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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