Mengding Moutain

Introduction
Mengding Mountain, located in the territory of Ya'an, Sichuan, is 110 kilometers from Chengdu and 15 kilometers from Ya'an. It is a famous mountain with beautiful sceneries and long history, rated as Three Famous Mountains of Sichuan together with Mount Emei and Mount Qingcheng. With the annual rainfall of over 2,000 millimeters, Mengding Mountain is featured by "raining and foggy scene", which contributes to its Chinese name "Meng" (anciently named as "Xi Shu Lou Tian" in Chinese). Mengding Mountain has five peaks rising up in a circle like a lotus flower, among which Shangqing is the highest peak with the attitude of 1,456 meters. 

History & Background
The altitude, soil and climate of Mengding Mountain are very suitable for growing tea, so as far back as over 2,000 years ago in the Western Han Dynasty, "the ancestor of tea planting", Wu Lizhen, began to plant domesticated wild tea trees on Mengding Mountain, which symbolizes the beginning of a human-plant tea history. Thus, it is generally recognized as the birthplace of the world's tea civilization and the origin of the world's tea culture.

The Tang and Song dynasties were the heyday of Mengshan tea. In 724 AD of Emperor Tang Xuanzong's reign, it was selected as an imperial tribute which had been used as a special article for emperors to worship heaven and earth ancestors until the Qing Dynasty, lasting for more than 1,200 years. Over more than 1,000 years from the Tang Dynasty up to Qing Dynasty, Mengshan tea was paid as a tribute to the imperial palace year after year for "Qingminghui" of the imperial household to worship heaven and ancestors. This special tea was picked from the seven holy tea tress planted by Wu Lizhen. In the Qing Dynasty, the five peaks were zoned as a forbidden area and the seven holy tea trees were fenced by stone balusters as the "Imperial Tea Garden" which has preserved up to now.

Mengshan tea
Mengshan tea has been regarded as a magic bullet for curing diseases among people, so it is named as "Holy Tea" and Mengding Mountain is praised as "Hometown of Holy Tea". With its widespread reputation, Mengshan tea was loved by ancient literati. In China, the most famous and beautiful line for praising tea is "Water in the middle of Yangtze River tops, while Tea of Mengding Mountain stands out" widely spread in the form of a folk proverb, which is the best known tea couplet expressing that Mengshan Tea is a treasure among others with the best quality and highest stage of Chinese tea.

"Eighteen Movements of Flying Dragon", a tea-brewing knack by long-mouth pot, is a tea skill peculiar to Mengding Mountain. It is said that "Eighteen Movements of Flying Dragon" was created by Master Chanhui in the Northern Song Dynasty while he was practicing Buddhism and mediating on the thoughts of Zen in Mengding Mountain. In the past, as a course for monks, "Eighteen Movements of Flying Dragon" had been only spread among the monks in Mengding Mountain until the Qing Dynasty when it was introduced to the folk. In the hearts of Chinese, the tea art seems to be a representative of solemn, quiet and elegant art.