Xinjiang, as everybody knows, does not grow any tea. But since Zhangqian of Western Han Dynasty (BC 206-AD 25) was accredited to the western regions, the local people got to know about the inland teas. The trade along the old Silk Road in the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties promoted tea exchanges. Year after year, drinking tea gradually became popular fashion, merging into the life of the local inhabitants.
Hotan and Kashi, located in the southern part of Xinjing, lay along the old Silk Road. The local people gained great understanding and realized the change from tea medicine to medical tea.
According to the authorities, the local people in Hotan treated tea as medicine. They put tea together with particular plants and minerals to invigorate and sober the brain, promote digestion and prolong life.
Different components and quantity comprise different prescriptions. Up to now, only dozens have left. With tea drinking getting popular, tea medicine gradually became medical tea.
Hotan is regarded as one of the four regions in the world featuring longevity. Survey shows it has much to do with the medical tea drinking in the local place. Now with the improvement of people’ lives, the demand of such ethnic medical tea in southern Xinjiang is increasing, which makes many families take up the production of medical tea for a living.
The medical tea is now available in Erdaoqiao, the large ethnic plaza in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Many stores there sell such medical tea. After having roast mutton, the inn owners will offer you the ethnic tea mingled with some volatile spices such as cloves and some unknown plant powders. Guests will have a refreshed and comfortable feeling after drinking the tea.
More and more sharp-sighted local merchants have begun to deal in medical tea. Some have even developed product serials and put them onto market. As a result, outside people are able to gain a better understanding of Xinjiang and its ethnic medical tea.
(CIIC by unisumoon 04/24/2001)
