Oolongs - oxidation vs. firing/roasting

Hi,

Two terms/characteristics often used in describing and/or distinguishing
various types of oolong are the amount of oxidation and the amount of
firing. I've often been left confused, or wanting more information, as it
seems to me that many tea dealers often use one or the other of these to
stand in for both, as if they were more or less the same thing, or at least
went hand-in-hand.

This seems to be unsatisfying. On the one hand, these are clearly completely
different characteristics that are created during different stages of the
oolong production process. On the other hand, it does seem that the amount
of oxidation usually seems to match the amount of firing - higher oxidized
oolongs seem generally to be more fired, lightly oxidized oolongs seem to be
lightly fired.

But this doesn't seem to be necessarily always the case. For instance,
baihao is usually described as being highly *oxidized*, but to me it (at
least higher quality versions) doesn't taste like it's been highly *fired*,
though I've actually never heard how fired it usually is.

Can anyone explain the different contributions to the taste, drinking
experience, etc. of oxidation and firing? Are there oolongs (baihao?) where
they don't "match" - high oxidation / low firing, low oxidation / high
firing, etc.?

Also, I sometimes see the term "firing", sometimes "roasting". Is this just
an artifact of English - do these mean the same thing, or are they different
in some way? How do the Chinese think of it? Etc.

Thanks.


Doug