Xiaguan Views

• General Goods

Xiaguan Tea Factory is a major producer of compressed pu'erh tea, most notably túochá (沱茶, Bowl-shaped Tea (?)) and bĭngchá (饼茶, Disc Tea ). Aged túochá and bĭngchá, particularly those produced in the 1970s and 1980s, are highly valued by collectors. However, while Xiaguan Tea Factory's productions enjoy popularity today, higher production temperatures for their túochá are prompting some concern over the ageability of new Xiaguan tuocha.

Like many other pu'erh factories, the factory produces a series of cakes by recipe number. While these cakes have been produced since 1986, numbers began to be included on cake wrappers in 2005. Recipe numbers are usually in the form of four digits, sometimes with an optional initial letter. The first two digits represent the year the recipe was first produced, the third digit the grade of leaves used in the recipe, and the last digit represents the factory ( 3 for the Xiaguan Tea Factory). The optional initial letter, usually T, marks the use of tight machine compression. T8613, then would be a recipe from 1986 using first-grade tea made by Xiaguan Factory, compressed by machine.

Despite its fame as a backpacker heaven, Chinese tourists hugely outnumber foreigners. Chinese tourists tend to stay in nearby Xiaguan Town so Dali becomes thankfully quiet in the evenings. Dali have recently been overshadowed by nearby Lijiang, and many foreign tourists either by pass it or give it 1-2 days stay. Dali deserved better than 1-2 days stay.

Buses from Kunming West Bus Station take about 4,5 hours and cost 100 yuan for an ordinary bus and around 130 yuan for an express luxury bus, and will bring you to Xiaguan (Dali New City). Some buses go to Dali, too, so check with the driver. In Xiaguan, there are three different bus stations, to reach the train station, go east along Jianshe Lu and Dianyuan Lu. From Xiaguan Train Station (in Dali New Town) you can take bus 8 and bus 4 (1.5 yuan, 20 minutes) to Dali Old Town 13 km to the north (Bus 4 also runs through the town). It's also possible to catch a white mini-bus on Jianshe Lu that run between Xiaguan and Dali, there's usually a white sign displayed inside the front wind shield that reads (大理dlt;-ogt;下关) in Chinese. The cost for the mini-bus is 3 yuan per person. Taxi fare between Xiaguan and Dali should be around 40 yuan.