What is Chinese tea culture-Part 1
Tea culture refers to the cultural characteristics formed during the process of tea drinking activities, including tea ceremony, tea ethics, tea spirit, tea couplets, tea books, tea utensils, tea recipes, tea poetry, tea paintings, tea studies, tea stories, tea art, and so on. The origin of tea culture is in China. China is the hometown of tea, and drinking tea in China is said to have originated in the Shennong era, at least for over 4700 years. Until now, the Han people still have the custom of using tea as a gift. Chaozhou Gongfu tea is the core representative of Chinese tea ceremony and the most representative in Chinese tea art, known as the "living fossil" of Chinese tea ceremony.
The Han people make a variety of tea: smoked bean tea from the Taihu Lake Lake, fragrant tea from Suzhou, ginger salt tea from Hunan, Xiajun tea from Shushan Mountain, frozen top tea from Taiwan, Longjing tea from Hangzhou, oolong tea from Fujian, Lu'an Gua Pian from Liu'an, etc.
People from over 100 countries and regions around the world love to taste tea, and each country has its own unique tea culture; Chinese tea culture reflects the long-standing civilization and etiquette of the Chinese nation. Chaozhou Gongfu Tea is well-known all over the world and is a national level "Intangible Cultural Heritage" and a representative list of UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Formation and evolution
China is the hometown of tea and the birthplace of tea culture. The discovery and utilization of Chinese tea has a history of over 4700 years, and it has been flourishing and spreading worldwide. Tea is the national drink of the Chinese nation, originated in Shennong, heard by Duke Zhou of Lu, flourished in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song Dynasty, and popularized during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Chinese tea culture combines various schools of thought, including Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, and is a unique flower in Chinese culture! At the same time, tea has also become the most popular, popular, and beneficial green beverage for physical and mental health worldwide. Tea integrates heaven, earth, and people, advocating that "tea people in the world are one family".
The connotation of tea culture is actually a concrete manifestation of Chinese culture. China is known as a country of etiquette, and the spiritual connotation of tea culture is a cultural phenomenon with distinct Chinese cultural characteristics formed by combining the habits of brewing, appreciating, smelling, drinking, and tasting tea with Chinese cultural connotations and etiquette. It can also be said to be a phenomenon of etiquette. Rites were used in ancient China to establish relationships and resolve suspicions, distinguish between similarities and differences, and clarify right and wrong. In the long-term historical development, etiquette has played an important role in the cultivation of the spiritual quality of the Han people as a moral norm and living standard in Chinese society; At the same time, with the transformation and development of society, ritual is constantly endowed with new content, and it integrates with some customs and forms in Chinese life, forming various cultural phenomena with Chinese characteristics. Tea culture is a representative traditional culture in China. China is not only one of the origins of tea, but also has diverse tea drinking habits and customs among different ethnic groups and regions in China.
Planting and drinking tea does not necessarily mean having a tea culture, it is only a prerequisite for the formation of tea culture, and it must also involve the participation of literati and cultural connotations. The "Classic of Tea" written by Lu Yu of the Tang Dynasty systematically summarizes the experience of tea production and drinking during and before the Tang Dynasty, and proposes the spirit of tea ceremony that emphasizes refinement, frugality, and morality. A group of cultural figures such as Lu Yu and Jiao Ran attach great importance to the spiritual enjoyment and moral standards of tea, pay attention to tea utensils, tea drinking water, and tea brewing art, and blend with the philosophical ideas of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, gradually leading people into their spiritual realm. During the tea drinking process of some literati and literati, they also created many tea poems. In the "Complete Tang Poems" alone, there are over 400 poems from over a hundred poets that have been passed down to this day, laying the foundation for Han tea culture.
Tea is a kind of plant, which can be eaten, detoxified, long and healthy, and can also be used as medicine. Therefore, there is a saying that tea is the essence of heaven and earth, and shun is the foundation of life. Therefore, in Taoism, there is a tea order called tea.
Meaning
Tea is a product of labor and a taste. Tea culture takes tea as a carrier and spreads various arts through this medium. Tea culture is a component of the excellent traditional culture of the Han ethnic group, and its content is very rich.
Tea culture is the organic integration of tea and culture, which includes and reflects a certain period of material and spiritual civilization.
Tea culture is the combination of tea art and spirit, and the expression of spirit through tea art. It flourished in the Tang Dynasty of China, flourished in the Song and Ming Dynasties, and declined in the Qing Dynasty. The main content of Chinese tea ceremony emphasizes the beauty of the five realms, namely tea leaves, tea water, heat, tea utensils, and environment.
Tea culture must follow certain rules. In the Tang Dynasty, in order to overcome the nine difficulties, namely making, separating, utensils, fire, water, roasting, grinding, boiling, and drinking. In the Song Dynasty, tea was tasted at three o'clock and three non o'clock, with new tea, sweet springs, and clean utensils as one, good weather as one, and elegant and like-minded guests as one. The "three nots" refer to the lack of freshness in tea, unwillingness to drink from the spring, and unclean utensils, which is the "one nots"; If the scenery is not good, it is a no; Tea tasters lack manners and behave rudely, resulting in a total of three faults. In this situation, it is best not to engage in artistic drinking to avoid disappointment.
The development process of Chinese tea ceremony:
1. Tea frying: Put the tea powder into a pot and boil it with water. The Tang Dynasty's fried tea was the earliest art form of tea tasting.
2. Tea ordering and tea fighting: Compared to Tang Dynasty tea frying, Song people prefer the elegant and exquisite art of tea ordering. Due to the hot trend of tea drinking in the Song Dynasty, there was also a trend of "tea competition", also known as "tea competition", to evaluate the tea blending techniques and the quality of tea. Chinese tea fighting originated in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty, and emerged with the rise of tribute tea.
3. Tea making: During the Yuan Dynasty, people began to commonly use tea leaves or tea powder to boil and drink tea, without or with little seasoning added. This simple and pure "clear drinking" method is increasingly accepted by more and more people, and with the later boiling water brewing method, in the Ming Dynasty, "brewing tea" was formed as a way of drinking tea, which has been used to this day.
The Origin of Tea Culture
Han Chinese people pay attention to the word "taste" when drinking tea, and the etiquette of brewing and serving tea is essential when guests come. When guests come to visit, they can seek advice and choose the best tea set that suits their taste and hospitality. When offering tea to guests, it is also necessary to mix and match the tea appropriately. When accompanying guests to drink tea, the host should pay attention to the residual amount of tea in the guest's cup and pot. Generally, tea is brewed in a tea cup. If half of the tea has been consumed, hot water should be added as needed to maintain a consistent concentration of tea and a suitable water temperature. When drinking tea, you can also use tea, candy, dishes, etc. to adjust the taste and Dim sum.
Tea culture is very important in the life of the Han ethnic group. King Wu conquered Zhou, and tea has become a tribute. In the later period of primitive communes, tea became a commodity for exchange. During the Warring States period, tea had already reached a certain scale. The collection of the Book of Songs in the pre Qin period contains records of tea. For example, in the Han Dynasty, tea had become a specialized tonic for Buddhist meditation. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, there was a tradition of drinking tea. During the Sui Dynasty, tea was widely consumed by the entire population. In the Tang Dynasty, the tea industry flourished, and tea became an indispensable part of the household. Tea houses, banquets, and parties emerged, advocating for guests to come and serve tea. During the Song Dynasty, popular tea battles, tribute tea, and gift tea were held.
When China started drinking tea, everyone has different opinions and there is no consensus. Generally speaking, it can be said that it began in the Han Dynasty and became popular in the Tang Dynasty. Before the Tang Dynasty, when drinking tea, Lu Yu summarized it in the "Six Tea Drinks" section of the "Classic of Tea", which states: "Tea is a drink that originated from the Shennong family and was heard by Duke Zhou of Lu. There were Yan Ying in Qi, Yang Xiong and Sima Xiangru in Han, Wei Yao in Wu, and Liu Kun, Zhang Zai, Yuanzu Na, Xie An, and Zuo Si, all of whom drank it." However, this is mostly not a historical fact. Even if it is a historical fact, without further explanation, it is not easy to understand. "The Classic of Tea" states that Shen Nong's "The Classic of Food" states that "tea is strong and pleasing to the mind after being consumed for a long time" (Liu Yuanchang's "History of Tea" Volume 1). Lu Yu's "Tea Classic" believed that drinking tea originated from the Shennong clan, but the "Food Classic" is a fake book that is well-known and not reliable. The poem "Er Ya" contains the phrase "bitter tea". The world regards "Er Ya" as a work of Zhou Gongshi, falsely believing that drinking tea began with Zhou Gongshi. It is not known that "Er Ya" was not written by Zhou Gongshi. Insufficient evidence for starting tea drinking.
The tree roots unearthed from the Tianluoshan Site in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, have been preliminarily determined to be tea plants, and the history of China's earliest tea cultivation may have been rewritten; The pronunciation of the word "tea" originates from the people of Banan, and Bayu is the birthplace of tea culture
The habit of drinking tea in many parts of the world has been passed down from China. So, many people believe that drinking tea was first created by the Chinese people, and the tea drinking and planting habits in other parts of the world are directly or indirectly passed down from China.
(1) During the Shennong period, Tang Dynasty scholar Lu Yu wrote in the "Classic of Tea" that "tea originated from the Shennong family as a beverage." In the history of cultural development in China, it is often attributed to the Shennong family that all things related to agriculture and plants originated. After returning here, we can no longer push upwards. It is precisely because of this that Shennong became the god of agriculture.
(2) During the Western Zhou Dynasty, Chang Qu of Jin wrote in his "Huayang Guozhi · Ba Zhi": "King Wu of Zhou conquered Zhou and was indeed the teacher of Ba and Shu. Tea and honey were all tribute to him." This record indicates that when King Wu of Zhou conquered Zhou, Ba had already paid tribute to King Wu of Zhou with tea and other precious products. The Huayang Guozhi also records that there were already artificially cultivated tea gardens at that time.
(3) Qin and Han Dynasties: Western Han Dynasty. In Wang Bao's "Tong Yue", it is said that "all the tea is ready to be cooked" and "buy tea in Wuyang". According to research, this tea is today's tea. In the Western Han Dynasty tomb in Mawangdui, Changsha, it was found that there were variant characters of "? Yi Si" and "? Yi Si" bamboo slips and woodcut inscriptions in the accompanying burial records. After investigation, it was found that the drinking of tea in Hunan was quite extensive at that time. We still drank the same beverage as our ancient ancestors, such as Jiang Taigong, which was indeed a very exciting thing. It can give us a lot of imagination.
(4) During the Song and Yuan dynasties, the tea area continued to expand, with advanced techniques in tea cultivation, tea making, and tea ordering. The tea culture of the Song Dynasty was developed, and a number of tea studies works emerged, such as Cai Xiang's "Tea Record", Song Zi'an's "Dongxi Tea Trial Record", Huang Ru's "Tea Tasting Essential Record", especially Zhao Ji's "Grand View Tea Theory". During the Song and Yuan dynasties, Liu Songnian's "Lu Tong Cooking Tea" and Zhao Mengfu's "Tea Fighting" were also artistic treasures of Chinese tea culture.
In ancient historical records, there were many names for tea, but "tea" was the correct name, and the character "tea" was usually written as "tea" before the Middle Tang Dynasty. The character "Tu" has a polysemous nature, representing tea and is one of them. Due to the development of tea production, the popularity of drinking tea is increasing, and the frequency of using tea characters is also increasing. Therefore, in order to express the meaning of tea more clearly and intuitively, folk writers subtract one stroke from the character "tea" to become the character we see as "tea".
The sprout of simplifying the character "tea" from "tea" originated in the Han Dynasty. In the ancient Han seal, some "tea" characters had already lost a stroke and became the shape of "tea" characters. The pronunciation of "tea" had already been established in the Western Han Dynasty, not only in its shape but also in its pronunciation. For example, Chaling in Hunan Province was once the territory of Liu Xin during the Western Han Dynasty, commonly known as "Tu" Wangcheng. It was one of the 13 counties under the jurisdiction of Changsha State at that time, known as "Tu" Ling County. In the "Geographical Records" of the Book of Han, Yan Shigu annotated the "tea" of the "tea" tomb as: the sound is luxurious and reversed, and the sound is also reversed. This reverse phonetic notation is the pronunciation of the current 4700 "tea" character. From this phenomenon, the establishment of the pronunciation of the character "tea" should be earlier than the establishment of the character shape.
China is vast in territory and abundant in resources, with numerous ethnic groups, making it colorful in language and writing. There are multiple titles for the same thing, and multiple ways of writing the same title.
In ancient historical records, there were many names related to tea. By the Middle Tang Dynasty, the sound, form, and meaning of tea had become more unified. Later, due to the widespread dissemination of Lu Yu's "Classic of Tea", the shape of "tea" was further established and continues to this day.
In ancient Chinese literature, there have been records of tea consumption for a long time, and there are different names depending on the place of origin. Chinese tea spread abroad as early as the Western Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent an envoy to the Indian Peninsula in **, bringing tea as well as gold, brocade and silk. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, during the reign of Emperor Yongming of the Qi Dynasty, Chinese tea was introduced to Türkiye along with exported silk and porcelain. In the first year of Yongzhen reign of Emperor Shunzong of Tang Dynasty, Zen Master Jicheng of Japan returned to China and brought Chinese tea seeds back to Japan. Afterwards, tea was continuously spread from China to various parts of the world, leading many countries to start growing tea and develop the habit of drinking tea.
But some can also find evidence to suggest that the habit of drinking tea was not only invented by the Chinese, but also in other parts of the world, such as India and Africa.
In 1823, a British invading colonel discovered wild large tea trees in India, leading some to believe that the origin of tea was in India, at least also in India. Of course, there are also records of wild large tea trees in China, all concentrated in the southwest region, including individual regions in Gansu and Hunan. Tea tree is a very ancient dicotyledonous plant closely related to people's lives.
The earliest written record of artificially cultivated tea trees in China began with Mengshan tea in the Western Han Dynasty. This is recorded in the Sichuan Chronicles.
Spring and Autumn Annals
The Yanzi Spring and Autumn Annals, Inner Chapters and Miscellaneous Chapters, states that "Yanzi was in harmony, dressed in ten liters of cloth, and ate grains that were stripped of millet, only five eggs, and moss." It is believed that drinking tea (i.e. tea) began during the Spring and Autumn period. However, "Yanzi Chunqiu" was not written by Qi Yanying, and it is fundamentally difficult to establish. In the eighth volume of Wan Weiting's collection of "Chronicles and Evidence of Difficulty in Learning", it is said: "(Huai Jian) The current version of" Yanzi Chunqiu: Miscellaneous Chapters in the Inner Chapters "consists of three rows of five mao moss vegetables, which were cited as tea in Volume 867 of" Yulan "and included in the tea industry..." Although it is tea, it is not the tea that is consumed. ". The matter of drinking tea is not seen in scriptures. The world also uses the poem "who is bitter about tea" as evidence for drinking tea, without knowing that this tea is the tea of bitter vegetables, not the tea of "bitter tea", and cannot be falsely claimed. In the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, there may not be a tradition of drinking tea. Therefore, in the Book of Rites, Tian Guan, Jia Zai Yi, it is said that the people in charge of making tea offer six drinks to the king: one is water, two is milk, three is li, four is cool, five is medicine, and six is you. I haven't seen drinking tea yet.
Since the Han Dynasty, records of drinking tea have been heard from time to time. During the Three Kingdoms period, when Wu Sunhao drank wine from his courtiers, he was limited to seven liters. Wei Yao was only two liters, either reduced or given tea to serve as wine ("Records of the Three Kingdoms, Wu Zhi, Biography of Wei Yao"). At that time, tea and tea were probably used to entertain guests. However, why was tea present at banquets? Jin Zhang Hua once said, "Drinking real tea makes one sleep less" (Zhang Hua's "Records of Natural History"), which is why there is also a tradition of drinking tea in Jin. Therefore, the origin of tea has a long history. Song Peihan's "Tea Description" states, "Tea originated in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and flourished in the present (Song Dynasty).". The Luoyang Jialan Ji states that drinking tea began during the Tianjian period of Emperor Wu of Liang in the Southern Dynasty, which is particularly inaccurate. The so-called trend of drinking tea can be traced back to the Han and Wei dynasties, but it cannot be prevalent during the Han and Wei dynasties. As this trend was not yet widespread during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, what can be said about it during the Han and Wei dynasties? Regarding this "Miscellaneous Records of Tea History", two anecdotes are cited as follows:
When Xiao, the king of Qi, entered the Wei Dynasty at the beginning, he did not eat mutton crispy paste. He often ate fresh fish soup and was thirsty for tea juice. Scholars in the capital saw Xiao Yiyin drinking a bucket, which was called Liuzhi. Later, he met with the Emperor Gaozu to eat mutton cheese Congee. Emperor Gaozu asked that, for Japan, sheep was the leader of land animals, and fish was the leader of the aquatic people. Their tastes were different, and they were called treasures. Only Ming did not fall in love and became a slave to cheese. Emperor Gaozu laughed and called Ming Yin a slave to cheese. One day, King Peng Cheng dug up and offered it to Xiao, saying, "Tomorrow, I will serve you a meal of tea and jue (i.e. fish) and also have cheese slaves."
When Xiao Zhengde surrendered, Yuan Yi wanted to offer tea. He first asked the Qing how much water was in trouble, but Zhengde was not aware of his intentions. He replied, "I was born in a water town, and since I established myself, I have not encountered any difficulties from Marquis Yang. The sitting guests laughed heartily.".
The rise of tea drinking culture began in the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty people became addicted to drinking tea. Dongpo's poem goes: "The Zhou poem records the bitter tea, and the tea leaves this world." It is said that tea from today is the tea. Since the Tang Dynasty, tea has been popular among the common people, with a clear head and good taste from top to bottom. They drink several bowls of tea every day, which has become a trend.
Tea Poetry
"Ode to Tea" by Wang Xinjian
A thousand choices are made among the white clouds, roasted in a copper pot and fried over firewood. The mellow fragrance of the clay pot adds to the poetic charm, while the jade of the porcelain teapot fades away worries and joys. Laodan comprehends the Tao and cultivates elegance and ambition, while Yuanliang talks quietly to dispel customs and noise. Without going through the cycle of Nirvana and crossing the heart tribulation, how can one maintain a fresh source of capital.
"Cha Duo Fen" by Cai Changzhi
Black, white, red, green, green, and yellow, who picks tea leaves and dances in the air? After the rain, the sun sets again, and the tea mountains appear green. During the Qingming Festival, tea picking is urgent, and the fragrance of tea wafts all over the mountain. Decorating this shopping mall, it looks even more beautiful today.
"Seven Bowls of Tea" by Lu Tong
[5] A bowl of throat moistens, two bowls break through loneliness and stuffiness. Three bowls search for withered intestines, only five thousand scrolls of text. Four bowls of light sweat, all unruly in life, scattered towards the pores. Five bowls of clear flesh and bones, six bowls of immortal spirits. I can't even eat seven bowls, but I feel the refreshing breeze in my armpits.
Shennong theory
Tang and Lu Yu's "Classic of Tea" states: "Tea originated from the Shennong clan as a beverage." In the history of cultural development in China, it is often attributed to the Shennong clan that everything related to agriculture and plants originated. The claim that Chinese tea originated from Shennong has also given rise to different views due to folk legends. Some people believe that tea was discovered by Shen Nong when he was boiling water in a pot in the wild. A few leaves happened to float into the pot, and the cooked water had a slightly yellow color. It tasted sweet, quenched thirst, and refreshed the mind. Based on Shen Nong's experience of tasting various herbs in the past, it was determined that it was a medicine. This is the most common statement about the origin of Chinese tea drinking.
Another theory is that Shen Nong has a crystal belly, which can be seen from its appearance as food wriggles in the stomach and intestines. When he tasted tea, he found that tea was flowing everywhere in his stomach, and the tea came and went, washing his stomach and intestines clean. Therefore, Shen Nong called this plant "cha" and then translated it into the word "tea", which became the origin of tea.
