The legend of Houkeng
The legend of Houkeng
Houkeng, birthplace of the Monkey Chief Green Tea
Part one: The story of the Monkey Chief
Houkeng Valley
Once upon a time there was a county named Taiping (nowadays a village next to the Taiping lake) in the northern part of Anhui’s famous Huangshan Mountains. A valley in this Taiping County was the home of a large monkey community. Therefore the local people called this valley “Houkeng” (means monkey valley).
Monkey and Villagers Valley
This “monkey valley” was also the home of ten human families. Their houses were very simple: bamboo and wood served as walls and the roofs were made out of grass and sheets of stone. The families made their living by picking tea leaves in spring and collecting Chinese medicine in the summer. They also grew vegetables and would take care of their livestock such as chickens, pigs and cows.
Not easy
The families and the monkeys didn't get along well so every year most of the corn and other crops were completely ruined by the monkeys. Therefore the lives of the farmers were not easy.
Lost monkey child and the sick father
A famous story about the Huanshan monkeys talks about a monkey family; the father, mother and their son. One day the little monkey lost his way and didn’t come back home on time. The parents were so worried that they decided the mother would stay home and the father would go to look for their missing child. After a long and exhausting journey he ended up in the Houkeng, there the father monkey became sick and couldn’t make it back to his home in Huangshan.
The villagers
In the morning when the local Koukeng villagers opened the door, they found the father monkey on the ground very sick. Fortunately the villagers knew how to make use of herbs and prepare medicine for the monkey and give him some of their tea to drink. Several days later, the monkey started recovering from his illness. He was so thankful that the decided to stay in the Houkeng with the villagers. When the monkeys in Houkeng saw how well the villagers had been treaten this monkey, they realized how they had been treating to villagers poorly. Although they ruined their harvest for years, the villagers would still go out of their way to save their life. From that moment on the monkeys and villagers started to live together in peace.
Monkey Chief
After the father monkey was fully recovered from his illness he stood up and brought all the monkeys together. He was a strong and very smart monkey, soon he became their powerful and admired leader: the legend of the monkey chief was born (a different legend than the very famous Chinese monkey king). Under his leadership, the monkeys helped the farmers with their tasks instead of ruining the crops. When tea-picking season came, the monkeys would pick the tea leaves which the farmers couldn’t reach.
Monkey tea pickers
The tea leaves picked by monkeys were made into a very nice tea. Its mellow taste and Long-lasting fragrance made it famous. Many merchants from other places came over to Taiping and purchased it. Therefore people named this tea as Taiping Hou Kui (Hou means monkey, Kui means chief).
Monkey staring at Taiping
Back to the beginning of the story, the mother monkey had been sitting on the Huangshan Mountain peak everyday without eating anything waiting for her husband and her son. She stared at Taiping county and waited for her husband to bring their son back. After a long time, she turned into stone and became known as “Monkey staring at Taiping” on Huangshan Mountain. Still to this day you can find this stone, since the father monkey and her son never returned to Huangshan.
Part Two: The history
History of famous tea
Taiping County has a long history with interesting people and famous tea. The origin of Taiping Hou Kui tea is indeed Houkeng, Taiping County, Anhui Province. There are high mountains and dense forests. The Taiping Lake is next to the village.
The wars
Because of the warfare in northern part of China in Qing Dynasty, two Chinese families named The Fangs and the Wangs came to Houkeng and Hougang village (respectively) one after another in order to avoid the war. The Fangs made a living by planting and making tea, and the Wangs made a living by becoming a wood-keeper as well as a tomb-keeper. These two villages were not far away from each other so frequently the Wangs went to their neighbor village to learn how to grow and make tea. The majority of the people from both families became friendly with each other and over time they would marry and become relatives. Regularly, they would gather together and communicate with each other on tea related topics.
Junior Wang
In 1900, Wang gui cheng who moved together with his father to Hougang planted tea trees in Phoenix Tip Mountain. Inspired by tea merchants, he discovered the high quality tea that was made out of one bud and two leaves. People called this the Junior Wang Tip tea.
Lion-shaped Mountain
Fang nan shan，a tea maker from Houkeng, together with his nephew, planted tea trees in Lion-shaped Head Mountain. Together they would research looking for ways to improve the tea. In 1909 Fang and his nephew together with the son of Wang gui cheng, discovered the Taiping Hou Kui tea based on Junior Wang Tip tea after the passing of Wang.
Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco
At the end of 1915, Fang nan shan and Li dian xun who was the representative of Keemun black, took their teas to San Francisco to attend the Panama-Pacific Exposition. During the exposition, foreign people seldom inquired about the tea because they didn’t know much about it. In order to change this, Fang finally set a teahouse beside the China Pavilion and steeped the tea immediately. People were all attracted by the refreshing fragrance and would taste it. Eventually, the attendees were all amazed by the fragrance and the mellow taste. It received the Gold Prize afterwards.
Houkui Bible
There was a master who was a monk, he was very good at making Taiping Hou Kui tea. With the master’s help, Fang nan shan published the “Hou Kui Bible” in 1917. The book offers the detailed information of making Hou Kui tea ranging from picking to processing. It is indeed a treasure to all of us. The book has three parts: origin, tea production and conclusion.
Monkey Chief Tea Standards
According to the requirements of “Hou Kui Bible”, the tea will be picked during Qing Ming Festival. Only the tea with one bud with three or four leaves will be picked in the morning. After picking, the farmers need to select the best among the tea that was picked. The entire process includes: picking in the morning, selecting in the noon and processing in the afternoon/evening. There are three steps in processing the tea: fermenting, rolling and baking.
Monkey Chief in Bolivia
In 1947, Bolivia (South America) imported Lion Peak Dragon Well and Taiping Hou Kui tea, 5 kilograms of each from China. They tested both of them and were very satisfied with the teas. The President of Bolivia wanted to plant these tea trees in his country so he decided he wanted to buy 500 kilograms of the teas seeds and come up with a large sum of money to recruit 20 tea farmers.
Rules for Houkeng Village
In order to protect the core production area of Taiping Hou Kui tea the Houkeng villagers launched the “rules for the villagers” and set up a monument at the entrance of the village. At the same time they developed the processing method. For example, screen cloth was used to shape tea and a baking oven was used to bake the tea. As a result, the color, fragrance, taste and appearance became even better.
Houkui Brand
Now the Taiping Hou Kui tea has its own brand. In order to make the most of it strengths, Huangshan Koukeng Tea Co, .Ltd. was established in 2006. A year later, their Taiping Hou Kui tea was selected to be the gift tea and later was presented to Russia’s President Putin during the opening ceremony of “China Year” in Russia.
Part Three: Celebrities and Taiping Hou Kui tea
ChenLong and the Monkey Chief Tea
It was said that during the adventures of Emperor ChenLong, he went to Houkeng village. After drinking the tea, he said, “the common people can’t live without rice, the emperor can’t live either without tea”.
Sun Yet Sen and Monkey Chief Green Tea
In Oct. 1912, Sun Yat-sen, the President of Republic of China, went to visit Yangtze River. When he reached Wuhu City, Anhui Province, Fang nan shan presented him the Taiping Hou Kui tea. Mr. Sun liked it very much. He even said he would live a life with no regrets if he had a friend like this tea.
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