May 12th, '14, 01:09
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Joined: Mar 18th, '14, 07:05
by Jingjiatang » May 12th, '14, 01:09
chrl42 wrote:I don't think the prices are normal, but there's also another way to look at.
Before the PRC was founded, high-quality tea or Yixing teapot was pretty a thing for the rich or nobles.
Beijingers and Szecwanese couldn't get the fresh leaves (High quality teas would be shipped via canals but not normal people's) because the distance was long...so they added Jasmine or flowers.
Peeps in Tibet and Mongols drank really low-graded teas from the mainland..they added salt, sugar, jujube etc to make up the blanks.
Yixing Zhuni was like a symbol for finance during Qing. Rich Cantonese and Fukienese would directly visit Yixing and custom-order the pots. Meanwhile, normal Gongfu drinkers used Shantou teapots.
Things had been radically changed since the Sino-Japanese war and mainly the Cultural Revolution. The class had been vanished..and all old things and antiques were regarded as 'bourgeois' left-overs. The price literally collapsed and after Deng Xiao-ping, 'Made In China' things came around.
And whom benefited from these disasters are HKers and the Taiwanese. Whom just took lots and lots of Puerh and Yixings and antiques when they were hella cheap. I've heard those who started Puerh business in 8~90s in Taiwan now all became rich! Envy
+1 good point.