Home Chinese Tea Culture
China is the hometown of tea, and tea is the charm of China. China's 5000 year history is also the history of the initiation and development of Chinese tea culture. Many people drink tea in the world, but the people who know tea culture best are still the Chinese nation. After all, this is the origin of tea culture and the hometown of tea culture. There are still many people who drink, love and understand tea.
As one of the seven things to open the door, drinking tea is very common in China. In ancient China, tea has always been closely related to people's life. After the publication of the tea classic of Lu Yu, the tea saint of the Tang Dynasty, Chinese tea culture officially appeared on the historical stage. It goes deep into many fields such as Chinese poetry, painting, calligraphy, religion and medicine, and has become an integral part of the material and cultural life of the Chinese nation.
Origin
There is no doubt that China is the first country in the world to discover, utilize and cultivate Chinese tea trees, and China is also the suzerain of the world's tea ceremony. Tea has been discovered and used by human beings for 4000 to 5000 years, and the earliest person to use tea is the ancestor of the Chinese nation.
It is said that in order to cure the people, Shennong did not hesitate to take personal risks and personally verify the medicinal properties of various plants and trees. "Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs and met twelve poisons every day, and got tea to solve it." The authenticity of ancient legends remains to be discussed, but through these legends and records, we can see that people began to pay attention to the pharmacological effects of tea in ancient times.
Germination
Tea drinking is the foundation of the birth of tea culture. Without the daily practice of tea drinking, tea culture cannot be born. However, there has been no final conclusion about when China began to drink tea, and there are different opinions. According to ancient books, Chinese people have discovered tea very early. There are records of tea drinking in the Western Han Dynasty. Hua Tuo's "food classic" of the Eastern Han Dynasty said: "bitter tea tastes good for a long time"
It can be seen that even the famous doctor Hua Tuo has noticed the "meaning" of tea. People are no longer confined to the pharmacological effects of tea. Some people also like to drink tea at ordinary times. This is the germination of Chinese tea culture.
Establish
After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, with the increasing rise of literati drinking tea and the continuous emergence of poetry and songs about tea, tea is no longer just a beverage. It began to play a certain spiritual and social role as a cultural form and carrier.
In the Jin Dynasty, tea was endowed with important spirit and value pursuit. At that time, the aristocratic clan had been formed. They controlled the government, were invincible and competed to show off their wealth. Both officials and scholars were proud of boasting and fighting for wealth. In view of this situation, Lu Na, Huan Wen and other people of insight put forward the value advocacy of "maintaining integrity" and "simplicity", and replaced wine with tea to show their aspirations.
Emperor Wu of the Southern Qi Dynasty did not like extravagance and waste. He left an edict that his funeral should be simple. Extravagance and waste are not allowed. Do not sacrifice three animals. Just put some dry rice, fruit cakes and tea and rice. Emperor Wu also said, "the world is high and low, and salt is the same system".
Whether Lu Na, Huan Wen and others advocated "honesty" and "frugality" with tea, or Emperor Wu of Southern Qi took "tea" as a sacrifice, it shows that tea is no longer just a beverage for clearing heat and detoxification, refreshing and thirst quenching. Whether it is active or passive, it has entered the spiritual and cultural field and reposes people's thoughts.
With the rise of Buddhism and the prosperity of Taoism, tea drinking is linked with religious activities. Taoists believe that tea can help cultivate "internal alchemy", raise the purity and reduce the turbidity, and achieve immortality; In the view of Buddhism, tea can help meditate. Regardless of whether tea really has these effects, Buddhism and Taoism have objectively promoted the enrichment and development of tea cultural connotation.
By the Sui Dynasty, drinking tea was no longer just a matter of the upper class. Because the cost of tea was not high, the lower class people could also drink tea, and the habit of drinking tea was formed in the society. At the same time, drinking tea at this time is not only limited to the pharmacological effect of tea, which means that by this time, Chinese tea culture has been officially established.