"Tea and the world" "Harmony and Difference"
China News Service reporter: Long Min, Lu Qiaoqin
All characters: 2715
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Tea originated in China and flourished all over the world. As an important part of Chinese civilization, tea culture has been closely related to the political, economic, social and foreign exchanges and development of different periods in China's history since ancient times.
Why is Chinese tea the "lingua franca" of interconnection with the world? How does Chinese tea promote exchanges and mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations? Xia Liangyu, an expert in tea culture research, one of the first batch of Minjiang science communication scholars in Fujian Province, and secretary of the party committee of Ningde Normal University, was interviewed by China News Agency's "East and West Question" to interpret this.
The interview transcript is summarized below:
China News Service reporter: Chinese tea culture has a long history, how was it formed?
Xia Liangyu: China is the original distribution area and the only origin center of tea plants, the first country in the world to discover tea, grow tea, drink tea, and is the birthplace of tea culture in the world.
Fujian Longyan Tea Garden. China News Service reporter Wang Dongming photographed
The Chinese ancestors went through a long process from discovering, developing and using tea to engaging in tea production. In the Western Han Dynasty's "Covenant of Servants", there are "cooking tools" and "Wuyang buying", Tang Luyu's "Tea Classic" records that "tea is drunk, originating from the Shennong clan, smelling from the Luzhou Gong", and the ancient tea tree roots dating back about 6,000 years have been found at the site of Tianluo Mountain in Yuyao, Zhejiang.
The tea production methods, tasting methods and consequent changes in the form of tea culture in different historical periods in China reflect the historical context and characteristics of the times of The development of Chinese tea. Tea cultivation technology, processing technology, tea drinking methods, tea etiquette, etc., provide conditions for the formation and development of tea culture.
Tea farmers in Longsheng Autonomous County, Guangxi Province, pick "Guyu Tea". Photo by Shi Nongbing, China News Service
Influenced by the geographical environment, meteorological conditions, resource endowments, social customs, etc., the tea culture of different regions and nationalities presents "thousands of miles of different winds, hundreds of miles of different customs".
Yunnan produces Pu'er tea, Fujian creates oolong tea, black tea, white tea, Zhejiang, Anhui more green tea, the production area characteristics are very obvious; Fujian, Guangdong Chaoshan advocated kung fu tea, Tibetan butter tea, Mongolian milk tea, etc., tea customs show diversified ethnic or ethnic characteristics; tea picking drama, tea poetry tea songs and other tea themes of literary and artistic works are colorful, vividly reflect the extensive influence of tea culture.
An ancient tea tree in Lincang, Yunnan Province, which is 3,200 years old. Photo by Liu Ranyang, a reporter from China News Service
China News Service: How did Chinese tea become the main commodity of world trade? How did Chinese tea culture go to the world and influence the world?
Xia Liangyu: From the perspective of global history, during the Tang and Song dynasties, the development of the commodity economy provided suitable conditions for the production of cash crops such as tea. At the same time, with the development of production and market expansion, as a bulk commodity, tea has become the main commodity of world trade.
Whether it is the Silk Road formed in the Han Dynasty, the Maritime Silk Road that flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, or the many tea horse ancient roads that began in the Tang Dynasty and the Wanli Tea Road connecting China, Mongolia and Russia in the 17th century, tea is undoubtedly one of the main trade commodities. With the opening of new shipping routes, European countries have come to Asia one after another, and tea has been transported to Europe by sea, becoming a fashionable consumer product in the upper class of Portuguese, Dutch, British and other countries.
In fact, there are morphological differences between the agrarian civilizations in eastern Eurasia, the nomadic civilizations in the surrounding and Eurasian hinterlands, and the Western maritime civilizations, and the resulting internal economic demand has driven Chinese tea to become the main commodity of world trade. According to historical records, from the late 17th century to the late 19th century, Chinese tea exports almost monopolized the entire international tea market.
What goes along with and complements the foreign trade of tea is the external dissemination of tea culture. During the Tang and Song dynasties, the rise of the tea economy gave birth to a broad and profound Chinese tea culture, and with the exploration and cognition between the East and the West, the opening up of transportation and the promotion of trade, it began to gradually spread to neighboring countries and the rest of the world in stages.
The earliest affected are the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago in Northeast Asia, and Chinese tea has been transplanted successively, forming tea drinking methods and cultural forms such as "Korean Tea Ceremony" and "Japanese Tea Ceremony". With the expansion of tea production in the south, tea culture gradually developed to Central Asia, West Asia, and South Asia, and with the opening of new shipping routes, it reached Europe as far as the ocean, and then reached the Americas and Oceania with colonial trade.
On October 11, 2017, guests from the China-Japan Barberry Cultural Exchange Conference in Fuzhou watched a Japanese tea ceremony performance. Photo by Liu Kegeng, a reporter of the China News Service
Tea leaves spread almost all over the world, taking root and sprouting locally, constantly influencing the food culture of these countries. The spread of Chinese tea hot drinking method and tea drinking culture has had a profound impact on human lifestyle, and the exotic tea culture derived from it has become a worldwide culture, and the afternoon tea culture customs have even changed the British social atmosphere.
With the promotion and popularization of tea drinking in the world, tea-related literary and artistic works continue to emerge, and the world's tea literature and art are full of flowers and purples and thousands of reds. Similarly, the value concept and humanistic spirit refined by Chinese tea culture have also made important contributions to the development of human civilization.
China News Service: Why is Chinese tea a witness to friendly exchanges between China and foreign countries? What is the contemporary significance and enlightenment of the connotation of Chinese tea culture of "Tea and the World"?
Xia Liangyu: If you want to choose an item that runs through ancient and modern times and witnesses friendly exchanges between China and foreign countries, it is undoubtedly Chinese tea. Tea is continuously exported to different parts of the world, becoming China's link to the world, opening up friendly exchanges with people around the world; combined with local social culture, a new form of tea culture has been developed, enriching the material and spiritual cultural life of people in different countries and regions.
Tea is an important carrier for inheriting Chinese culture, and Chinese tea culture is a treasure of excellent traditional culture. Since the unification of the Chinese nation since the great unification of the Qin and Han Dynasties, "he" is not only the basis of the life belief and thinking of the ancient ancestors, but also the meaning of Chinese tea culture, which is deeply accumulated in the national character of the Chinese people.
"Heaven and earth in the pot, clean in the cup." The cultural connotation of "tea and the world" is the distinctive characteristics of the cosmology of "the unity of heaven and man" and "harmony and difference" that have been precipitated in the long evolution, representing the consistent pursuit of traditional Chinese culture, and embodying the life experience and unique wisdom of Chinese, which contains humanistic spirit, moral norms and ideological concepts, which is not only the core of the Chinese's ideological spirit, but also the common pursuit and value orientation of human beings to the spiritual world.
The "harmony" of Chinese tea culture is the middle way, is the balance, is appropriate, is everything just right. "And" is also respect, gratitude, and harmony.
Song Dynasty tea ceremony demonstration. Photo by Liu Kang, China News Service
"Tea and the world" and "harmony and difference" not only emphasize the harmony between man and nature, the harmony between people, the harmony between different social systems, different countries and different civilizations, but also regard human beings as a community of solidarity. This is the cultural heritage of building a community with a shared future for mankind, and it is an important path to seek "harmony" and "seek common ground" and reserve differences in the same earth and the same homeland, which will help mankind deepen its understanding of China's excellent traditional culture.
Thick plant tea culture is in line with the values and spiritual characteristics commonly pursued by all mankind, and can build a common system of human destiny to strengthen emotional ties, consolidate the humanistic foundation, and cultivate spiritual motivation. Chinese tea culture that spans time and space, transcends the country, and has contemporary value is especially worth advocating, to pursue the beauty of each other, the beauty of beauty, the beauty of the United States, and the "harmony" of the world.
China News Service: At present, how to give play to the role of Chinese tea culture exchanges and promote exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and Western civilizations?
Xia Liangyu: Tea is Chinese and also the world. Because of the tea and tea culture, the world has a common language and an important link of international exchange.
For cross-cultural communication in countries with different cultural backgrounds, Chinese tea culture is a special "lingua franca" that interconnects with the world. At present, it is necessary to conform to the rhythm of the times, further play the role of Chinese tea culture exchanges, and promote mutual learning between Chinese and Western civilizations:
First, we must continuously enhance the ability to spread Chinese tea culture. Using the wisdom and strength accumulated and stored in human history, we will clarify the historical connection of the thousand-year tea culture exchange, the common memory between countries, and tell the story of the Chinese nation formed by the cultivation of tea culture.
Second, we must enhance the level of Chinese tea culture going out. Deeply grasp the tension of the deep interaction between national culture and world civilization, jump from epistemological significance to Chinese tea culture in the sense of value, so that other countries can truly understand and accept China's values, so as to truly realize the value consensus of "tea and the world", especially to spread and advocate the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind to the world.
Third, we must consciously enhance the integration and interaction of Chinese tea culture with the world. Deepen the blending and mutual learning of tea culture, comprehensively use a variety of communication methods, promote the communication and exchange of different ethnic cultures through the exploration of tea culture tourism integration, tea culture and film and television production, create a tea art form that adapts to the times, enhance its influence, appeal and affinity, and truly polish China's tea culture business card.
Fourth, we must fully mobilize the enthusiasm of Chinese tea enterprises to "go global". On the basis of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, we will expand the coverage and market share of Chinese tea along the "Belt and Road" and the world, and truly improve quality, hit the brand, expand sales channels, smooth goods, sincere management and common prosperity. With friendship, cooperation and win-win results, let more people know tea and love tea, taste tea and tea rhyme, and share a better life.
On June 25, 2021, Zhejiang Jinhua Yushan Ancient Tea Farm, international friends experienced hand-picked tea. Photo by Hu Xiaofei, China News Agency
Respondent Profiles:
Xia Liangyu, Secretary of the Party Committee of Ningde Normal University, the first batch of Minjiang Science Communication Scholars and Researchers in Fujian Province, and a well-known research scholar of tea culture. He has long been engaged in higher education, tea and tea culture and other education teaching and research work. Presided over the construction of the Tea Review and Marketing Major of the National Open University and the Tea Science Major of Ningde Normal University. He has won the special prize of Fujian Higher Education Teaching Achievement Award. He has presided over and participated in a number of national and provincial projects, and edited many works such as "Tea Culture Industry Operation and Practice", "Tea House Operation and Management", "Tea Art Science" and so on.
Photo editor: Xu Xiyi
Editor: Han Hui
Editor-in-charge: Li Mingyang
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