Fan Hejun and the Fohai Experimental Tea Factory: Predecessor of the Menghai Tea Factory
Many people have drunk Dayi's 7542 and 7572 without knowing that the factory began as an experimental tea factory set up by a group of tea technicians in the frontier town of Fohai in the late 1930s. The man who led them was named Fan Hejun.
Background: The Tea Industry Moves Southwest
As the war widened in the late 1930s, the tea regions along China's southeast coast came close to the front lines, making both production and exports difficult. Around 1938, the Nationalist government's tea agencies therefore began developing tea regions in the southwest, hoping to earn foreign exchange through tea exports. Yunnan's Dianhong (Yunnan black tea) was born at this time: in March 1939 the Shunning (today's Fengqing) Tea Factory was founded, and that same year it successfully made trial batches of black tea, which were sold to Britain via Hong Kong.
Tea development in Fohai was part of the same push. The Menghai area had many ancient tea gardens and was close to Burma, with transport links to export routes through Burma and India, making it an ideal place to develop machine tea making.
Who Founded the Menghai Tea Factory?
The predecessor of the Menghai Tea Factory, the "Fohai Experimental Tea Factory," was founded under Fan Hejun's leadership, and he served as its first director. Both Dayi and Chinese state media list Fan Hejun and Zhang Shicheng together as founders, saying the two came to Fohai to build the factory to support the wartime economy and save the nation through industry.
Fan Hejun was one of the few technicians of his time with modern tea industry training. He led a team that surveyed tea gardens in Fohai and experimented with processing methods, bringing ideas of mechanization and standardization to a place dominated by handmade tea firms.
What Year Was the Fohai Experimental Tea Factory Founded?
Records don't agree on the answer:
- 1939: Most accounts from the Dayi Group and Chinese state media say it was founded in Fohai County in 1939 by Fan Hejun and Zhang Shicheng, and some sources record that Fan Hejun began making tea in September 1939.
- 1940: Wikipedia and other sources give 1940 as the founding year; another account says the factory was formally established in 1940 by more than 90 tea professionals from across the country.
A reasonable reading: planning began around 1938, trial production in 1939, and the factory was formally established around 1940. Different sources picked different points in time, and you'll see both dates.
When Did Machine Tea Making Come to Yunnan?
Machine tea making in Yunnan began roughly between the late 1930s and early 1940s, during the wartime development of southwestern tea regions. A few frequently cited examples:
- Shunning Tea Factory: Founded in 1939; successfully made trial batches of Dianhong.
- Nannuo Mountain Tea Factory: Bai Mengyu imported tea-making machines from Britain and brought them into Nannuo Mountain via Kengtung in Burma. It went into full production in 1941 and made Yunnan's first batch of machine-made black tea.
- Fohai Experimental Tea Factory: In the same period, it experimented with machine-assisted tea making in Fohai.
These factories started Yunnan tea's move from family workshops and private tea firms toward factory production.
Stalled by War
In 1942 the war spread to Burma, the export route through Burma and India was cut, and Fohai's tea industry suddenly had no outlet. Then came the civil war, and the Fohai Experimental Tea Factory stopped production in the 1940s. Fan Hejun didn't spend long in Fohai, but the buildings, staff, and tea-making experience he left behind became the basis for later rebuilding.
From Fohai Tea Factory to Menghai Tea Factory
After the founding of the People's Republic, the factory started over:
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1952 | Fohai Tea Factory reopens |
| 1953 | Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture is established; the factory is renamed the Xishuangbanna Tea Factory of the Yunnan Tea Company |
| 1950s | Fohai County is renamed Menghai County, and the factory is named the Menghai Tea Factory accordingly |
| 1957 | The state-owned Menghai Tea Factory formally hires workers and begins production |
| 1975 | The year code in recipes such as 7542 and 7572 |
| 1988 | Begins using the "Dayi" trademark |
| 1995 | The "Dayi" trademark is formally registered |
| 2004 | Restructured as a private enterprise |
So the answer to "what was Dayi's predecessor" is the Menghai Tea Factory, and going back further, Fan Hejun's Fohai Experimental Tea Factory. In recipe numbers (maihao), the Menghai Tea Factory's code is a final digit of 2, as in 7542 and 7572. For how to read them, see How Recipe Numbers Are Coded.
What the Experimental Factory Left Behind
- The factory mindset: Centralized purchasing, grading, blending, and pressing, so quality could be reproduced consistently.
- Experience with border-sale and export tea: Making jincha and export tea laid the groundwork for the later state-owned era.
- Menghai as an industry center: Siting the Fohai factory in Menghai helped make it the place with the highest concentration of pu'er factories. For the broader picture of Menghai in the Republican era, see Fohai in the Republican Era.
FAQ
What was Dayi's predecessor? Dayi's predecessor was the state-owned Menghai Tea Factory, and before that the Fohai Experimental Tea Factory founded by Fan Hejun and others in Fohai. It began using the Dayi trademark in 1988 and was restructured as a private enterprise in 2004.
What year was the Fohai Experimental Tea Factory founded? There are two records: Dayi and Chinese state media mostly say 1939, while Wikipedia and other sources say 1940. The general understanding is that trial production began in 1939 and the factory was formally established around 1940.
Who founded the Menghai Tea Factory? It was founded under Fan Hejun's leadership, and he served as its first director. Dayi's own accounts also list Zhang Shicheng as a co-founder.
How did the Fohai Tea Factory become the Menghai Tea Factory? The factory stalled in the 1940s and reopened in 1952. In the 1950s Fohai County was renamed Menghai County and the factory was renamed the Menghai Tea Factory, beginning formal production as the state-owned Menghai Tea Factory in 1957.