Hui

Tea

盖碗茶 gàiwǎnchá in three-part ware — saucer, flared bowl, lid — hence the name 三炮台 sānpàotái. The Lanzhou variant 八宝茶 bābǎochá is assembled entirely from imported ingredients: base of 春尖 chūnjiān, 毛尖 máojiān or 沱茶 from Yunnan, dates from Linze in Gansu, longan from Fujian, raisins from Xinjiang, goji berries, chrysanthemum, rock sugar, and dried apricots. Lanzhou here is not a place of drinking but a hub: the city stands at the Silk Road crossing and on the shoulder of 茶马贸易, and in a single cup the roads of four directions converge. In the Xihaigu mountains the village version is simpler and stronger — 罐罐茶 guànguànchá: brick tea or Shaanxi 陕青茶 shǎnqīngchá is slowly simmered in a small black clay pot over coals, and it too is entirely imported.

Crown growth

A half-opened chrysanthemum bud: a tight 菊花 júhuā bud on a short stem, the outer ring of petals bent outward at the tips in a short palisade around the entire circle — at 6 mm the bud rim is finely serrated across its whole circumference, with no smooth sphere in the silhouette: a pair of fused bubbles remains for nedokip, a capsule with three slits for nochevka. At the base a glassy sugar crust with sparse chips, a single dark tea leaf stuck between the petals.

Headwear

A summer traveling hat with a vent: a wide flat brim around the circle, above it on a low openwork band of loose weave — a second flat crown of smaller diameter, with an open gap for air running around the full circumference between the tiers. Both planes are covered in dark fabric, the edges bound with dark braid; the piece is everyday and meant for the road. The slot for the bud sits in the center of the upper crown.

Outline at 6 mm. Two-tier headband, and now the only one in the whole set: two flat washers spaced vertically with a through gap between them; together with the head the silhouette reads as three tiers and echoes the count of 三炮台. boyok has left the second tier — it has a single wrap and an upright loop behind the head; kubyshka as well — it has one layer and one lobe over the cheek. From pusha’s band it differs by the second tier, from sitko’s disc and tolkusha’s disc with a skirt — by the gap visible straight through, from zapivka’s flat crown on a solid rim — by the rim being open here.

Clothing

A plain canvas jacket with knotted buttons, over it a shopkeeper’s apron with a worn lower edge, linen arm guards, a wooden scoop for weighing out goods tucked into the belt.

Palette

Unbleached canvas and straw of the hat’s two tiers, ochre of the apron, green-yellow chrysanthemum bud, amber glint of the sugar crust, dark speck of the tea leaf.