Xiao Shiying, senior agronomist of the Pu’er Tea Research Institute, honored as “Master Tea Craftsman of a Great Nation” and “Father of Yunnan’s Clonal Tea Cultivars,” passed away in Pu’er City at the age of 91.
Upon taking office, Li Qingyuan, Party Secretary of Pu’er City, paid visits to the community of veteran tea masters in Pu’er, represented by Xiao Shiying. He held repeated discussions with them, exchanged views in depth, and humbly listened to their opinions and suggestions on the development of the tea industry.
Perhaps Pu’er City already has two “lofty mountains”: one is Jingmai Mountain, an ecological model of harmonious coexistence between people and tea; the other is the spiritual peak of Pu’er tea forged together by seasoned tea elders like Mr. Xiao Shiying. Through decades of quiet dedication, with a professional attitude of ever-refining excellence and the craftsman spirit of “devoting a lifetime to nurturing a single seedling,” he raised a spiritual monument and made an immense contribution to the development of Pu’er tea.
While Xiao Shiying was hospitalized with illness, Party Secretary Li Qingyuan personally instructed that every available medical means be devoted wholeheartedly to his treatment. On the afternoon of August 16, Li Qingyuan went to the family home to pay his respects and offer condolences to the family, and personally delivered an elegiac couplet in remembrance of Xiao Shiying:
By the waters of Zi, a hero of his time; to Pu’er he gave his life’s devotion. Weighty the bond of life and death; the elder couple now rests together. Nature and flavor pure as heaven; a noble spirit over Yunnan’s cloud-clad peaks. Where virtue and esteem converge, a lifetime of uprightness lives on for a thousand ages;
On the great river blooms the magnolia; at Bangwai his name is forever set. Across the reaches of yin and yang, hearts in every quarter are gripped with grief. Buds and strings true to their terroir; an icy integrity, a noble example. His voice and countenance still linger; a loyal soul for ten thousand generations soars in the ninth heaven.
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Author: Lam Sam (LamSam), the Old Tea Head
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