Chinese_tea_culture

Chinese tea culture

V Tea is a kind of drinks that originated from China, and it was used as antidote. Then people found tea was good for health, and could refresh oneself, so tea has become more and more popular and people have to drink tea every day. There are some idioms to describe the importance of tea, such as: “seven daily necessities, the others being firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar”.

Key Words: tea; culture

Introduction:

Tea is a shrub which has fragrant white flowers and evergreen leaves. The dried leaves of this plant, plucked in various stages of growth and prepared by various processes, and they are used to make a hot beverage. It was Chinese that earliest discover and use tea. According to legend, tea has been known in China since about 2700B.C. Today the tea culture is focus on human sciences.

China was the earliest country that discovered and used tea, so it has long history, extensive and profound tea culture. In China Tea is a mysterious but harmonious combination; it is spiritual as well as material, and invigorating as well as pacifying. Its character is flexible in different environments.

The Way Chinese People Drink Tea

China is a multi-national country; with 56 ethnic groups, each nation has its own way of life. Most of ethnic groups like to drink tea, but their ways are different. There are two main ways to drink tea. One way is add nothing to the tea. Just brew by boiled water to avoid destroy the flavor of tea. It is more popular in Han people’s regions. This way follows Ming and Qing dynasty’s tradition of tea drinking. Another way is add many things to tea. People can add salt、sugar、milk, orange peer, mentha haplocalyx, longan, red dates and so on. And the second way is more popular in Minority nationality regions. For example, buttered tea is a kind of tea that Zang people add salt, butter milk to the tea. Hui people like to add longyan, crystal sugar to the tea.

Chinese Spirit Pursuits When Drinking Tea

Chinese people hopes have four mental shackles when they dink tea in formal situation. These four mental shackles are clean, respect, harmonious, and real. Clean concludes two connotations. First one is that tea set must be clean, because the flavor of tea is very to be changed, so the tea set mast be very clean. The second one is that when one is drinking tea, he has to pure and clean in mental, he should not has distracting thoughts. Then he can taste the tea better. Respect means that when someone is drinking tea, he has to respect others and himself. Harmonious means peace, and want to get some the life philosophy while drinking tea. Real means keep the natural instincts, and abandon material desire when people drink tea. Real is the ultimate pursuit in the Chinese tea ceremony.

Chinese Tea Customs

①As a sign of respect

In Chinese society, the younger generation always shows its respect to the older generation by offering a cup of tea. Inviting and paying for their elders to go to restaurants for tea is a traditional activity on holidays. In the past, people of lower rank served tea to higher ranking people. Today, as Chinese society becomes more liberal, sometimes at home parents may pour a cup of tea for their children, or a boss may even pour tea for subordinates at restaurants. The lower ranking person should not expect the higher rank person to serve him or her tea in formal occasions, however.

②For a family gathering

When sons and daughters leave home to work and get married, they may seldom visit their parents. As a result, parents may seldom meet their grandchildren. Going to restaurants and drinking tea, therefore, becomes an important activity for family gatherings. Every Sunday, Chinese restaurants are crowded, especially when people celebrate festivals. This phenomenon reflects Chinese family values.

○3To express thanks to your elders on one's wedding day

In the traditional Chinese marriage ceremony, both the bride and groom kneel in front of their parents and serve them tea. That is a way to express their gratitude. In

front of their parents, it is a practice for the married couple to say, "Thank you for bringing us up. Now we are getting married. We owe it all to you." The parents will usually drink a small portion of the tea and then give them a red envelope, which symbolizes good luck. Another variant is for the to-be daughter-in-law to serve tea to her to-be parents-in-law, symbolizing that she is to become a part of the latter's family Conclusion：

China is a country with a time-honored civilization and a land of ceremony and decorum. Whenever guests visit, it is necessary to make and serve tea to them. Before serving tea, you may ask them for their preferences as to what kind of tea they fancy and serve them the tea in the most appropriate teacups. In the course of serving tea, the host should take careful note of how much water is remaining in the cups and in the kettle. Usually, if the tea is made in a teacup, boiling water should be added after half of the cup has been consumed; and thus the cup is kept filled so that the tea retains the same bouquet and remains pleasantly warm throughout the entire course of tea-drinking. The fragrance of tea is not aggressive; it is pleasant, low-keyed and lasting. A friendship between gentlemen is also like a cup of tea. With a cup of tea in hand, enjoying the green leaves in a white porcelain cup, you will feel peace.

参考文献：

[1] 《茶的起源及传播》

[2] 《论茶文化的定义、内涵与功能》

[3] 《说古论今茶文化》

[4] 《中国茶文化古今大观》