Tujia

Tea

恩施玉露 Ēnshī yùlù — the only surviving steamed green tea 蒸青 in China; and 擂茶 — tea ground in a stone mortar with roasted grain, plus 油茶汤 as the highest mark of respect to a guest

Crown growth

Ground grain with leaf: a squat granular lump on the crown, slightly flattened on top, its whole surface grainy and flaked, warm grey-ochre with darker specks of leaf. Matte and crumbly in appearance — the opposite of smooth growths

Headwear

包头帕 bāotóupà — a long cloth strip wound in layers into a TALL tower with visible coil steps, step pitch no finer than 1 mm, with a slot on top for the lump. Proverb 头包三尺帕. Differs from Zhuni’s felt bowl in that the height exceeds the diameter, there is no horizontal brim shelf, and instead of a smooth wall there are steps

Clothing

A jacket with wide sleeves and multi-banded trim (arm silhouette tapering to a triangle), leg wraps, straw sandals. A woven blanket 西兰卡普 folded behind the back-carrier, bearing a single large stepped motif; in the hands, a stone mortar and a wooden pestle

Palette

Black with white and red, three tones each; the blanket red-black-white with a single large motif no smaller than 4 mm; brass as a single accent. No green on the headwear — the tower is black or white

Why this is not a caricature

The 西兰卡普 pattern is not shrunk but translated: instead of illegible stitching, one large motif on one field with contrasting trim at the edges — otherwise, at 80 mm it would read as mud passed off as embroidery. The headwear is worn by both men and women, with no rank or ritual attached. The work is shown directly — mortar and pestle — and the oil tea is named on the card as food and a sign of respect to the guest, which is exactly what it is, without turning it into an “exotic beverage.” Figures and names are cross-checked against local sources with year references; the phrase “we have consulted the community” is never used