translated from "Proceedings of the First International Pu’er Tea Symposium in Yunnan Province"

Who is Luo Nai Xin

Luo Naixin, a prominent figure in China’s tea industry and known as "Tuo Ye" (The Tuocha Master), dedicated his life to promoting Pu’er tea and modernizing its industry. A member of the Bai ethnic group, he began his career in 1972 at Xiaguan Tea Factory, transforming it into a global leader through strategic innovations and exemplary management. Luo also championed tea culture through initiatives like *"The Tea Caravan to Beijing"* while supporting social causes, particularly for ethnic minorities. Honored with numerous accolades, he played a key role in spreading Chinese tea internationally, embodying values of simplicity and virtue while fostering connections between tea, culture, and human relationships.

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Dali, located in western Yunnan, serves as a strategic hub where the “Tea-Horse Road” intersects with the “Shu-Yuan Du Dao (Shu-India Road),” forming a unique crossroads of commercial and cultural exchange. This interaction fostered a blend of Central Plains, Southeast Asian, South Asian, and West Asian cultures, making Dali an ancient capital at the crossroads of Asian civilization. Besides its advantageous location, Dali boasts a distinctive climate. The renowned Xiaguan Tuocha is produced in Xiaguan, Dali. Nestled at the foot of the perpetually snow-capped Cangshan Mountains and beside the rippling waters of Erhai Lake, the region is blessed with a gentle year-round breeze, fresh spring water, and the famed “Four Sceneries” (Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon), offering an ideal environment for processing high-quality tea.

I. The Connotation and Extension of the Tea-Horse Road

The Tea-Horse Road has been a significant trade route for economic and cultural exchanges between the Han and Tibetan ethnic groups since the Tang and Song dynasties. It traverses the Hengduan Mountains and the watersheds of the Jinsha river, Lancang river, and Nu rivers in Yunnan, Tibet, and Sichuan, primarily centered around tea-horse trading and relying on mule caravans as the main mode of transport. This ancient trade route served as a vital link between China’s Tibetan regions and the inland, extending outward to South and Southeast Asia. It also acted as a corridor for interactions and integration among the ethnic groups of Southwest China throughout history.

The tea culture of the Tea-Horse Road, with its unique characteristics, has played a significant role in disseminating Asian civilization. In the Tang Dynasty, a notable work on Yunnan, The Book of the Barbarians (Man Shu), provides valuable records. In Volume 7, Local Products Under Administration, it states: “Tea comes from the mountains within the Silver City territory, where it is scattered and not cultivated systematically. The Mengshe people boil it with pepper, ginger, and cinnamon for drinking.”

Silver City” referred to one of the six prefectures outside of the Nanzhao Kingdom (748–937), located in today’s Jingdong County, Yunnan, covering areas including modern Pu’er and Xishuangbanna. “Mengshe” was one of the six clans of Nanzhao, centered around today’s Weishan and Nanjian in Yunnan. These records reveal that as early as 1,200 years ago, tea from Pu’er and Xishuangbanna was already being transported to Dali.

The operational range of the Tea-Horse Road in China primarily encompassed Yunnan, Tibet, and Sichuan, with extensions into Guangxi and Guizhou provinces, while internationally it extended to India, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and Southeast Asian countries like Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. It also reached other parts of South Asia, West Asia, and Southeast Asia. The routes of the Tea-Horse Road radiated outward from key tea-producing regions such as Mengla, Menghai, Simao, Pu’er, and Lancang in present-day Xishuangbanna and Simao. Heading northwest, the route passed through Jinggu, Zhenyuan, Jingdong, Nanjian, Weishan, Dali, Eryuan, Jianchuan, Heqing, Lijiang, Zhongdian (now Shangri-La), Deqin, Zuogong, Bangda, Chaya or Chamdo, Lhorong, Gongbo’gyamda, and Lhasa. From there, it branched toward Gyantse and Yadong, reaching Myanmar, Nepal, and India. Another branch started from Ya’an in Sichuan, passing through Luding, Kangding, Litang, Batang, Chamdo, and Lhasa, eventually arriving in Nepal and India.