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 lives. After Lu Yu's Tea Classic was published in Cha Sheng in the Tang Dynasty, China tea culture officially entered the historical stage. It has penetrated into China's poetry, painting, calligraphy, religion, medicine and other fields, and has become an inseparable part of the material and cultural life of the Chinese nation.
But growing tea and drinking tea does not mean having tea culture, it is only the premise of the formation of tea culture, and the core of tea culture lies in humanistic spirit and cultural connotation. In the course of five thousand years' development, China tea culture has evolved from scratch, from germination to development. This course is an important wealth of China culture, which deserves our understanding.
origin
There is no doubt that China is the first country in the world to discover, utilize and cultivate China tea trees, and China is also the suzerain of the world tea ceremony. Tea has been discovered and used by human beings for four or five thousand years, and the ancestors of the Chinese nation were the first to use tea.
Legend has it that Shennong risked his life to personally verify the medicinal properties of various vegetation in order to treat the people. Shennong tasted a hundred herbs every day, and when he encountered twelve poisons, he got tea and solved it. ? The authenticity of ancient legends remains to be discussed, but from these legends and records, it can be seen that in ancient times, people began to pay attention to the pharmacological effects of tea.
Of course, tea at this time is more used for medicinal value, not for daily drinking. The habit of drinking tea in daily life should come from Bashu people. How many Bashu areas were there in ancient times? Smoking? People tend to stagnate and get hot poison. Bashu people later found that tea has the effect of clearing away heat and toxic materials and eliminating miasma, so they often drink tea and take it for a long time, so that tea is regarded as a daily drink. "Zhu Travels" records:? Fan people live on tea, and they will get sick without tea. ?
After Qin people entered Shu, tea was gradually brought to the whole country, and people paid more and more attention to tea. Tea? (Cha) The sound was officially born. Guo Pu note "erya? Jenny? Hey? Cloud:? The tree is as small as a gardenia and has winter leaves, so it can be cooked as soup. Today, people who pick tea early, people who pick tea late, and people who pick tea late are bitter tea. ?
seed
Tea drinking is the foundation of the birth of tea culture, and the birth of tea culture can not be separated from daily tea drinking practice. But when did China start drinking tea? There has been no conclusion, and all kinds of opinions are inconclusive. According to ancient records, China discovered tea very early, and tea drinking was recorded in the Western Han Dynasty. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Hua Tuo's Records of Food said:? Bitter tea for a long time. commemorate
So even the famous doctor Hua Tuo noticed tea? Meaning? People are no longer constrained by the pharmacological effects of tea, and some people like to drink tea at ordinary times. This is the bud of China tea culture.
build
After Wei and Jin Dynasties, with the increasing popularity of tea drinking by literati, poems and songs about tea came out constantly. Tea is no longer just a drink, but has begun 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, aristocratic families had been formed. They control state affairs, are extremely rich, and compete to show off their wealth. Both officials and scholars are proud of their extravagant behavior of striving for power and profit. In view of this situation, Lu Na, Huan Wen and other people of insight put forward? Yang Lian? 、? Simple? Advocate value, and use tea instead of wine to show your mind.
Emperor Wu of the Southern Qi Dynasty did not like extravagance and waste. He left a will. His funeral was simple, and extravagance was not allowed. No three sacrifices, just put some dry rice, fruit cake and tea rice. Emperor Wu also said, how about it? The world is expensive, salty has this system? .
Both Lu Na and Huan Wen advocate drinking tea? Yang Lian? 、? Frugality? , or Emperor Wuqi? Tea? As a sacrifice, it shows that tea is no longer just a drink for clearing away heat and toxic materials, refreshing and quenching thirst. Whether active or passive, they have entered the field of spiritual culture and entrusted people's thoughts.
With the rise of Buddhism and the prosperity of Taoism, drinking tea is linked with religious activities. Taoism believes that tea is helpful to practice? Neidan? , ascending turbidity and descending turbidity, to achieve immortality; According to Buddhists, tea can help meditation. Whether tea really has these effects or not, Buddhism and Taoism have objectively promoted the enrichment and development of tea culture.
In the Sui Dynasty, drinking tea was no longer just a matter for the upper class. Because the cost of tea is not high, the lower classes can also drink tea, and the society has formed the habit of drinking tea for all. At the same time, drinking tea at this time is not limited to the pharmacological effects of tea, which also means that by this time, China tea culture has been formally established.
Continues today
Of course, when the whole people drank tea in the Sui Dynasty, most people still went for the health care effect of tea. It was not until 780 that Lu Yu wrote The Book of Tea that China tea ceremony culture finally developed. The Book of Tea summarizes the dual contents of nature and humanity of tea, and also discusses the art of drinking tea, integrating the cultural and spiritual connotations of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism into drinking tea.
After the publication of Lu Yu's Tea Classic, a large number of tea classics appeared, such as Tea Classic, brew tea, Picking Tea, Sixteen Soups and so on. Scholars advocate tea drinking, and a large number of literary works about tea have been born, including only one ancient poem, totaling more than 2,000. We are familiar with Du Fu, Bai Juyi, Fan Zhongyan and others who are all masters of tea tasting, and they objectively promoted the development of tea culture in China.
Since then, China tea culture has experienced the Song Dynasty? Polite? 、? Literati? , Yuan Dynasty? Simplify? By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, tea culture had been very prosperous. Until now, tea is still an indispensable part of China people, and tea culture has had an important impact on the whole world. British tea culture, Korean tea culture and Japanese tea ceremony all originated in China.
The historical development of tea culture in China is not only the development of tea from scratch, but also the spiritual and cultural development of the Chinese nation for 5,000 years. It contains the humanistic crystallization of the Chinese nation and is the most precious place of China tea culture.