新竹峨眉全鄉面積有46.8平方公里，地形分屬於竹東丘陵南段及獅頭山山地的丘陵地，皆為500公尺以下的山丘地形。每年五、六月是東方美人茶的盛產季，由於茶葉細小不利於機器摘採，因此茶園丘陵地總可見一群一群的客家婦女，以熟練的技巧採茶著，她們大多有十年以上的採茶經驗，其中更有自幼年時期便開始採茶者，採茶經驗之豐富，在了解傳統至現今的採茶歷史上是為重要的見證者。以此作為研究訪談對象，這群客家採茶婦女是如何看待「採茶」一事，且「採茶」，此一從小即從事的勞動工作，到婚後、有子女奉養後仍從事採收，婦女個人的生命史中「採茶」作為貫穿生命歷程的主軸，故採茶者的生命歷程與採茶如何相互影響，是筆者所欲探究的主要問題，也是此研究目的。 客家婦女向以勞動形象著稱，本研究發現其工作與家庭中的勞動配置並非一成不變，對於勞動的定義和認知也會隨著生命各階段的歷程轉變而有所不同；筆者將以「採茶」作為主要分析的勞動行為，觀察其勞動生活，並找出婦女們的勞動意識為何。 E-rmei, a 46.8-square-kilometers town in Hsinchu County, locates at the hills between south Jhudong and Mt. Sitou, both of which are hills below 500 meters. May and June is the harvest season of the prestigious Taiwan Oolong tea—Oriental Beauty. The delicacy of the tea leaves leads to poor performance in mechanical operation and thus, the thriving of human practice in picking tea leaves. It results in the view of groups of Hakka women picking leaves in a skillful manner, most of whom have been doing this for more than ten years. To look into the rich life experiences of these Hakka women, we can not simply have an overview of tea industry in Ermei, but also construct the domestic culture based on their perspectives, and furthermore construct the life histories of these Hakka women, which is exactly the purpose of the research. Hakka women always be known of labor image, The thesis recognizes the disposition of labor work and house work of these women is not always the same, and the labor consciousness is also different when their ages change. To observe their labor life and find out the consciousness, tea leaves picking will be the most analysis of the thesis.
