News

  • Nation
  • World Updates
  • Courts
  • Parliament
  • Columnists
  • Opinion
  • Honours List

Sunday August 3, 2008

Recognition for the unknown guru of herbal tea

Beijing Express
By CELESTE FONG


THE Qingping Traditional Chinese Herbs Wholesale Market (known as Qingping Shichang) in Guangzhou never fails to overwhelm foreign visitors with its astonishing display of traditional Chinese medicines. From tiger paws to live scorpions and dried sea horses – and a million other things besides – the goods at Qingping are something visitors won't forget in a hurry.

On a recent revisit, however, it was a life-size bronze statue of Wang Zebang that caught my attention.

Pioneer of herbals: A lifesize bronze statue of Wang Zebang standing at the junction off the bustling Liuersan Road and Qingping Road where the Qingping Herbal Market is located. — CELESTE FONG / The Star

Who was Wang Zebang?

You and I may think we do not know of this guru of herbals.

What about by his nickname – Wang Laoji or Wong Lokat in Cantonese?

Now that rings a bell, doesn't it?

Many of us may have wondered who Wang Laoji was as we downed the bitter and bracing Wanglaoji liangcha (herbal tea) to relieve a sore throat – or what the Chinese here say shanghuo (having excessive internal heat).

Of course, Wanglaoji liangcha is not bitter at all, and most Malaysian Chinese as well as Chinese people living in other parts of the world are familiar with it.

But northerners in China are rather unfamiliar with the tradition of drinking liangcha, although it is surely gaining a competitive edge because of the Chinese approach of yangsheng (the concept of health care by maintaining balance among the body's five elements).

You can hardly find a herbal teashop in Beijing. But in Guangdong or Guangxi province, there are tea stalls and shops everywhere.

The history of this herbal tea can be traced back to the early 18th century when Guangzhou was hit hard by an epidemic.

It is said that Wang Zebang took his family to a mountain to get away from the city. On the way, he met a Taoist who gave him a herbal tea recipe to cure the disease. Wang then looked for the ingredients and prepared the tea, which proved to be effective. He later opened the first Wanglaoji herbal teashop.

According to the popular Chinese Web portal Sohu.com news, Wanglaoji liangcha was established in the Daoguang Period of the Qing Dynasty by Wang who tested different herbal formulas on himself in his attempt to cure zhangli (a communicable subtropical disease).

His decoction saved many lives and he was summoned by Emperor Wenzong and honoured as tai yi yuan yuan ling (a prestigious title of the Imperial Academy of Medicine in ancient times).

The story also goes that national hero Lin Zexu took the decoction when he became ill while on an assignment in Guangzhou to suppress the opium trade there.

It is said that Lin tried many other medicines but only recovered after taking the inexpensive Wanglaoji liangcha, and he made known that the value of medicine was not in how much it cost but in how effective it was.

Inspired by Lin's words, Wang opened a shop serving the ready-made herbal tea a few days later.

Word that many had benefited from Wanglaoji liangcha spread like wildfire, and it soon became a must-have for the Cantonese when they travelled far away from home.

Even famous Qing Dynasty scholar Liang Qichao noted in his book, which was written about his experiences and life in the United States between 1898 and 1903, that the inexpensive Wanglaoji liangcha was sold between five and 10 mei yuan (US dollars) to westerners.

Last month, Wanglaoji decked out a boat with “Welcome to Beijing, China” billboards featuring, among others, a giant red can of the drink.

Wanglaoji is said to be riding a wave of popularity buoyed by Olympic year patriotism especially after the group donated 100 million yuan (RM47.9mil) for Sichuan earthquake relief in May.

Local reports on the Internet say the group behind the red can Wanglaoji is the Jiaduobao Group, which was primarily set up to manage the Wanglaoji brand after Hong Kong's Hung To Holdings acquired the rights in 1995 to manufacture it for 20 years from the Guangzhou Wanglaoji Pharmaceutical Company.

According to a recent AC Nielsen study, Wanglaoji liangcha became China's number one canned drink in 2007, overtaking Coca-Cola and Pepsi!

Industry insiders believe sales of the red can Wanglaoji could surpass 10 billion yuan (RM4.8bil) in 2008. Last year, it reached five billion yuan (RM2.4bil), an increase of 1.5 billion yuan (RM718mil) from 2006 sales.

In 2002, sales of the red can Wanglaoji totalled only 180 million yuan (RM86.2mil). The outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in 2003 was a turning point for Wanglaoji.

Its tagline “Pa shanghuo, he Wanglaoji” (if you fear developing excessive internal heat, drink Wanglaoji) helped it fetch 600 million yuan (RM287.3mil) in sales.

Jumping on the bandwagon, Guangzhou Wanglaoji Pharmaceutical Company manufactured the green carton Wanglaoji and took in 40 million yuan (RM19.2mil) in sales in 2004.

And that explains the presence of the 310ml red can Wanglaoji, which costs 3.5 yuan (RM1.68) each, and the 250ml green packet Wanglaoji (slightly over two yuan or RM0.96 each) on most supermarket shelves here.

Wanglaoji liangcha was included in the national list of intangible cultural heritage in 2005, and it is now available in about 20 countries.

  • E-mail this story
  • Print this story