The Origin of Tea

Reference 1:

The Origin and Development of Tea

China is the origin of the tea tree. The ancestors of the Chinese nation were the first to discover and utilize tea. After long-term practice through the ages, they created a rich and colorful tea culture that spread to the world and benefited mankind.

Chinese tea and tea culture have a long history of development, running through the 5,000-year cultural development and progress of the Chinese nation.

From ancient times to the Northern and Southern Dynasties

According to legend, Shennong discovered tea by tasting hundreds of herbs. After the Warring States Period, there were records of "tea" in ancient documents. From "Huayang Guozhi" by Jin Changcu. It can be seen from the recollections of "Ba Zhi" that at the end of the Shang Dynasty and the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty in my country, tea was already grown in the ancient Bashu area. "Erya" records in the "Shimu" section that "槧, bitter tea". Wang Bao's "Tong Yue" has records of "making tea with all the equipment" and "buying tea in Wuyang", which reflects that during the Western Han Dynasty, households in Cuba and Shu region already cooked and drank tea. Hua Tuo of the Eastern Han Dynasty pointed out in "Eating Theory" that "eating bitter tea for a long time will benefit the mind", that is, drinking tea has the effect of improving intelligence. During the Eastern Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, some knowledgeable people regarded drinking tea as a symbol of honesty and frugality.

Sui and Tang Dynasties

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the country was unified and the economy developed.

The Sui Dynasty opened the North-South Grand Canal, which facilitated the transportation of tea from the south to the north and cultural exchanges. In society, the word "tea" was subtracted by one stroke, and it was commonly written as "tea". Since then, it has become a special word for tea.

During the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, Zen Buddhism emerged in the north. Zen Buddhism was used to eliminate sleep, and tea drinking was advocated. The trend of tea drinking developed from the south to the north. From the Shangyuan Dynasty to the Dali Period, Lu Yu's "Tea Classic" came out, becoming the first tea monograph in my country and the world. The Book of Tea describes in detail the origin, collection, cooking, tea utensils and history of tea, which has greatly promoted the development of my country's tea industry and tea culture.

Song and Yuan Dynasties

During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the tea area continued to expand, and the techniques of growing, making and ordering tea were refined. (Positive story)

Tea culture developed in the Song Dynasty, and a number of tea science works appeared, such as Cai Xiang's "Tea Records", Song Zian's "Dongxi Tea Testing Records", and Huang Ru's "Tea Tasting Essentials" , especially the "Daguan Tea Treatise" written by Zhao Ji, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Liu Songnian's "Lu Tong Cooking Tea" and Zhao Mengfu's "Tea Fighting" are artistic treasures of Chinese tea culture.

During the Ming Dynasty

In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang sympathized with the people's hardships and issued an edict: "Stop making dragon dumplings and only use bud tea to make progress." Since then, my country's tea production has shifted from dumpling tea to mainly tea. Mainly loose tea. Tea has developed greatly. Based on green tea, white tea, dark tea, yellow tea, oolong tea, black tea and scented tea have been successively created.

In the Ming Dynasty, tea administration and tea laws were strengthened, and the Tea and Horse Department was established to consolidate border defense, specializing in the tea-horse trade in which tea was exchanged for horses.

From the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China

In the Qing Dynasty, overseas transportation developed and international trade rose. Tea became my country’s main export commodity. In the 23rd year of Kangxi's reign, the Qing court lifted the sea ban, and my country's tea-drinking culture and tea products spread to the West. In the early years of the Republic of China, a junior tea college was established, tea majors and tea departments were set up, new methods of growing tea and machine-made tea were promoted, a tea commodity inspection system was established, and tea quality inspection standards were formulated.

New China Period

After the founding of New China, *** attached great importance to the tea industry. On November 23, 1949, China Tea Company (the predecessor of China Tea Co., Ltd.), which was specifically responsible for tea industry affairs, was established. Since then, tea has flourished in production, processing, trade, culture and other aspects.

Reference 2:

The origin of tea (so high and far away)

Tea is originally from Jiamu in southern China. Tea is a famous health drink. It is an ancient The contribution of the people of southern China to Chinese food culture is also the contribution of the Chinese people to the world's food culture. During the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors era, there was a story about Shen Nong using tea to detoxify. The Yellow Emperor’s surname was Ji and his name was Tu, and Tu is the ancient word for tea. Tea belongs to the Theaceae family and is an evergreen shrub or small tree with a plant height of 1-6 meters. Tea trees love humid climates and are widely cultivated in areas south of the Yangtze River Basin in my country. Tea is made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant and used after soaking in water. It has the effects of strengthening the heart and diuresis. Tea leaves can be harvested after three years of planting. Generally, buds with 4-5 leaves are picked before and after the Qingming Festival. The tea made from these buds is of very good quality and is a treasure among teas.

Historical origins

According to the abundant physical evidence and cultural and historical data available, the tea drinking habits and tea tree planting in other countries in the world were inherited from China. The birthplace of tea is in the mountainous areas of central and western China, Tang Dynasty. Lu Yu's "The Book of Tea" says: "The origin of tea originates from the Shen Nong clan and originates from Duke Zhou of Lu". "Tea maker, the fine wood in the south is one foot, two feet or even dozens of feet long. Its Bashan Gorge is now west of Chongqing and west of Hubei, which is the present-day Shennongjia area. Two people hugged each other and cut it down." Therefore, the birthplace of tea is undisputed in China. In the UK, some people say that the habit of drinking tea was not invented by the Chinese, but by India. The fact is this: In 1823, a major of a British invading army discovered the so-called wild tea tree in India. Some people began to think that the birthplace of tea was in India. But these tea tree species were actually stolen from China and planted by the British - in the thousands of years of tea history, wild tea trees have never been found in India, and no one has made tea locally. They all made the most basic logical mistake. Other plants, including the tea plant, have always existed, even longer than human history. It cannot be said that where there are tea trees, there is the birthplace of tea making and drinking. . The earliest records of humans making and drinking tea are in China, and the earliest physical tea products are also in China. Of course, China also has wild tea trees, and they are even older. An ancient tea tree dating back 6,000 years was unearthed at the Tianluoshan site in Yuyao, Zhejiang. At present, China's wild tea trees are concentrated in Yunnan and other places, including some areas in Gansu, Hunan, and Hubei.

Overview of the origin of tea trees

China is the first country to discover and utilize tea trees, and is known as the motherland of tea. Written records prove that our ancestors began to cultivate and utilize tea trees more than 3,000 years ago.

The origin of the tea tree has always been controversial. With the development of textual research technology and new discoveries, it has gradually reached a consensus that China is the origin of the tea tree, and it has been confirmed that southwest China, including Mountainous areas such as Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan are the centers of origin of tea trees. Due to geological changes and artificial cultivation, tea trees began to spread throughout the country and gradually spread to all parts of the world.

Origin and place of origin

When did the tea tree originate? It must have been far earlier than the written records of more than 3,000 years ago. The tea tree is native to China and has been recognized by the world since ancient times. It was only after 1824 that wild tea trees were discovered in India. Some foreign scholars raised objections that China was the origin of tea trees, sparking controversy in the international academic community. These dissenters are all based on wild tea trees in India and believe that there are no wild tea trees in China. In fact, around 200 AD in China, the "Erya" mentioned the existence of wild tea trees, and current data proves that wild tea trees have been found in 198 places in 10 provinces and regions across the country, including one in Yunnan that is 1,700 years old. Around 2006, there were more than 10 trees in Yunnan Province alone with a trunk diameter of more than one meter. In some areas, wild tea tree communities even extend to thousands of acres. Therefore, since ancient times, the wild tea trees that have been discovered in my country are the largest in the world in terms of their early age, large size, large number, wide distribution, and diverse characteristics. In addition, it has been verified that the wild tea trees found in India and the tea trees introduced to India from China are both variants of the Chinese tea tree. From this, it is concluded that China is the origin of tea tree.

In recent decades, tea science and botany research have been combined to conduct more detailed and in-depth analysis and demonstration of the origin of tea trees from different perspectives such as tree species, geological changes and climate changes, further proving that Southwest my country is the origin of tea trees.

Moment of origin (philosophy of love quotes)

There are different opinions on the origin of tea drinking in China: tracing back to the origin of tea drinking in China, some think it originated from the ancient Shennong, and some think it started in the Zhou Dynasty , there are also theories that it originated from the Qin, Han and Three Kingdoms. The main reason for the divergent opinions is that before the Tang Dynasty, the traditional Chinese character for "tea" was "tea". Lu Yu, the author of the Tea Book of the Tang Dynasty, reduced the word "tea" by one stroke in the text and wrote it "Tea", so some people say that tea originated in the Tang Dynasty. But in fact this is just a simplification of the text, and some people already used the word tea in the Han Dynasty. Lu Yu just summarized the history and culture of tea drinking by his ancestors. The history of tea dates back many years to the Tang Dynasty.

1. The Theory of Shennong

Tang Dynasty Lu Yu’s "The Book of Tea": "The origin of tea as a drink originated from Shennong." In the history of Chinese cultural development, everything is often related to The origins of agriculture and plant-related things are ultimately attributed to Shennong.

The idea that tea drinking in China originated from Shennong has also derived different opinions based on folklore. Some people think that tea was made by Shen Nong when he was boiling water in a cauldron in the wild. A few leaves happened to float into the pot. The boiled water was slightly yellow in color. Drinking it in your mouth will quench your thirst and refresh your mind. This is because Shen Nong used to taste hundreds of herbs. Experience determines that it was discovered as a medicine. This is the most common theory about the origin of tea drinking in China. Another theory is based on phonetics. It is said that Shen Nong had a crystal belly. From the appearance, we could see the movement of food in the gastrointestinal tract. When he tasted the tea, he found that the tea was flowing everywhere in his stomach. Check it out. It cleans the intestines and stomach, so Shennong called this plant "cha", and then changed it into the word "tea", which became the origin of tea.

2. Theory of the Western Zhou Dynasty

Jin Dynasty Chang Xu's "Huayang Guozhi·Bazhi": "King Wu of Zhou defeated Zhou and actually gained the masters of Bashu,... tea and honey... all "Pay tribute." This record proves that when King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty conquered Zhou, the Ba Kingdom (today's northern Sichuan and Hanzhong areas) had already paid tribute to King Wu of Zhou Dynasty with tea and other precious products. "Huayang Guozhi" also records that there were artificially cultivated tea gardens at that time. "Huayang Guozhi" is the first classic to record tea in writing, so the historical benefit is greater and more reliable.

3. The Qin and Han Dynasties said: "Tea is cooked with utensils" and "Tea is bought in Wuyang". After testing, the tea is now tea. It can be seen from the article that tea has become a part of the social diet at that time, and it is a rare thing used to treat guests as a courtesy. This shows the importance of tea in the society at that time. In recent years, in the Mawangdui Tomb of the Western Han Dynasty in Changsha, it was found that the burial inventory contained the words "□一笥" and "□一笥" bamboo slips and woodcut inscriptions. It was verified that "□" is a variant of "槚", indicating that tea drinking in Hunan was already a common practice at that time. Tea drinking custom.