In today’s people’s lives, “tea” has become an extremely common word. But before the Tang Dynasty, the word "tea" was rare. There is a common saying that in ancient times, "tea" and "tea" were one, and "tea" was "tea". But some people believe that the meaning of "tea" in ancient times was broader than "tea". No matter which statement is correct, what is certain is that after the publication of Lu Yu's "The Book of Tea" in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the word "tea" became widely popular, and its meaning is similar to today's tea.

Interestingly, after the word "tea" was widely used, "tea" was sometimes used to mean "tea" in the Tang Dynasty and later. For example, in calligraphy works from the Qing Dynasty and even contemporary works, We can still see the phenomenon of "tea" being referred to as "tea". What's going on here?

The author's recent reading of Wu Changshuo's calligraphy "Jiao Cha Xuan" in the late Qing Dynasty, and extended reading of Li Qingzhao's "Preface to the Records of Jinshi", yielded some insights.

Wu Changshuo's calligraphy "Jiao Cha Xuan", with seal script hanging horizontally and inscribed in cursive, was written in the spring of the Yisi year of Guangxu at the request of his friend Xiao Qian. There are two inscriptions below, one of which explains the allusion of the theme "Jiaocha", and the other inscription explains the glyph of the word "tea": "The word tea is not found in Xu Shu, the Tang Dynasty inscribed poems on tea mountains, The five characters for "tea" are all "tea". The seal is "Fu". Who was Yu? He was a contemporary of Lu Yu (733-804) and the poet Jiaoran who wrote the "Tea Classic", but he should be younger than Lu Yu.

Yu? was good at calligraphy. He wrote "Tea Mountain Poetry" and engraved it on the stone tablet, which is the "Tea Mountain Poetry Engraved Stone" mentioned by Wu Changshuo in the signature of "Jiao Cha Xuan". Wu also said: "The five characters for tea all mean tea", which means that the five characters for "tea" that appear in the poem are all engraved as "tea". He also said: "The word "tea" is not found in Xu Shu. "Xu Shu" refers to "Shuowen Jiezi" compiled by Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty and explained the origin of fonts. This is China's first dictionary, and the word "tea" is in "Shuo Wen Jie Zi". It is not found in "Wen Jie Zi".

At the beginning of the formation of Chinese characters, there was no word for "tea", and the word "tea" was often used to refer to "tea". However, in addition to the meaning of tea, the word "tea" also has many other meanings such as "bitter vegetable", "tea poison", "mao reed white flower", etc. The application of tea has developed to a period where drinking is the main focus. The word "tea" obviously cannot summarize the role of tea in social life. In order to distinguish it from the broad meaning of "tea", literati created the word "tea" specifically.

According to the research of Gu Yanwu, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty: "tea" means "tea", and "tea" means "tea" and "tea" means "tea". They were not distinguished in ancient times. When I visited Daiyue Mountain in Mount Tai, I saw the inscriptions on Tang stele. In the fourteenth year of the Dali calendar (779), the characters "Te Yao" were engraved, and in the fourteenth year of Zhenyuan (798), the characters "Te Banquet" were engraved, both of which were called tea. In the first year of Huichang (841), Liu Gongquan's book Xuanmi Pagoda The inscription on the stele and the inscription on the stele of Zen Master Guifeng written by Pei Xiu in the 9th year of Dazhong era are all reduced by this painting, which means that this character changed to the mid-Tang Dynasty or later." (See "Rizhilu")

According to the Qing Dynasty. "Yishu" records: "The ancient word for 'tea' today was 'tea'. When Lu Yu wrote the 'Tea Classic' in the Tang Dynasty, one word 'tea' was added." In other words, by the mid-Tang Dynasty, Lu Yu was already writing and writing Use the word "tea". However, there is no more evidence to prove that the word "tea" was created by Lu Yu alone. Or it can be thought that the use of the word "tea" in calligraphy and stele inscriptions was "before the middle Tang Dynasty", while the use of the word "tea" in book engravings was "before the middle Tang Dynasty".

The writing and revision of the "Tea Classic" lasted 14 years, and was completed around 775 (some say that Lu Yu completed the "Tea Classic" in 765, revised it again after 775, and finalized it after 780). Decades later, why did Yu, who was appointed the governor of Huzhou (he was appointed the governor of Huzhou in ?791, and according to historical data analysis, his tea mountain poems were written while he was the governor of Huzhou), still use the word "Tu"?

< p>This shows that at that time, the words "tea" and "tea" may have been used together. Another explanation, I think, is related to the development of publishing technology. Cai Lun made paper in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and engraving printing was introduced in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. There was no need to rely on bells, tripods, and steles to record historical events as in the pre-Qin period. At this time, the inscriptions were more transformed into the art of epigraphy and stone appreciation. Therefore, the use of the word "tea" in Yu?'s "Tea Mountain Poetry Engraved Stone" is an artistic technique that embodies the artist's retro feelings.

In the calligraphy and painting of the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasty after the Tang Dynasty, and into the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, there were artists who used "Tu" to refer to "tea". The word "tea" in Wu Changshuo's calligraphy "Jiao Cha Xuan" is also written as "tea". Even many contemporary calligraphers also write "Tu" when writing the word "tea". It can be seen that when expressing the meaning of "tea", calligraphers and painters often use "tea" for aesthetic reasons, while literati and scholars use "tea" uniformly for the sake of accuracy in cultural communication.

By the way, when it comes to modern and contemporary artists using the word "tea", the most well-known one is Wu Guanzhong's pen name: Wu Tucha. According to the chronology of Wu Guanzhong, in 1938, Wu Guanzhong graduated from the preparatory course of the National Art College and was promoted to undergraduate oil painting. This year, he began to use "Wu Tu Cha" as his pen name, and later changed it to "Te", which became his signature on the paintings. But Wu Guanzhong did not explain why he used "tea" as an alias.

Some artists have analyzed that Wu Guanzhong, who studied in France, particularly admired Van Gogh. Wu Guanzhong once said, "Van Gogh painted trees in red. His rotating and unrestrained brushstrokes pointed directly at the night sky. His strong and heroic emotions, and his calm and thick red reached a raging and wonderful state.

"Perhaps from this passage we can see the clue that Wu Guanzhong used "Te" as his pen name. Of course, "Tu" at this time seems to have little to do with "tea".