Interestingly, after the word "tea" was widely used, it was also used from time to time in the Tang Dynasty and later. For example, in the Qing Dynasty and even contemporary calligraphy works, we can still see the phenomenon that "tea" refers to "tea". What's going on here?
In the late Qing Dynasty, Wu Changshuo's book "Selected Tea after Coke" was recently read by the author, and it was also extended to Li Qingzhao's "Preface to the Records of the Stone", which gained a little.
Wu Changshuo's book Jiao Cha Xuan was written at the request of his good friend Xiao Gan in the fourth year of Guangxu. The next two signatures, one of which explains the allusion to the theme of "burnt tea" and the other explains the shape of the word "tea": "The word tea has no promise, and the Tang people carved stones in the poems of Chashan, and all the tea words are in full swing. Remember (seal) again. "
Who is Yu Qian? Yu Yong, the prime minister of Tang Xianzong, was born in an unknown year and died on 8 18. He is contemporary with Lu Yu (733 -804), the author of The Book of Tea, and Jiao Ran, a poet, but he should be younger than Lu Yu.
Yu Yong is good at calligraphy. He wrote "Poetry of Chashan" and carved it on a stone tablet, which is the "Stone Carving of Poetry of Chashan" mentioned by Wu Changshuo in the inscription of "Jiaochaxuan". Wu also said: "Every word of tea is tea", which means that the five words "tea" appearing in Yu Shi are all engraved as "tea". He also said: "There is no Xu Shu in the word tea", and "Xu Shu" refers to "Shuo Wen Jie Zi" compiled by Xu Shen in the Eastern Han Dynasty, explaining the source of the font. This is the first dictionary in China, but there is no word "tea" in Shuo Wen Jie Zi.
At the beginning of the formation of Chinese characters, there was no word "tea", and the word "tea" was often used to refer to "tea". However, besides the meaning of tea, the word "tea" also has many meanings such as "bitter vegetables", "poisoning" and "thatched cottage and flowers". The application of tea has developed to the period of drinking, and the word "tea" obviously cannot summarize the role tea plays in social life. In order to distinguish it from the broad sense of "tea", scholars created the word "tea".
According to research by Gu, a scholar in the Qing Dynasty, "According to the words" tea in the dark "and" tea in the bitter ",there was no difference in ancient times ... I was visiting Daiyue Mountain in Taishan Mountain, and I saw the inscription on the Tang tablet. I saw the word" tea medicine "engraved in the 14th year of Dali (779) and the word" tea feast "engraved in the 14th year of Zhenyuan (798), all of which were made. (See "Rizhilu")
According to Yi Shu in Qing Dynasty, the original word "tea" was "tea", and it was not until Tang Lu Yu wrote "Tea Classic" that a painting "tea" was reduced. In other words, by the middle Tang Dynasty, Lu Yu was already writing and using the word "tea". But there is no more evidence to prove that the word "tea" was created by Lu Yu alone. Or we can think that the word "tea" used in calligraphy and inscriptions is below the middle Tang Dynasty, while the word "tea" used in book prints is before the middle Tang Dynasty.
The revision of the Tea Classic took 14 years, and it was written in 775 (it is also said that Lu Yu completed the Tea Classic in 765, revised it again in 775 and finalized it in 780). After decades of communication, Yu Qian became the secretariat of Huzhou (Yu Qian was appointed as Huzhou in 796,5438+0).
It can be seen that at that time, the words "tea" and "tea" may be used together. Another explanation, I think, has something to do with the development of publishing technology. Paper-making in Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty, with block printing in Sui and Tang Dynasties, it is not necessary to rely on Zhong Ding stone tablets to record historical events as in the pre-Qin period. At this time, the stone carvings are more transformed into the art of appreciating stones. Therefore, the word "tea" in Yu Qian's "Chashan Poetry and Stone Carving" is an artistic technique, which embodies the artist's retro feelings.
After painting and calligraphy in Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, it extended to the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, and all artists called "tea". The "tea" in Wu Changshuo's calligraphy "Jiao Cha Xuan" is also painted, and the inscription is "tea". Even many contemporary calligraphers will write "tea" when writing the word "tea". It can be seen that when expressing the meaning of "tea", painters often use "tea" for aesthetic reasons, while literati and scholars use "tea" uniformly for the accuracy of cultural communication.
By the way, when it comes to the word "tea" used by modern and contemporary artists, everyone is most familiar with Wu Guanzhong's pen name-Wu Tea. According to the chronology of Wu Guanzhong, from 65438 to 0938, Wu Guanzhong graduated from the preparatory course of the National Art College and was promoted to this scientific oil painting. This year, he began to use "Wu Cha" as his pen name, and later changed it to "Tea", which became his signature on the painting. But Wu Guanzhong did not explain why he used "tea" as an alias.
Some artists analyzed that Wu Guanzhong, who had studied in France, especially worshipped Van Gogh. Wu Guanzhong once said: "Van Gogh painted a tree in red, spinning straight to the night sky. Strong and heroic emotions and calm and heavy red have reached a wonderful scene in full swing. " Perhaps it can be seen from this passage that Wu Guanzhong took "tea" as his pen name. Of course, "tea" at this time seems to have little to do with "tea".