鮑志成

在20世紀70年代初打開中美關(guān)系大門的過程中，杭州龍井茶扮演了“國禮”角色，發(fā)揮獨特作用。1971年7月9日，基辛格訪華，周恩來與他在北京釣魚臺國賓館舉行首次會談?；粮駥Υ溲科?、香氣升騰的極品龍井茶表現(xiàn)出極大的興趣。會談結(jié)束后，周恩來囑咐工作人員送一些龍井茶到基辛格的房間?；粮駟⒊袒貒?，周恩來到釣魚臺國賓館為他送行，并特意贈送1公斤特級龍井茶，基辛格非常感謝。在飛機上，基辛格拿出龍井茶仔細觀賞，同行的隨從紛紛圍上來，分享去一半?；氐饺A盛頓，基辛格第一時間去白宮向尼克松總統(tǒng)匯報中國之行的情況，把剩下的半包龍井茶作為最珍貴的禮物送給了尼克松。同年10月22日，基辛格再次來華訪問，他見到周恩來時，開口就把機上分茶的事說了，表示希望能再次得到龍井茶。周恩來欣然滿足了基辛格的要求，饋贈他4公斤龍井茶。有鑒于上次的教訓，基辛格這次派外交信使用特級機密郵件將茶送回美國。次年2月，尼克松訪華，在中南海會晤時、在釣魚臺談判時、在杭州西湖國賓館的八角亭談判《中美聯(lián)合公報》（即《上海公報》）時，周恩來都用龍井茶招待美國客人。2月25日，周恩來陪同尼克松一行到樓外樓品嘗龍井蝦仁等特色菜肴。離杭時，周恩來也把龍井茶作為國禮送給尼克松。一些美方隨行人員還特意到當時杭州最大的解放路百貨商店去購買了聽裝的特級西湖龍井茶。

然而，殊不知早在120年前，西湖龍井茶就在美國試種并初獲成功。中國茶葉最初是在300多年前從荷蘭再傳到美國波士頓的武夷茶。1773年12月16日，波士頓爆發(fā)茶葉事件，揭開了獨立戰(zhàn)爭的序幕，3年后美國建國。1800年前后，法國植物學家安德爾·米歇爾開始在美國試種茶葉，成為美國種茶第一人。1853年后，美國專利局及后來的農(nóng)業(yè)部開始從中國引種茶葉。1859年，美國政府派遣園藝家羅伯特·福通來中國茶區(qū)考察，學習生產(chǎn)技術(shù)，收集茶籽，分種美國南方各州。1880年，美國農(nóng)業(yè)部派約翰·捷克松兄弟在南卡羅來納州試種茶葉，建立國家茶葉試驗場，引種中國、日本、印度茶樹成功，并首次生產(chǎn)茶葉制成品，開始出售。這些試種生產(chǎn)的茶葉中，就有美國駐寧波領(lǐng)事約翰·法勒引種的西湖龍井茶。美國試種茶葉前后近一個世紀，但在1915年后又告中斷，一直未獲成功，地理氣候因素或許是導致美國屢次引種茶葉失敗的主要原因。

約翰·法勒（1858-1923），美國馬薩諸塞州人。他在華擔任領(lǐng)事期間，積極從事經(jīng)濟、政治和社會活動。在寧波領(lǐng)事任上，法勒曾覓得西湖龍井茶籽傳入美國。這件事在他的外交檔案里并無記載，而是光緒三十二年（1906）《東方雜志》第三卷第十一號刊登的《美國茶業(yè)情形》一文中提及的：“一千八百九十二年，駐寧波美領(lǐng)事曾覓得杭州龍井茶子回國，于各省試種，惟南卡路來那著有成效。據(jù)農(nóng)部言，近年以官地五十英畝試辦，歲收茶葉一萬磅，每磅工值貴至二十七仙半，而工人仍不趨于采制之業(yè)，未易招傭云?！边@篇《美國茶業(yè)情形》沒具作者，刊載在該期的“商務”欄目。文章介紹了美國各地民眾飲茶偏好和華茶進口行銷情況，并就近年日本、印度、錫蘭等國茶“擠占”華茶市場份額現(xiàn)象及其原因作了分析。1892年即清光緒十八年，迄今整整兩甲子了。法勒當年是如何覓得西湖龍井茶籽的，詳情不得而知，但他之所以這么做，肯定是出于對西湖龍井茶的喜愛和經(jīng)濟價值的考量。而文章所介紹的龍井茶籽在美國“于各省試種”看，當年他采集的茶籽為數(shù)絕非少量，至于“惟南卡路來那（今譯南卡羅來納州）著有成效”，恐怕是與龍井茶種植的自然環(huán)境如緯度、氣溫、光照、土壤有關(guān)，還與人工栽培技術(shù)有關(guān)。從1892年法勒傳入試種，到20世紀初美國政府農(nóng)業(yè)部用50英畝國有土地試辦茶場，前后不過10來年時間，而試辦國家茶場后，每年的龍井茶茶葉產(chǎn)量就達1萬磅，其規(guī)模也屬可觀。

法勒離任寧波領(lǐng)事后，繼續(xù)在華外交生涯。清末民初中國社會從封建帝制走向共和政制的歷史性巨變過程，法勒參與了一些歷史事變。辛亥革命爆發(fā)，他曾介入國民革命軍的軍政活動。描繪辛亥革命后軍閥群起的歷史小說《辛亥大軍閥》在第一卷第一百八十三章《杭州晚宴》中說：國民軍將領(lǐng)陳敬云第一次來杭州時，和一群國民軍高級將領(lǐng)從福州乘坐美國巡洋艦“安吉麗娜”號到達碼頭，當時隨行而至的美國駐福州領(lǐng)事法勒為了避嫌并沒有一同下船，而是稍候了一會。小說記敘說：“現(xiàn)在的法勒基本上已經(jīng)變成了美國和陳敬云聯(lián)系的傳聲筒，基于陳敬云的重要性和法勒在福州的出色工作，據(jù)聞美國方面已經(jīng)有意讓他擔任下一任的美國駐華公使?！边@足見，法勒在華任領(lǐng)事期間十分活躍。

隨著法勒對中國國情了解的加深，他站在西方或美國利益的立場上，也對中國社會和中國人提出了一些鞭辟入里的看法。美國學者阿瑟·賈德森·布朗在其所著《辛亥革命》一書中，在談到中國人的信仰時，引用了法勒的觀點。布朗寫道：“我十分贊同美國駐煙臺領(lǐng)事約翰·法勒先生的觀點。他說，一個誠心膜拜神像的中國人比一個什么都不相信的白人更容易相處，也更容易使之皈依，因為誠心拜佛的中國人至少對自己相信的事物倍加珍惜，后者雖然見多識廣，但是對任何信仰全都毫不理會。世界上最沒有希望的人就是明知真理卻拒絕在自己的生活中貫徹真理的人。幾乎所有的中國人都是有膜拜對象的，不是孔圣人，就是佛祖?！?00多年前的一個外國人對中國人的理解，即便在今天也仍然有一定的參照價值和警示意義，值得我們深思。

（除署名外，本文圖片由作者提供）

American Consul in Ningbo and Dragon Well Tea in America

By Bao Zhicheng

In 1971， Dragon Well Tea of Hangzhou served as state gift presented twice to Dr. Kissinger， then national security adviser. He expressed great interest in the Dragon Well Tea of Hangzhou at the first meeting with Premier Zhou Enlai held on July 9， 1971 at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. Later， Zhou Enlai came to the guesthouse to see him off and presented him with a kilo of Dragon Well Tea before the adviser returned to America. While on the jet plane back to the United States， his colleagues shared some of the gift tea. The adviser later presented the remaining tea as gift to President Nixon. During his next visit to China in October， Kissinger told Premier Zhou about the tea and asked if he could get some more of Dragon Well Tea. Premier Zhou gave him four kilograms of the famous tea made in Hangzhou. This time， Kissinger took no chance. He sent it directly back to the states by diplomatic mail service.

During negotiations in Beijing and Hangzhou， Premier Zhou entertained American guests with Dragon Well Tea.

When President Nixon came to have dinner at Louwailou Restaurant on the West Lake on February 25， 1972 during his visit to Hangzhou， one of the dishes was Shrimp Stir-fried with Dragon Well Tea， a representative dish of the Hangzhou cuisine. Zhou presented Dragon Well Tea as state gift to Nixon before Nixon left Hangzhou.

The early 1970s was not the first time that Dragon Well Tea was introduced to Americans. Dragon Well Tea of the West Lake was introduced to America by John Fowler （1858-1923） during his 1890-1896 six-year-tenure as American Consul in Ningbo， one of the Chinese port cities open to international trade after the Opium War （1840-1842）.

The introduction was not mentioned in his diplomatic reports. An American magazine published in 1906 mentioned that the American Consul in Ningbo got tea seeds of Dragon Well Tea of Hangzhou in 1892 and dispatched the seeds back home for experimental cultivation in various states in the United States. According to the report， the experiment was successful only in South Carolina. The magazine article reported that the Department of Agriculture allotted a plot of 50 acres for the tea cultivating experiment in South Carolina. The annual harvest amounted to 10，000 pounds in the early 20th century. As the average cost amounted to 27.5 cents a pound， it was not easy to attract business people and hire tea farmers and the commercial undertaking failed dismally. Judging from the report that the Dragon Well Tea was tried out in various states， the seeds from Hangzhou must have been in a large quantity.

The article did not carry the name of the author. It was published in the column under the title of business. The article presented an analysis of American consumers preference for various tea brands and sales of imported Chinese tea. The article also looked into the market competition from imported tea of Japan， India and Ceylon and came up with an analysis.

The report of the American magazine established the fact that more than 120 years ago Fowler acquired tea seeds from Dragon Well of West Lake in Hangzhou. Although no information reveals how he came into possession of the seeds， it would not be very difficult to guess that largely there were two ways： either he visited Dragon Well in Hangzhou to get tea seeds or he commissioned someone else to get the seeds on his behalf. Anyway， he must have got to know the value and reputation of Dragon Well Tea of Hangzhou before he managed to get the seeds and ship them back to the United States. Production in South Carolina must have boomed because the annual output of 10，000 pounds must have come from a much bigger expansion from the initial 50 acres.

John Fowler worked as a U.S. diplomat in China for many years. On and off in a period of more than 20 years， he was U.S. consul in Ningbo， Foochow （the present-day Fuzhou， capital city of Fujian Province）， Chefoo （todays Yantai， a port city in Shandong Province）.