Ⅴ.Period of the Ming and Qing Dynasties
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the development of Pu’er tea reached its peak in history, and became a royal tribute.Its production skills tended to be standardized, and it was officially named“Pu’er tea”in the Wanli Period of the Ming Dynasty.
图1-3 《滇略》
明代随着茶马互市的出现和郑和下西洋，茶叶贸易开始繁荣，茶叶需求量增加。车里宣慰使司利用现有的优越条件，组织了大规模的茶叶种植，为清代“普洱茶”的发展奠定了坚实基础。普洱茶随着茶马古道和丝绸之路大量流进京城，深受当时人们的喜爱，并一直延续至清朝。
清朝初期，清政府在思茅（今普洱）设总茶店，由官方垄断茶叶市场，并驱逐全部茶商，但由于官员盘剥更胜于茶商，导致茶农发生暴动，清政府不得不选择安抚。于是在清政府的抚绥政策下，茶叶生产有了极大的增长，普洱茶进入极盛时期。清檀萃《滇海虞衡志》（1799年）卷十一记载：“普茶名重于天下，出普洱所属六大茶山……周八百里，入山作茶者数十万人，茶客收买运于各处。”记载表明，清朝时期的普洱茶产销繁盛，皇室贵族都对普洱茶喜爱有加，道光皇帝甚至御赐“瑞贡天朝”的牌匾。阮福《普洱茶记》（1825年）有“普洱茶名遍天下，味最酽，京师尤重之”。同时，普洱茶种植区域进一步扩大，云南茶叶的名声逐渐响彻海外，沿着“茶马古道”运往西藏、西北地区，同时运往缅甸、老挝、越南等东南亚国家，并经由印度加尔各答转销至世界各地。
Xie Zhaozhe， the Right Senator of Yunnan Civil Affairs Department in the Ming Dynasty，recorded in Brief Introduction to Yunnan：“Scholars and ordinary people all drink Pu’er tea.They make the tea into rolls by steaming and drink it as the water”.The“tea”referred here was Pu’er tea， having the largest sales volume in Yunnan at that time.The General Annals of Yunnan written in the Wanli Period of the Ming Dynasty also recorded that“普耳 （Pu’er）（with the same pronunciation as 普洱 in Chinese）of Cheli is rich in tea”.Fang Yizhi further described in Encyclopedia of Everything in the World：“Pu’er tea can be steamed into rolls，which is usually used by Tubo， and has the function of promoting digestion， just as the Guapian Tea in Luan.”This is the first time in history that the concept of“Pu’er tea”has been explicitly put forward， which continues to this day.
Fig.1-3 Brief Introduction to Yunnan
Due to the tea-horse trade and Zheng He’s voyages to the west in the Ming Dynasty, tea trade became prosperous and the demand for tea increased.The Administrative Department of Cheli made use of the existing superior conditions to organize large-scale tea planting, which laid a solid foundation for the development of“Pu’er tea”in Qing Dynasty.With the Ancient Tea-horse Road and the Silk Road, Pu’er tea was introduced to the capital and deeply loved by people at that time and continued to the Qing Dynasty.
In the early Qing Dynasty, the government set up a general tea shop in Simao (now Pu’er), and monopolized the tea market and expelled all the tea merchants.However, as officials’exploitation was more serious than that of tea merchants, tea farmers rioted, and the Qing government had to take measures for conciliation.Therefore, under the conciliation policy of the Qing government,tea production greatly increased, and Pu’er tea entered its prosperous period.Tan Cui of the Qing Dynasty recorded in Volume 11 of Chorography of Mountains and Rivers in Yunnan (1799):Tea becomes famous again throughout the land, especially the Pu’er tea growing from the six tea mountains...In a radius of 800 li, tens of thousands of people enter the tea mountains and tea merchants collect and purchase tea everywhere.”It showed that during the Qing Dynasty, Pu’er tea was flourishing in production and sales, and even royal family and nobles loved Pu’er tea.Emperor Daoguang even gave a plaque of“Unique Tribute for Imperial Court”.Ruan Fu described in Records of Pu’er Tea (1825)that“Pu’er tea famous throughout the land often has a strong taste,especially in the capital.”At the same time, the growing area of Pu’er tea was further expanded,and the reputation of Yunnan tea gradually resounded overseas.It was transported to Xizang and northwest China along the“Ancient Tea-horse Road”, and also to Southeast Asian countries such as Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, and then resold to all parts of the world via Calcutta, India.
图1-4 《滇海虞衡志》中关于普洱茶的记载
清代刘源长的曾孙二次编撰茶学著作《茶史》中载道：“云南普洱茶，真奇品者也，人亦不易得”，对普洱茶给予了高度评价，称“真奇品者也，人亦不易得”，“真奇品”说明普洱茶品质之优良远超其他茶品。普洱茶的魅力不仅在于民间，满族入主中原后，由于普洱茶“清胃生津，功力尤大”的特性满足了以奶制品和肉制品为主食的游牧民族满族人的消食需要，普洱茶成为皇家贡茶，甚至受到乾隆皇帝“独有普洱号刚坚，清标未足夸雀舌”的美赞。
Fig.1-4 Records on Pu’er tea in Chorography of Mountains and Rivers in Yunnan
Liu Yuanchang’s great-grandson in the Qing Dynasty compiled the History of Tea twice,which stated:“Yunnan Pu’er tea is the bright pearl among various teas and it is rare to obtain”.This statement gave a high evaluation of Pu’er tea, saying that“Yunnan Pu’er tea is the bright pearl among various teas and it is rare to obtain”and“bright pearl”showed that the quality of Pu’er tea is far superior to other tea products.The charm of Pu’er tea does not lie in folks only.After Man people conquered the central plains, Pu’er tea became a royal tribute tea because its characteristics of“soothing liver, removing turbidity, promoting blood circulation and relieving pain”meet the digestive demand of Man people who mainly have dairy products and meat.It is even praised by the Emperor Qianlong as“Only Pu’er tea can be regarded as having the indomitable character and improves the fragrance after years of storage”.