The China Tea Company and the Origins of the "Zhongcha" Brand

Unfold the wrapper of an old pu'er and the design you'll see most often is a ring of 8 red "中" (zhong) characters surrounding one "茶" (cha, tea) character. This is the "Zhongcha" trademark, which tea lovers usually call "Eight Zhong Cha" (bazhong cha). Yin-grade teas and early qizi bing ("seven-sons cakes") almost all wear this outfit.

The Founding of the China Tea Company

On November 23, 1949, the China Tea Company was approved and established, with its office in Beijing and the tea scholar Wu Juenong as its first general manager. It was one of the earliest national specialized corporations in New China's trade system, responsible for nationwide tea purchasing, production planning, exports, and domestic sales.

Today's Zhongcha (CNNP) brand history also traces its roots back to wartime tea agencies around 1938. The tea agencies of that era developed the southwestern tea regions, and Yunnan's Dianhong and the Fohai Experimental Tea Factory both got their start then; read Fan Hejun and the Fohai Experimental Tea Factory.

What Year Did the "Zhongcha" Trademark Come Into Use?

The usual answer is 1951. Accounts in Xinhua and other Chinese state media say the Zhongcha "Red Eight Zhong" trademark was born in 1951 and was New China's first tea trademark. Wikipedia and other sources also give 1951 as the year it came into use, describing it as one of the earliest registered trademarks in New China. As for the exact registration date and number, most public sources only give the year.

What Does the Eight Zhong Design Mean?

The trademark's composition is simple: an outer ring of 8 red "中" characters arranged in a circle, with a green "茶" character in the middle. There are two common interpretations:

• Green tea from red China: The red "中" stands for China, and the green "茶" stands for tea.
• Chinese tea sold in every direction: The 8 "中" characters face outward, symbolizing Chinese tea going out to all parts of the world.

On pu'er wrappers, the color of the "茶" character wasn't fixed. It came in red, green, blue, yellow, and other colors, and collectors named the teas by that color. That's the origin of "Yin-grade teas"; see Red Mark, Green Mark, Yellow Mark.

The China Tea Company and Yunnan's Tea Factories

In the 1950s, Yunnan's tea production and exports were brought into the China Tea Company system and coordinated by the "China Tea Company Yunnan Branch." The main tea factories all came under it:

• Xiaguan: Brought into the state-owned system in 1950; adopted the Zhongcha trademark from 1952.
• Menghai: The Fohai Tea Factory reopened in 1952 and began formal production as the state-owned Menghai Tea Factory in 1957.
• Kunming: Its predecessor was the Fuxing Tea Factory of 1938. It was formally named the Yunnan Kunming Tea Factory in 1960, under the China Tea Company Yunnan Branch.

The round cakes from each factory were printed with "China Tea Company Yunnan Branch" and the Zhongcha trademark, and were collectively called "Zhongcha brand round tea." On old wrappers, the company name is printed right to left, which is one clue for dating them.

Around 1972, Yunnan's tea exports were handed to the Yunnan Tea Branch of the China National Native Produce and Animal By-Products Import and Export Corporation, "Zhongcha brand round tea" was renamed "Yunnan qizi bing," and the era of Yin-grade teas came to a close. For how the work was divided among factories in the state-owned era, read State-Owned Tea Factories in the Planned Economy.

Why the Zhongcha Brand Wasn't Used by Just One Factory

In the planned-economy era, Zhongcha was a trademark shared across the whole export system, not owned by any single factory. Tea produced at the Kunming, Menghai, Xiaguan, Pu'er, and other factories could all be exported under the Zhongcha brand, so the same Eight Zhong design might come from different factories.

After the economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s, things began to change:

• Factories created their own brands: The Menghai Tea Factory began using the "Dayi" trademark in 1988 and formally registered it in 1995; the Xiaguan Tea Factory launched its "Songhe" (Pine and Crane) brand in 1992; and the Kunming Tea Factory, because the Zhongcha brand was being used so indiscriminately, switched to the Jixing and Jinji (Golden Rooster) brands for export.
• Ownership of the trademark: In 2004, the China Tea Company became a wholly owned subsidiary of COFCO. Today's China Tea Company still uses Zhongcha as its main brand, selling pu'er, dark tea, Liubao tea, and other kinds of tea.

So when you see the Eight Zhong design, you can't tell from the trademark alone which factory or era a tea comes from; you also need to look at the wrapper printing, neifei (embedded ticket), recipe number (maihao), and production date. How to read wrappers is covered in How to Read a Pu'er Wrapper.

Small Clues to Dating from the Wrapper

• Script: Early wrappers mostly used traditional characters; "Zhongcha" wrappers in simplified characters appeared from the 1970s on.
• Company name: China Tea Company Yunnan Branch and the Yunnan Tea Branch of the China National Native Produce and Animal By-Products Import and Export Corporation belong to different eras.
• Recipe number: Four-digit recipe numbers date from the 1970s onward, and the last digit indicates the factory: 1 Kunming, 2 Menghai, 3 Xiaguan, 4 Pu'er.

FAQ

What is Eight Zhong Cha? It's the nickname for the Zhongcha trademark, a design of 8 red "中" characters surrounding one "茶" character. The China Tea Company launched it in 1951, and pu'er from Yunnan's state-owned tea factories all used it at one time.

What year did the "Zhongcha" trademark come into use? The usual answer is 1951, and it's often called New China's first tea trademark.

Were all Zhongcha brand teas made by the same factory? No. In the planned-economy era Zhongcha was a trademark shared across the export system and used by the Kunming, Menghai, Xiaguan, Pu'er, and other factories. You need to check the wrapper, recipe number, and production date to tell which one made it.

Is today's Zhongcha the same as before? Today's China Tea Company is a subsidiary of COFCO and still uses the Zhongcha brand. Most of the former state-owned tea factories have since been restructured and have their own brands.