Dong Ethnic Oil-Tea Custom (Da You Cha)

The oil-tea custom has been the hospitality ritual of Dong, Yao and Miao peoples in northern Guilin for several centuries, expressing ethnic cultural identity and family bonds; it is especially vibrant in Longsheng and Gongcheng counties.

Tea leaves are pounded and fried with lard and ginger in a heavy pan until they yield their juice, then boiled and strained into bowls already holding glutinous rice balls, peanuts and puffed rice; the host pours at least four successive bowls, and a guest who leaves the bowl unfinished is considered impolite.

Oil-tea ceremony is the core medium of cultural identity and daily sociality for northern Guangxi's ethnic peoples, reflecting their intimate bond with the mountain environment and a distinctive ethnic tea culture found nowhere else.

Ethnic villages in Longsheng and Gongcheng counties are the heartland of this custom; the ceremony is performed with greatest ceremony at festivals and weddings.