Tieguanyin

Wei legend

Modern scholarship agrees that Tieguanyin originated in Anxi, Fujian, during the Qing dynasty, and that multiple legends exist—one of which features the devout farmer Wei Yin receiving guidance from Guanyin in a dream. This legend is not historically verifiable, but it is culturally influential and commonly retold.

According to the most popular folk legend about the origin of Tieguanyin tea, which is widely circulated in China and Taiwan, during the Yongzheng era of the Qing dynasty there lived an elderly tea farmer named Wei Yin in Xiping, Anxi, Fujian. Known for his sincere devotion to the Bodhisattva Guanyin, he is said to have received a divine dream one night. In the dream, Guanyin guided him to search for a special tea plant growing in a crevice among the rocks. Following the vision, Wei Yin later discovered a remarkable tea bush exactly where the dream had indicated. He brought it home, cultivated it with great care, and crafted tea from its leaves. Because the plant was found through Guanyin’s guidance, and because the finished tea leaves were dark, lustrous, and heavy like iron, Wei Yin named the tea "Tieguanyin," meaning "Iron Buddha".^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Two tea merchants in Canada and the UK recounted a different version of the story, with slightly different details and a more dramatic plot, but no similar version was found in China or Taiwan:

In Fujian's Anxi County, there was a run-down temple which held an iron statue of Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. Every day on the walk to his tea fields, a poor farmer named Wei would pass by and reflect on the temple's worsening condition. "Something has to be done," he thought.

Being poor, Wei did not have the means to repair the temple. One day, he brought a broom and some incense from his home. He swept the temple clean and lit the incense as an offering to Guanyin. "It's the least I can do," he thought to himself. And he did this twice a week for many months.^[1]

One night, Guanyin appeared to him in a dream, telling him of a cave behind the temple where a treasure awaited. He was to take the treasure and share it with others. In the cave, the farmer found a tea shoot. He planted it in his field and nurtured it into a large bush, from which the finest tea was produced. He gave cuttings of this rare plant to all his neighbors and began selling the tea under the name Tieguanyin, Iron Bodhisattva of Compassion.

Over time, Wei and all his neighbors prospered; the run-down temple of Guanyin was repaired and became a beacon for the region. From this time onwards Mr. Wei took joy in the daily trip to his tea fields, never failing to stop in appreciation of the beautiful temple.^[7]

Wang legend

Wang was a scholar who accidentally discovered the tea plant beneath the Guanyin rock in Xiping. He brought the plant back home for cultivation. When he visited the Qianlong Emperor in the 6th year of his reign, he offered the tea as a gift from his native village. The emperor was so impressed that he inquired about its origin. Since the tea was discovered beneath the Guanyin Rock, he decided to call it the Guanyin tea.^[1][8]