Celebrities and Tea Culture in Ancient China

1. Lu Yu

Lu Yu (733-804), courtesy name Hongjian, Ji Zhi, a disease, and a nickname Jinglingzi, Sangliweng, Donggangzi. A native of Jingling (now Tianmen, Hubei), Fuzhou, Tang Dynasty. Lu Yu specializes in tea ceremony and is famous for writing the world's first tea monograph "The Classic of Tea". He is called the "Tea Sage" by future generations. Lu Yu turned out to be an abandoned orphan. In the 23rd year of Kaiyuan of the Tang Dynasty (735 AD), Zen Master Zhiji, the abbot of Longgai Temple in Jingling, was walking on the shore of the West Lake one morning when he suddenly heard a cry of wild geese. He turned around and saw a group of wild geese surrounding him not far away. , he hurried over and saw an abandoned child curled up under the wings of the wild goose, shivering. Zen Master Zhiji recited Amitabha and quickly carried it back to the temple. Later, in order to name him, Zen Master Zhiji used the divination words in "Yi", "Hongjian came to the mainland, and his feathers can be used as rituals." So he was given the surname "Lu", the name "Yu", and the character "Hongjian". Under the support of Zen Master Zhiji, Lu Yu learned literacy, learned to recite Buddhist scriptures, and cooked tea and served soup for Ji Gong. But he just refused to cut off his hair and become a monk. In order to make Lu Yu obedient, Zhiji trained him with chores. Every day, he had to clean the temple, clean the toilet, or practice mud plastering the walls, carrying tiles and building houses, until he herded one hundred and twenty cattle. Although Lu Yu was subjected to hard labor, he just refused to submit. When he was eleven years old, he escaped from the monastery by surprise and became an "actor" in a theater troupe. Lu Yu is very witty and eloquent. Although he is ugly and has a stutter, the clowns he plays in dramas are humorous and witty and are often welcomed by the audience. During his performance practice, Lu Yu also wrote a three-volume joke book called "Jiao Tan". In the fifth year of Tianbao in the Tang Dynasty, that is, in 746 AD, Li Qiwu of Henan Province was demoted and came to Jingling to be the prince. The county magistrate accepted the throne for the prefect, so he asked the troupe to perform. After watching it, the prefect admired Lu Yu very much, so he He summoned him, presented him with poems and books, and introduced him to study with Master Zou in Huomen Mountain northwest of Tianmen. In addition to studying, Lu Yu often made tea for Master Zou. When Lu Yu was in his twenties, he traveled to Yiyang and Bashan Gorge in Henan and heard and witnessed the tea production situation in Pengzhou, Mianzhou, Shuzhou, Qiongzhou, Yazhou, Luzhou, Hanzhou and Meizhou in Shu. Later, we transferred to Yichang and tasted Xiazhou tea and Toad Spring water. In the summer of 755 AD, Lu Yu returned to Jingling and settled in Donggang Village. In 756 AD, due to the Anshi Rebellion, refugees from Guanzhong swarmed south, and Lu Yu also crossed the river. In his later life, he collected a lot of tea information from various places in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River Basin. In 760 AD, he came to Huzhou, Zhejiang, and lived with the monk Jiaoran in Zhushan Miaoxi Temple, and they became friends forever. At the same time, he also got acquainted with famous monks and scholars such as Lingche, Li Ye, Meng Jiao, Zhang Zhihe, and Liu Changqing. During this period, he made friends while writing, collecting and researching the history and production materials of tea collected in the past. In 765 AD, Lu Yu finally wrote the world's first tea monograph, the "Tea Classic". After the first draft of the "Tea Classic" was written, Lu Yu continued to visit tea in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, make tea, and constantly revised and supplemented the "Tea Classic". By 755 AD, the "Tea Classic" was finalized. The Book of Tea is a systematic summary of tea science and culture in the Tang Dynasty and before the Tang Dynasty. The Book of Tea is a milestone in the history of tea production and tea culture in China. Chen Shidao of the Song Dynasty commented in the "Preface to the Book of Tea": "The writing of Fu Cha dates from Yu, and its use in the world also starts from Yu. Yu Cheng is also a person who has contributed to tea." Lu Yu not only made great contributions in summarizing the experience of his predecessors, but also practiced it personally. He was good at discovering good tea and appreciating water quality. For example, Guzhu Purple Bamboo Shoot Tea in Changxing, Zhejiang Province was rated as top-grade by Lu Yu and became a tribute tea, which is well-known in Beijing. Another example is the Yangxian tea from Yixing. After tasting it, he thought it was fragrant and sweet, unrivaled in other places, and directly recommended it as a tribute tea. Lu Yu could also distinguish water. He could distinguish the quality of water in different sections of the same river. He also ranked the rivers and springs he passed through and divided them into twenty grades. It also has a great influence on future generations. Shortly after Lu Yu's death, his status in the tea industry gradually became more prominent. Not only in terms of production and tasting, but also in the tea trade, people also regarded Lu Yu as a god. Those who do tea business mostly use ceramics. A statue of Lu Yu was made at home, thinking that it would be beneficial to the tea trade. The academic research on tea initiated by Lu Yu has lasted for thousands of years. The categories of research have become more complete, the research methods have become more advanced, the research results have become more abundant, and tea culture has developed more extensively. Lu Yu's contributions are increasingly recognized by China and the world.

2. Bai Juyi

Bai Juyi (772-846), whose courtesy name was Letian and Xiangshan Jushi in his later years, was originally from Taiyuan (now part of Shanxi) and later moved to Shaanxi (now Weinan, Shaanxi). northeast). Bai Juyi was a famous realist poet in the Tang Dynasty. He was very confident in his tea-loving and tea-making skills. In his poem "Thanks to Mr. Li Liulang for sending new Sichuan tea", he recited: "Add a spoonful of water to the soup to fry the fish eyes, and at the end add a knife and a gui to stir up the dust. Don't send it to others first." Send it to me because I am a tea lover." This can also be confirmed in other poems he wrote. The poem also mentions the relationship between tea, wine, and harp in many places. For example, "The only thing I know about Qin is Lushui, and the old tea is Mengshan." "Drunk to several clusters of red peony, thirsty to taste a bowl of green changming." And so on.

Bai Juyi's "Pipa Play" is a famous poem through the ages. While expressing deep sympathy for the life experience of the pipa girl and deeply lashing out at the sins of feudal society that destroys women, it also left an important piece of information for the history of tea: "Brother is leaving. The aunt who served in the army died, and she came to see her in the evening. There were few cars and horses in front of the house. The boss married a merchant's wife. The merchant left Fuliang and went to buy tea. The boat went around the river in the bright moon. Fuliang is located in the north of Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province today. It can be seen that Fuliang was already a tea distribution center in the Tang Dynasty. In the second year of Tang Changqing's reign (AD 822), Bai Juyi was appointed as the governor of Hangzhou. During his two-year term, he became obsessed with the fragrant tea and sweet springs of West Lake, and left a good story about cooking tea with Zen master Lingyin Taoguang in Jiquan. Bai Juyi invited the Zen master into the city with tea, "ordering the master to eat with him and eat a cup of tea with him." However, Zen Master Taoguang refused to give in and signed it with a poem: "The mountain monk is wild and fond of forests and springs. He leans against the rocks and sleeps on the rocks... The city cannot bear the flying tin, and it is afraid that the orioles will be disturbed in front of the green building." The poem is tactful and ironic, but Bai Juyi was suddenly generous and went up the mountain to drink tea with the Zen master himself. The tea-cooking well in Taoguang Temple in Lingyin, Hangzhou is said to be the place where Bai Juyi and Tao Guang cooked tea.

3. Ouyang Xiu

Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072), courtesy name Yongshu, nicknamed Zuiweng, and later nicknamed Liuyi Jushi, was a native of Yongfeng, Jizhou (now part of Jiangxi). A famous politician and writer in the Northern Song Dynasty, one of the Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties. Ouyang Xiu's poems on tea are not many, but they are very exciting. For example, he particularly praised Shuangjing tea from Xiushui. He wrote the poem "Shuangjing Tea", which described in detail the quality characteristics of Shuangjing tea and the relationship between tea and character: The water of the Xijiang River is clear, the river is old, and the tea growing on the stone is like a chicken's claw. . When the weather is poor and not cold, the spring air is early, and the buds in Shuangjing are the first to grow hundreds of herbs. White hair follicles are covered with red blue gauze, and ten pounds of tea nourish one or two buds. Baoyun's daily casting is not impeccable, fighting for the new and abandoning the old world's favors. The group has disappeared, but the dragon and phoenix group of Jianxi has not changed the old fragrance and color. Ouyang Xiu paid great attention to the "Xiaolongtuan" created by Cai Xiang. In his preface to Cai Xiang's "Tea Records", he discussed how people at that time valued Xiaolongtuan tea, which has become a valuable information for future generations to study Song Dynasty tribute tea. "Tea is the most exquisite thing, and Xiaotuan is the most exquisite one. It is the so-called top-grade dragon tea in the preface. It has been made since Junmo and has been offered to Yan for years. Renzong is especially rare. Although he is a minister who assists the prime minister, he has never tasted it. However, on the eve of the feast in the southern suburbs, four people from the Privy Council gave a piece of cake, and the palace servants put dragon and phoenix flowers and grass on it. "Bao, there are good guests from time to time, and they come out to play with you. In the seventh year of Jiayou's reign, I personally enjoyed the Mingtang. On the eve of the fast, the founder gave me a cake, and I also kept it in my memory." "Da Ming Shui Ji" is a treatise written by Ouyang. Special article on water for making tea. His comparison and criticism of Lu Yu's "The Book of Tea" and Zhang Youxin's "Jiancha Shui Ji" in the Tang Dynasty showed the nature of a scholar who thinks independently and does not follow others.

4. Su Shi

Su Shi (1037-1101), courtesy name Zizhan, also known as Dongpo Jushi, was born in Meishan County, Sichuan Province today. Su Dongpo was an outstanding writer and calligrapher in the Song Dynasty of China. He also had in-depth research on tea tasting, tea cooking, tea history, etc. Among his poems and essays, there are many well-known masterpieces about tea that have been handed down. The prose "Ye Jia Zhuan" he wrote uses anthropomorphic techniques to vividly praise the history, efficacy, quality, production and other characteristics of tea. Throughout his life, Su Dongpo traveled to many places due to his appointment or being demoted. Everywhere he went, he left poems on famous tea springs. For example, in the first year of Yuanfeng (AD 1078), when Su Shi was appointed as the prefect of Xuzhou, he wrote the poem "Huanxisha": "I am tired of drinking and want to sleep on the long road. People in high places are thirsty and think about tea. I knock on the door and ask questions about the wild people." It vividly reproduces his expression of wanting tea to quench his thirst. "The two flags under Baiyun Peak are new, greasy green and fresh in the spring of Grain Rain" is a description of Hangzhou's "Baiyun Tea". "Buying out Gu Zhuchun with a thousand pieces of gold, it's like making a fortune with the Yue people" is a praising of Huzhou's "Gu Zhuzi Bamboo Shoot". Fujian's Heyuan tea is even more highly praised. He wrote in the poem "Ci Yun Cao Fu sent to Heyuan to test roast new tea": The fairy mountain spiritual grass is warm and flowing in the clouds, and the fragrant powder is washed all over the skin. The bright moon comes to cast a light on Yuchuanzi, and the breeze blows through the spring of Wulin. You must know that Bingxue has a good heart, and it is not a new look that comes from anointing. Don't laugh when you write a little poem in a play. Good tea is always like a beautiful woman. Later, people compiled a couplet from another poem by Su Dongpo, "I want to compare the West Lake to the West Lake" and "Always good tea is like a beautiful woman", and displayed them in teahouses, becoming a famous couplet. Su Dongpo had his own unique method of cooking tea. He believed that good tea must be prepared with good water, and "living water must be cooked with living fire." He also gave a vivid description of the temperature of the water for making tea in his poem "Shiyuan Sencha". He said: "The crab's eyes are no longer as old as the fish's, and they are about to sway like the pines in the wind." Use the bubble shape and sound of boiling water to determine how boiling the water is. Su Dongpo was also very particular about tea-making utensils. He believed that "copper and iron are astringent and are not suitable for springs", and it is best to use stones to boil water. It is said that when Su Shi was in Yixing, he personally designed a beam-style purple clay teapot. In order to commemorate him, later generations named this pot style "Dongpo Pot". Su Dongpo also conducted deep research on the efficacy of tea. In 1073 AD, the sixth year of Xining, when he was serving as a general magistrate in Hangzhou, he took a leave of absence due to illness and visited Jingci and Nanping temples on the lake. In the evening, he went to Gushan to visit Zen Master Huiqin. During the day, he drank several strong teas. Bowl, I don’t realize that my illness has been cured. Then he wrote a poem called "Qi Jue" on the Zen master's pink wall: To show his illness, Vimalakirti was not sick, but his spiritual luck at home had forgotten his home. Why does the Emperor of Wei need a pill and seven bowls of tea with Lu? Su Shi also introduced a wonderful method of using tea to protect your teeth in "Qiu Chi Notes": "To remove troubles and tiredness, tea is indispensable, but it will secretly do a lot of harm to people. I have a method: after every meal, rinse your mouth with strong tea. Tiredness and boredom are present but the spleen and stomach are not aware of it.

The flesh is between the teeth, shrinks and falls off, so there is no need to pick and prick, and the teeth will be as strong and dense as this. Most of them use medium-low tea, and the above-mentioned ones are not often found. One sip for several days will not cause any harm. This makes sense. "Su Dongpo's contribution to the history of the development of Chinese tea culture is multifaceted.