Pu'er is a Yunnanese tea with deep historical roots, renowned for its distinctive flavour and health-enhancing properties. It is classified into three categories: “raw” Pu'er tea, which is not fermented; “aged raw” Pu'er tea, which is “naturally” fermented through long-term storage; and artificially fermented Pu'er tea or “ripe tea,” which is fermented using technical methods of speeding up the aging process. In China, Pu'er is known as a “drinkable antique” as it can be aged to increase its value. This book is the first study to examine the unique cultural biography of Pu'er tea.
Centring on the concept of “authenticity,” the book investigates how the meanings and values of Pu'er tea have been “packaged” by multiple actors at various points in the commodity chain and also how these “packagings” have come to be challenged. Authenticity, Zhang argues, depends on negotiation and is never fixed. To capture the fluidity of authenticity, throughout the book the author deploys the Chinese concept of jianghu, literally “rivers and lakes.” Most often used in martial arts fiction, jianghu refers to a space of chaos, risk and contestation, where authoritative power is weak and challenged. In the “jianghu” of Pu'er tea, groups and individuals compete through their contending versions of authenticity, and negotiations of authenticity are based on individual skills and abilities rather than on regulated standards. Focusing on the year 2007, a year which saw the collapse of the Pu'er market following years of speculation, the substantive chapters of the book are organized into four sections, namely spring summer, autumn and winter.
“Spring” centres on Yiwu, one of the main tea-growing areas in Yunnan. Here, individual skill was essential for tea farmers to negotiate the meanings of “authentic” Pu'er tea. New state hygiene regulations introduced new technical requirements, raising costs and intensifying existing tensions between the original, small firms and newer, large-scale producers. Growing market competition led to the increased substitution of lower-grade terrace tea leaves for the high-grade forest tea leaves that had previously been associated with “authentic” Yiwu tea.
Competition between provinces, regions and sub-regions and the role of government are investigated in “Summer.” “Large-leaf tea” is more distinctively Yunnanese than the “small-leaf tea” prevalent in other tea areas of China. Therefore, Yunnan provincial-level government actors claimed with the support of tea scholars that only “large-leaf” tea was “authentic” Pu'er. Others argued that “large-leaf” tea was also grown outside Yunnan and that what made Pu'er distinctive was the production process. Below the level of the province, various strategies were used by different Pu'er-producing areas to demonstrate that Pu'er tea had originated in or was most authentic in their area. For example, Simao city officially changed its name to Pu'er city. In June 2007, following collapse of Pu'er tea market, two reports revealing improper speculation on the Pu'er tea market were made public by an influential television station and a magazine. Some Yunnanese suggested that this was a plot hatched by groups outside the province whose interests had been harmed by Pu'er tea's popularity. Appeals were made for stronger and more scientific regulation and supervision of Pu'er tea. Yet others contested this and the definition of “authentic” Pu'er remained vague and poorly regulated.
The “Autumn” section brings us back to Yiwu, where the tea farmers had to cope with the fall of Pu'er tea market. On the one hand, the locals were unable to control the meaning and value of Pu'er tea, which were driven by external forces. On the other hand, they explored the margins of state regulation and maintained niche markets by seeking to define the authenticity of Yiwu's Pu'er tea.
The “Winter” section investigates the world of tea consumption and connoisseurship. Zhang points out that authenticity is not only rooted in the geographical and cultural factors which form people's habits, but also shaped by social interactions and relationships. Judgments regarding authenticity are often underpinned by a person's interests and social position.
Moving across space and time, the book offers an admirably coherent analysis of the complex social relationships that shaped the Pu'er market by investigating wide range of actors at various spatial levels and in different social circles. The clear analyses, detailed and fluent writing and well-organized structure make this book enjoyable to read. This is an important book for scholars of the social history and culture of tea and a fine addition to the literature on the cultural biographies of commodities. That said, its analyses are often restricted to the Yunnanese and Chinese contexts: the author might have done more to clarify how her discussions of “authenticity” and jianghu contribute to wider theoretical debates in anthropology. But its relevance to the study of social change in China is beyond doubt. Avoiding simplistic generalizations based on top-down analyses of government strategies, this book explores dynamic, situational and dialectical negotiations at individual and local levels. It is recommended for the teaching of political economy, cultural economy, Chinese social transformation and regional development studies.
