Tea in China and West
Name: Li Zhifen Student ID: S08609
Research paper supervisor:Dr.Sekou Conde
Minority Linguisitic and Literature Minzu University of China
2008-2009 Academic Year
Abstract:After water, tea is the most widely-consumed beverage in the world. China is the native place of tea.Tea was spread over the world by Silk Roude or a route over high seas.The paper aims to introduce the origin of tea and illustrate how the tea spread to the west,and different tea culture between China and West.
Key words:tea culture,origin,spread,difference.
Introduction
Tea refers to the agricultural products of the leaves, leaf buds, prepared and cured by various methods. "Tea" also refers to the aromatic beverage prepared from the cured leaves by combination with hot or boiling water. After water, tea is the most widely-consumed beverage in the world. It has a cooling, slightly bitter, astringent flavour.
The Chinese have a saying: 'Firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea are the seven necessities to begin a day.' Though tea is last on the list, we still can see the importance of tea in daily life.A simple meal in Chinese is Cu Cha Dan Fan, namely coarse tea and tasteless dinner. Even a simple meal is finished off with tea so its importance is obvious.
1.The origin and spread of tea
1.1 The origin and history of tea in China
Before tea was domesticated, it probably grew wild both in southwestern China and in northern India. Some people have supposed that tea was one of the many things brought from India to China by Buddhist disciples. The Hindus, however, have never been great tea drinkers. They drink only a little tea even today, although large quantities of tea are now grown in India for sale in the West. All probabilities seem to point to China as the first country in which the habit of tea drinking developed.
It is said that tea shrubs were first discovered in the tropical and sub-tropical climate zone in the southwestern part of China, where primeval forests prevailed and the warm and moist setting was favorable for the growth of tea shrubs. Wild tea trees of 2,700 [1] years old and planted tea trees of 800 years old can still be found in the area.
Shen Nong Shi, the God of Agriculture, was believed to be the first to discover tea. In his “Book of Herbs”, it says that “Shen Nong shi personally tasted hundreds of species of herbs and he was hit by 72 poisons in a single day. But he used a kind of tree leaves to ease his case and it turned out to be tea tree." 2
Chinese tea was primarily used as a medicine before the 8th century B.C.During the Spring and Autumn Period, Chinese people chewed tea leaves and enjoyed the taste of the juice itself.
In the next stage, Chinese tea was cooked like a soup. Tea leaves were eaten along with the soup. Tea leaves were even mixed with food. Ancient Chinese books documented that tea was eaten and used with other spices to cook.
During the Qin and Han dynasties (221 BC - 8 AD), simple processing of Chinese tea emerged. Tea leaves were pressed into balls, dried and stored. When served, tea balls were crushed and mixed with green onion, ginger and then boiled in teapots. This is the point where Chinese tea turned from a medicine into a beverage. Also, it marked the beginning of Chinese tea being used to treat guests.Chinese tea evolved from a palace treat to a common beverage during the Jin Dynasty. Tea trading did not start until the Tang Dynasty (618 AD - 907 AD) when techniques in tea plantation and processing advanced at great speed, resulting in a lot of famous teas.
In the Tang Era, Chinese tea was processed and distributed in the form of tea cakes. People started to get serious about making tea. Specialized tea tools were used and tea books were published - including the most famous "Literature of Tea" by Lu Yue. The art of Chinese tea started to take shape.
The Tang Dynasty writer Lu Yu's is an early work on the subject. According to Cha Jing 3（Tea Classics）tea drinking was widespread. The book describes how tea plants were grown, the leaves processed, and tea prepared as a beverage. It also describes how tea was evaluated. The book also discusses where the best tea leaves were produced. Teas produced in this period were mainly tea bricks which were often used as currency, especially further from the center of the empire where coins lost their value.
"Tea became popular in Tang and prospered in Song (960 - 1276)".4 At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, Chinese tea was kept in the shape of balls and cakes. When served, tea was crushed and boiled with seasoning material. But as tea drinkers became more particular, they paid more attention to the original shape, color, and taste of tea leaves. Seasoning material faded out and loose leaf tea started to take the center stage.
1.2 Tea spreads to west
Long before tea reached Western Europe, it had spread from China to Japan, and South through Asia. Formosa was known for its Oolong ("Black Dragon") teas, and in Japan Green Tea reigned. The hill tribes of Burma and Siam had begun pickling tea by bruising and steaming the leaves before stuffing them into bamboo stalks or pits --- later the extract would be drunk, and the leaves chewed. The humid climates of Sumatra and Java made them ideal locations for growing tea.In 1610,5 Dutch trading companies purchased tea in Japan, and in the 1620s began importing tea from Sumatra and Java into Holland, sending small amounts to Britain and France. Tisanes, herbal infusions used as health remedies, had been popular in Europe for centuries. Tea infusions were used medicinally in Holland when the drink first arrived. In mid-17th century England, the drink was scorned by the Puritans and so labelled medicinal by traders to promote its trade and consumption. The leaves were highly valued, precious things that had travelled far from exoticised lands.
The earliest record of tea in a more occidental writing is said to be found in the statement of an Arabian traveler, that after the year 879 the main sources of revenue in Canton were the duties on salt and tea. Marco Polo records the deposition of a Chinese minister of finance in 1285 6 for his arbitrary augmentation of the tea taxes.From there it was introduced to Britian,America,France,Russia,even all over the world.
Europeans called the new drink "cha" 7 after the Cantonese name "ch'a," and today the word "chai" is used by English speakers to identify spicy teas of Indian origin. The origin of all tea trees in other countries, either directly or indirectly, is China. The words for tea leaves or tea as a drink in many countries are derivatives from the Chinese character "cha". The Russians call it "cha'i", which sounds like "chaye" (tea leaves) as pronounced in northern China. The English word "tea" sounds similar to the pronunciation of its counterpart in Xiamen” tay” (Amoy).
2.Different tea culture in China and West
2.1 Tea culture in China
2.1.1 Tea culture
Just as coffee in the West, tea became a part of daily life in China. You can see teahouses scattered on streets like cafes in the west. It has such a close relationship with Chinese that in recent years, a new branch of culture related to tea is rising up in China, which has a pleasant name of "Tea Culture". It includes the articles, poems, pictures about tea, the art of making and drinking tea, and some customs about tea. During the mid-Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD),8 a man named Lu Yu entered the Buddhist monkhood early in life but returned when older, to secular life. He was later best known for summarizing the knowledge and experience of his predecessors and contemporaries into the first compendium in the world on tea--the Tea Classic (Cha Jing). This work helped to popularize the art of tea drinking all across China, making avid tea drinkers of everyone from emperor and minister to street hawker and soldier. Even neighboring countries--Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia came to adopt the tea drinking custom.
In the Song dynasty, Lu You, who is known as "Tea Sage" wrote Tea Scripture, and detailed described the process of planting, harvesting, preparing, and making tea. Other famous poets such as Li Bai, Du Fu and Bai Juyi once created large number of poems about tea. Tang Bohu and Wen Zhengming even drew many pictures about tea.
In The Dream of the Red Chamber,9 one of four ancient Chinese [...]
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