaguan' usually means the factory, not the place.
- Hsiakuan
Notes#
Xiaguan, the urban core of Dali City, was a town until 2019 and has been a subdistrict since 2020. It is a junction of the tea-horse roads towards north-west Yunnan, Tibet and Sichuan. In 1902 the Xizhou merchant house Yongchangxiang opened a refinery here and created tuocha, which the national intangible-heritage listing treats as the start of the craft. It also made jincha (紧茶) and cake tea for the Tibetan trade. In 1941 the Kangzang Tea Factory (康藏茶厂) was set up here as a joint venture involving the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission. Its jincha was sold into Tibet under the Baoyan (宝焰) mark from 1942.
The factory became the China Tea Company's Xiaguan branch in 1950 and the Yunnan Xiaguan Tea Factory in 1959. It is a state-designated key maker of compressed border tea (边销茶), including the Xiaguan square brick. Jincha for Tibet is a stemmed, mushroom-like piece of about 250-300 g instead of a hollow bowl. In recipe codes the factory number is 3. The Xiaguan tuocha making technique was listed as national intangible cultural heritage in 2011.