Zhuang

Tea

龙脊茶 lóngjǐ chá — heritage-varietal tea from the Longji terraces in Longsheng County. The Zhuang and Yao arrived here in the late Song, carved terraces for rice, and at first picked wild mountain tea to trade for salt and iron. Under Qianlong, the Guangxi governor presented 龙胜砖茶 lóngshèng zhuānchá, a pressed brick tea from Longsheng, at court; the tribute held for nearly a century, until Daoguang. In 1995 the variety was entered in the 中国茶叶大辞典, and in 2015 it received a geographical indication.

Crown growth

A stepped terrace fragment: a narrow wedge of three steps with visible dry-stone retaining masonry, and along the edge of each step a row of small tea bushes, the top one with two unfurled leaves. The only growth in the set with a stepped profile: no brick, no upright leaf.

Headwear

头帕 tóupà — an indigo cloth folded double and laid flat on the crown, snug against the skull, edged with a narrow strip of 壮锦. Both ends are brought forward over the shoulders and tucked into the sash: when working bent over on the terraces they stay taut and do not dangle into the bushes, which is why the cloth is tied this way. The slot for the growth is a slit in the top fold, overcast with the same strip, the fabric hugging the growth from both sides.

Outline at 6 mm. Two bands across the chest: on the crown a smooth low fold of cloth with no protrusion at all, and the silhouette runs downward — both ends are brought forward over the shoulders and tucked into the sash, and at 6 mm two straight parallel bands run from head to waist. There is no transverse ridge left at all: the ear-to-ear axis stays with plotik. Differs from kamenka in having no sharp angle at the nape, and from perevalka in lacking a longitudinal crest and pinches.

Clothing

Black short jacket with 壮锦 piping, trousers to mid-calf, a woven backpack basket for leaves on the back.

Palette

Indigo and black on the headwear, ochre of terrace clay, grey stone of the masonry; green appears only in the growth’s bushes, never on the headwear.