Finding more and more pieces of forgotten history here at Che Shi, one of the pivotal founding villages of Tieguanyin( should I start a travel blog? But no one goes to places I go….). This is the oldest, and very first, structure in the village, a mud ‘fortress’ with over 90 rooms. Up until last year, 15 families lived there and made tea in there. Why such a formidable fortress in a farm village? Apparently, banditry, a big part of Chinese history few historians bother with, was a daily concern for the common people. The first settlers here, some 600 or more years ago, needed to defend themselves because as we know, then and now, the authorities serve only to intimidate, tax, force bribes, and act in as many manners of injustice they can. Poor farmers face double banditry, from authorities as well as outlaws. So they built a great big impenetrable stone and mud fortress and lived together like a commune.

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Mr. Lin dutifully does the firecracker offerings while I stood afar. Can’t remember if I remembered to pray; it’s a good thing there is no fire code to extinguish this ritual on behalf of this 400 plus year old temple.

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An odd little temple with 5 fierce looking statutes, unlike other Taoist temples, and most definitely, there was no statute of Guanyin as indicated by legend. The custom here is to pray and offer food and incense, but if the wish is outrageous, like winning at the horse race tomorrow, why then, one must offer up a round of firecrackers! The Southern Fujianese were the only ones with this loud custom at a temple. Guanyin, her name meaning hearing all sounds, might not approve of such loudness. But was this the temple the old man prayed in? Did he even have a name.
Why yes, the tea farmers inform me. It’s not a myth. The old man’s name was Wei Yin. I’ll go soon to visit his grave, one step closer to finding out that these tea legends were not made up- the farmers had not such imagination! So where are the monkeys for picking tea?

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This ancient tree is arguably the first mother Tieguanyin tree, though it is probably one of many that were indigenous and wild at the time, and is the last one standing. I say tree, but this is actually the bush type Camellia sinensis, so it’s actually a very strong, healthy, prosperous looking overgrown bush. Judging from height and branching and trunk proportions, this bush is well over 1000 years old. 
About 10 feet tall and around 40 feet circumference, it is the largest and oldest tea bush I have ever seen; the tree type ones are taller, but no old bush i have ever seen has ever reached this size.

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Found the old dilapidated temple of legend. It is fairly well maintained, the stone steps leading up to it is timeless and full of moss. The downpour almost obscured the tablets that say:

Origin of Tieguanyin
And
Dismount from your horse before ascending.

Few ever come this far before the recent addition of the road; the tablet implies that wealthy landlords or government officials were ones who frequented this temple.

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The hillside is full of Gold Guanyin, some Yellow Gold, a bit of Benshan oolong. Mr. Lin is upgrading- these bushes will all benefit from sheep dung!

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