Effect of Tribute Tea Production on the Change of Local Ecological Environment

The production of tribute tea, on the one hand, meets the demand of the emperor and royal fa mily, becoming a special offer to imperial household. On the other hand, it has the nature of imposing in-kind tax on the local government by the central government, bearing the characteristics of such as expanding thearea of tribute levy and disregarding the cost. In Chinese history, there were some famous tribute tea houses, such as Guzhu Tea House, Beiyuan Tea House, and Wuyi Mountain Tea House. In order to meet the needs of paying tribute, the local government constantly expanded the scale of the tribute tea houses, and in golden age, there were tens of thousands of enslaved workers, and thousands of tea craftsmen. However, with the increase of the yield and producing area of tribute tea, as well as the consequent increase in the consuming amount of fuel during the tea manufacture, the local ecological environment has been damaged: mountain forests were cut down, which triggered the mountain debris fl ow disaster and the blocked waterway, badly influencing people's daily livelihood. Moreover, by the national central tribute tea house influenced the local ones. Tempted by economic profits, the local businessmen and common people also widely joined in the tribute tea production, which contributed more to the destruction of local ecological environment.