Lapsang souchong is the pronunciation in Minnan dialect for Wuyi Mountains, which is the mountain area that produces a large family of tea in South-East China). Lapsang souchong from the original source is increasingly expensive because of increasing demand for this variety of tea, as Wuyi is a small area. The story goes that the tea was created during the Qing era when the passage of armies delayed the annual drying of the tea leaves in the Wuyi Mountain. Eager to satisfy demand, the tea producers sped up the process by drying the leaves over fires made from local pines. According to
When Red Is Black how the triad has played him. This is the third critically acclaimed Inspector Chen mystery set in post-Cultural Revolution China. "When Red Is Black" offers a complex and riveting portrait of Shanghai, a city in transition from a proletarian dictatorship to a capitalist playground where "nostalgia sells". The larger and more disquieting mystery of what will happen to dutiful workers like Detective Yu and Chief Inspector Chen as Chinese society continues to change is necessarily left unsolved. When Red Is Black When Red is Black is Qiu Xiaolong's third Inspector Chen mystery and provides an insightful look into modern China.