In people's life today, "tea" has become a very common word. But before the Tang Dynasty, the word "tea" was rare. There is a general saying that in ancient times, "tea" and "tea" were integrated, and "tea" was "tea". However, some people think that the meaning of "tea" in ancient times is wider than that of "tea". No matter which statement is correct, it is certain that the word "tea" became widely popular after the publication of Lu Yu's Tea Classic in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, and its meaning is similar to that of tea today.
interestingly, after the word "tea" was widely used, the word "tea" was sometimes used in the Tang Dynasty and later. For example, it can still be seen in the calligraphy works of the Qing Dynasty and even contemporary times. What's going on here?
Wu Changshuo's book post Jiao Cha Xuan in the late Qing Dynasty was recently read by the author, and I further read Li Qingzhao's Preface to the Records of the Stone, and gained a little.
Wu Changshuo's book "Jiao Cha Xuan" was written at the request of his friend Xiao Qian in the spring of the fourth year of Guangxu. The next two paragraphs were signed, one of which explained the allusion to the theme "Jiao Cha", while the other one explained the shape of the word "Cha": "There are no promises for tea characters, and the Tang people carved stones in the poems of Cha Shan, and all the tea characters are in full swing. Remember again (seal). "
who is Yu Yong? Yu Yong, the prime minister of Tang Xianzong, was born in an unknown year and died in 818. He was contemporary with Lu Yu (733 -84) who wrote The Book of Tea, and Jiao Ran, a poet, but he should be younger than Lu Yu.
Yu Qian is good at calligraphy. He wrote "Chashan Poems" and engraved them on stone tablets, that is, "Chashan Poems Carved Stones" mentioned by Wu Changshuo in the inscription of Jiao Cha Xuan. Wu also said: "Every word of tea makes tea", which means that the five words of "tea" appearing in Yu's poems are all engraved as "tea". He also said: "There is no Xu Shu in the word tea" and "Xu Shu" refers to Shuowen Jiezi, which was compiled by Xu Shen in the Eastern Han Dynasty and explained the source of fonts. This is the first dictionary in China, but the word "tea" is not found in Shuowen Jiezi.
Chinese characters did not have the word "tea" at the beginning of their formation, and the word "tea" was often used to refer to "tea". However, in addition to the meaning of tea, the word "tea" has many meanings such as "bitter vegetable", "poisoning" and "Maolu Baihua". The application of tea has developed to the period of drinking, and the word "tea" obviously cannot summarize the role played by tea in social life. In order to distinguish it from the broad meaning of "tea", the literati created the word "tea".
According to the research of Gu Yanwu, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, "According to the word" tea with a fragrant tea ",it is the same as" tea with bitter taste ",which was not divided in ancient times ... When I visited Daiyue Mountain in Taishan, I saw the inscription on the Tang tablet, and the word" tea medicine "was engraved in the 14th year of Dali (779), and the word" tea feast "was engraved in the 14th year of Zhenyuan (798), all of which were made into tea. (See Rizhilu)
According to Yi Shu in Qing Dynasty, the word "tea" was originally called "tea", and it was not until Tang Luyu 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". However, 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 Book of Tea took 14 years, and it was written in 775 (it is also said that Lu Yu completed the Book of Tea in 765, revised it again in 775 and finalized it in 78). After several decades of dissemination, Yu Zhong became the secretariat of Huzhou (Yu Zhong was the secretariat of Huzhou in 791, and analyzed it according to historical data.
This shows that at that time, the words "tea" and "tea" may be used together. Another explanation, I think, is related to the development of publishing technology. Paper-making in Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty, with block printing in the 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 inscription is more transformed into the art of appreciating the stone. Therefore, the word "tea" in Yu Qian's "Carving the Stone in Tea Mountain Poetry" is an artistic technique, which reflects the artist's retro feelings.
from the Tang dynasty to the late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China, artists used "tea" to refer to "tea". The "tea" in Wu Changshuo's calligraphy "Jiao Cha Xuan" is also an extra painting, and the writing is "tea". Even many contemporary calligraphers will write "tea" when writing the word "tea". It can be seen that in expressing the meaning of "tea", painters and painters often use "tea" for aesthetic reasons, while scholars 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, Wu Guanzhong's pen name, Wu Tea, is most well known. According to Wu Guanzhong's chronology, in 1938, 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 Tea" as his pen name, and later changed it to "Tea", which became his signature on the painting. However, Wu Guanzhong did not explain why he used "tea" as an alias.
Some artists have analyzed that Wu Guanzhong, who once studied in France, especially worships Van Gogh. Wu Guanzhong once said, "Van Gogh painted a tree in red, and the spinning pen pointed directly at the night sky. The strong and heroic emotion and the calm and thick red reached a wonderful scene in full swing." Perhaps it can be seen from this passage that Wu Guanzhong used "tea" as his pen name. Of course, "tea" at this time seems to have little to do with "tea".