Zhang Lingling
Editor’s Note
To create a positive atmosphere of “learning from and admiring models” among tea enthusiasts nationwide, and to promote the craftsman spirit of excellence, the spirit of innovation and pioneering, and the spirit of selfless dedication of tea professionals in the new era, and to jointly promote the long-term development of China’s tea industry, the China Cooperation Times · Tea Weekly all-media platform, in collaboration with “Chinese Tea People,” will sequentially launch the series report “Finding Models of Chinese Tea People.”
Today we publish the fifth installment of the “Finding Models of Chinese Tea People” series: New Tea Professional Zhang Lingling: The Story of “Dark Tea Mulan.”
Zhang Lingling, a third-generation new tea professional, graduated from the Department of Tea Science, College of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Hunan Agricultural University in 2007 with a Master’s degree. She is a Senior Agronomist and Deputy General Manager of Hunan Ba Shaxi Tea Factory Co., Ltd.; a deputy to the 7th People’s Congress of Yiyang City; and holds various honors such as “Yiyang Technical Expert,” “Hunan Outstanding QC Group Leader,” and “One of Hunan’s Top Ten Outstanding Tea Craftspeople: A Model Tea Professional · New Tea Professional.”
Zhang Lingling: The Story of “Dark Tea Mulan”
As a recipient of the third “Tea People Models” new tea professional award, Zhang Lingling is a tea-making expert born in the 1980s. Her growth, experiences, breakthroughs, and contributions may seem ordinary, but her seventeen years of transformation through seasons in Ba Shaxi have gradually been refined in the hearts of journalists into a “Mulan” of the Dark Tea industry.
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The “Dark Tea Mulan” Dedicated to Learning and Skill
Learning is the foundation of one’s character, and technology is the basis for success. In June 2007, Zhang Lingling graduated from the Department of Tea Science, College of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Hunan Agricultural University. Through diligent and systematic study during her time at school, while building a solid foundation of knowledge, she also clarified her professional direction and life goals.
In the 17 years since graduation, she started as a workshop quality inspection employee and, through hard work and effort, transformed from an ordinary worker into a technical backbone; in 2019, she was promoted to Deputy General Manager of Hunan Ba Shaxi Tea Factory Co., Ltd. Throughout her 17 years in the industry, she has always devoted herself with full passion to the team revitalizing the Anhua Dark Tea industry. She has not only achieved first-class results in her position but has also forged a professional attitude and a spirit of dedication that is unafraid of hardship and refuses to yield, earning honors such as “Yiyang Technical Expert,” “Hunan Outstanding QC Group Leader,” and “One of Hunan’s Top Ten Outstanding Tea Craftspeople.”
Zhang Lingling developing Dark Tea products in the laboratory.
Upon joining Hunan Ba Shaxi Tea Factory Co., Ltd., Zhang Lingling started in the Quality Inspection Department, studying under Chinese tea master and inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Qianliang tea and Tianjian tea techniques, Xiao Yiping; she is a core member of the Master Xiao Yiping Studio. Zhang Lingling believes that working on the front lines of the workshop is a rare opportunity for training, which she deeply treasures. In the scorching summer, when the heat is already unbearable, the workshop’s drying rooms are exceptionally stifling, with temperatures reaching over 40°C. Working here involves sweating profusely every day and requires immense physical strength and endurance, so the tea-making workforce is primarily male. However, Zhang Lingling, a woman who matches men in strength, never complains of hardship or fatigue. On the production front line, she followed her masters to understand and master every process, continuously solidifying her path of growth through diligent study and hard practice, performing a real-life version of “Dark Tea Mulan”—”Who says women are not as good as men…” As Zhang Lingling directly stated, “Doing the work you love is not hard.”
Fragrance comes from hardship. Through the passing of seasons, with a fervent heart, Zhang Lingling has studied diligently on the front lines to improve tea-making techniques. Under the guidance of Master Xiao Yiping, she has achieved significant scientific research results. Zhang Lingling participated in key Dark Tea technology research, technological innovation, and new product development, including projects such as the National Science and Technology Progress Second Prize “Key Technological Innovation and Industrial Application of Quality Improvement and Efficiency Enhancement of Dark Tea.” She has successively obtained 3 science and technology progress awards, 7 national invention patents, 8 utility model patents, and 23 design patents; she has also developed and launched products such as 5301 Bud Tea, Yunjian Tea, Fuhao Tea, the Expo series, the General Fu series, the Junzeyuan series, the Red series, and Chenpi Fu Tea, all of a which are highly popular in the market and have won multiple awards. In 2020, 2021, and 2022, she was successively recognized as a talent supported by the Yiyang Yincheng Science and Technology Talent Program, a high-level talent of Yiyang, and an expert in the Yiyang Science and Technology Expert Database.
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Completing the Transformation, Building the Foundation of Enterprise Quality
Zhang Lingling (second from right) inspecting Dark Tea production in the workshop.
Possessing both down-to-earth strength and an ambitious spirit. During the interview with Zhang Lingling, one can sense the low-profile humility and high aspirations inherent in a technical professional. Zhang Lingling is the only member of the company’s senior management who does not hold a non-production management position. She said, “Everyone has a different personality; mine is quite quiet, which is very suitable for a technical role.” Therefore, even after entering management, she did not give up the “opportunity” to enjoy working on the front lines of production and research.
After being promoted to Deputy General Manager of Hunan Ba Shaxi Tea Factory Co., Ltd. in 2019, Zhang Lingling needs to focus not only on the workshops and laboratories but also devote more effort to the field of management. In the process of transitioning from a technical R&D position to a management position, Zhang Lingling has always held onto product quality as the lifeline, building a solid foundation for Ba Shaxi’s development. The production of Qianliang tea is closely linked to the weather; sufficient sunlight leads to higher yields. However, due to excessive rainfall this year, there has been a certain degree of decline in production; whereas the maximum annual production of Qianliang tea used to reach 20,000 sticks, this year’s production has been adjusted. Zhang Lingling introduced that among Ba Shaxi’s products, the Fu Zhuan series and Tianjian tea account for the largest sales proportion; the consumer group is primarily people over 35 years old. Currently, the company’s R&D department continuously listens to market feedback, protecting and inheriting intangible cultural heritage techniques while concentrating efforts on the innovative development of new products to ensure continuous product innovation and iterative upgrades. Because regardless of how channels change or how varied marketing strategies become, “product is king” remains a law; only by making products excellent and firmly grasping consumer needs can the aroma and charm of Anhua Dark Tea become richer and more lasting.
3
Stimulating Innovation Potential, Developing the Young Market
Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and President of Hunan Normal University, Liu Zhonghua, has high hopes for the future development of Anhua Dark Tea, proposing four directions: convenience, high-end, functional, and fashionable. This also provides a goal for the innovation of Ba Shaxi products. As the person in charge of the Ba Shaxi station of the Academician Liu Zhonghua Workstation, Zhang Lingling and the Master Xiao Yiping Studio utilize management integration to enhance the efficiency of the entire Ba Shaxi enterprise chain. The breakthrough lies in relying on new product R&D strategies and innovating Anhua Dark Tea consumption models to better approach the changing, younger market.
Zhang Lingling (far right) discussing Dark Tea products with the technical team.
Anhua Dark Tea is also known as “Flower Roll Tea” or “Qianliang Tea,” meaning one roll (stick) of tea, with each stick having a net weight of one thousand liang on the old scale (36.25 kg/stick). The production technique of Qianliang tea, as one of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, is an indispensable part of the Anhua Dark Tea industry. This product form, wrapped in bamboo baskets, fully utilizes the characteristics of bamboo strips during the formation of Qianliang Flower Roll Tea, creating favorable conditions for the drying, storage, and long-distance transportation of the product. However, this product format does not match the fast-paced lifestyle and consumption of today’s youth; Qianliang tea is compressed and large in volume, making it inconvenient to take and drink, which significantly affects the rapid expansion of the consumer base and increases the cost for consumers to try the tea.
Making things smaller and simpler has become the inevitable direction for the innovative development of Ba Shaxi products. Through continuous experimentation and exploration by Zhang Lingling, the Master Studio, and the R&D team, production processes have been improved. In addition to traditional Qianliang Flower Roll Tea, they have innovatively developed high-aroma Qianliang tea and sunflower cake-type Qianliang tea, and even launched granulated tea more suitable for young people, laying the foundation for expanding into the young consumer market.
4
Using “sharpness” as a plow to enrich the soil of Ba Shaxi
Becoming a “New Tea Professional” is an affirmation and an inspiration from the industry to Zhang Lingling, who has made breakthroughs and contributions in the professional technical field and Anhua Dark Tea development; at the same time, it also marks a new beginning in her career. Facing this honor, Zhang Lingling expressed that she is still very young and the road ahead is long. “There is no end to achievement, no best, only better.” As an “80s-born” professional, Zhang Lingling always maintains her “sharpness,” using it as a plow to advance Anhua Dark tea and the Ba Shaxi brand with determination and deep cultivation in this fertile soil.
Zhang Lingling congratulating Academician Liu Zhonghua at the unveiling ceremony of the workstation at Ba Shaxi.
As a leading enterprise in the Anhua Dark Tea industry, Ba Shaxi has established a “Dark Tea Museum” and uses it as a platform to widely disseminate Dark Tea culture. Zhang Lingli started as an ordinary technical worker in the workshop; she is intimately familiar with the historical development, tasting methods, and unique highlights of Anhua Dark Tea and Ba Shaxi products. She organizes the cultural connotations of Anhua Dark Tea into knowledge points using her professional expertise, and when receiving leaders, guests, and study groups, she narrates them in easy-to-understand language, promoting the beauty of Dark Tea to society. From primary and secondary school students and local tea drinkers to technical exchanges with peers, and even to consumers from all walks of life, government leaders, and international friends, Ba Shaxi has received tens of thousands of guests over the years. As a member of Ba Shaxi, Zhang Lingling strives tirelessly for the ideal that “the source of Dark Tea flows through the nine provinces,” allowing the mellow taste of Anhua Dark Tea to be known and loved by more people.
The Dark Tea industry needs to uphold tradition while innovating, and Ba Shaxi needs the vigor of young people. As an outstanding representative of the “80s-born” core strength of Ba Shaxi, Zhang Lingling is rooted in this hot land of Anhua, undeterred by heat or cold, and working hard without complaint or regret to dedicate her strength to this “single leaf” of Anhua. The new force of Anhua Dark Tea, represented by Zhang Lingling, is using their drive, vigor, and responsibility to ensure that Anhua Dark Tea becomes more fragrant over time and that Ba Shaxi grows ever stronger.
Produced by: China Cooperation Times · Tea Weekly All-Media
Author: Wang Jing
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Author: Lam Sam (LamSam), the Old Tea Head
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