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Introduction to GIs under the China-EU Agreement on Geographical Indications (9): Macheng Chrysanthemum Tea
2021-07-19 15:11

The China-EU Agreement on Geographical Indications officially entered into force on March 1, 2021. It is China’s first bilateral comprehensive and high-level agreement on the protection of geographical indications (GIs), and an important and practical outcome in the development of China-EU economic and trade relations in recent years.

We will continue to introduce to you the first batch of 100 Chinese GIs and 100 European GIs under the Agreement, to better protect and market them to meet the needs of consumers on both sides for a better life.

GI Episode 9: Macheng Chrysanthemum Tea

Chrysanthemum planting has a long history in China, and chrysanthemum has been loved by ordinary Chinese and intellectuals alike since ancient times. It is ranked among the Four Gentlemen in Plants, the other three being the plum blossom, the orchid and the bamboo, for their symbolism of virtues valued by the Chinese people. The most well-known line associating chrysanthemum with scholarly virtues comes from Tao Yuanming, a famous poet of the Eastern Jin dynasty: “From the eastern hedge, I pluck chrysanthemum flowers, and idly look towards the southern hills.” Macheng is known as the Hometown of Chrysanthemum in China, and local chrysanthemum planting can be dated back to the Song Dynasty. The dominant variety is the Fu white chrysanthemum, named after its planting area Futianhe Town.

Macheng is a northeastern city in Hubei province, at the southern foot of the middle section of Dabei Mountains that span across Hubei, Henan and Anhui provinces. With abundant sunshine and rainfall and a high accumulated temperature, it is an ideal place for growing chrysanthemum. The white chrysanthemum flower is big and fat, with jade-white petals and yolk-yellow stamens. The chrysanthemum tea soup is clear, golden yellow and slightly green in color, fragrant to smell, tastes mellow and sweet, and has the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying.

Every autumn, when the white chrysanthemum blooms all over the plains and hills in Macheng, the city will host a tourism festival to lure tourists from all over the world to enjoy the sea of chrysanthemum under the blue sky, and entertain them with the chrysanthemum tea and wine as well as delicacies made of chrysanthemum.

So far, Macheng has planted about 53.3 square kilometers of white chrysanthemum which, after harvested, is processed by more than 30 companies into more than 800 products. The city also boasts a huge chrysanthemum genome database. Chrysanthemum cultivation has become an important livelihood for locals to shake off poverty and realize rural revitalization.

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