"Seven things to open the door, firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea. ”
As an inseparable part of our daily life, tea has long been deeply integrated into our culture, and the development of tea culture can be roughly divided into three parts, the porridge tea of the Han Dynasty, the late tea of the Tang and Song dynasties and the loose tea after the Ming Dynasty.
From the Tang and Song dynasties to drink the end of the tea, tea really from the previous medicinal materials, ingredients into the world's popular drink, the Song Dynasty is the end of the tea culture of the most prosperous period, up to the princes and nobles, down to the common people are all tea lovers, today to explore the Song Dynasty tea culture flourishing reasons.
First, economic prosperity
The Song Dynasty ended the chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and the whole country ushered in a situation of security and stability, plus
In the early Song Dynasty, the implementation of "light forced labor, tax reduction" The people have been recuperated, the population has recovered rapidly, and the sufficient labor force has enabled a large number of farmland abandoned by the war to be recultivated, and a large number of fertile fields have been opened up.
1. Relaxed socio-economic environment
The Anshi Rebellion and the chaos that followed the fall of the Tang Dynasty led to the withering of the population of the once rich Guanzhong region, making life difficult for the common people, and economic construction became an urgent problem for the Song Dynasty to solve.
After unifying the south and the north, the Song Dynasty issued some very important decrees, such as: "In addition to the currency of business travelers, the merchants and women of their trades and small transactions shall not be taxed", "In the two Zhejiang prefectures, paper fans, mangs, shoes and small scraps are not taxed." ”
These decrees led to the gradual abolition of the previous emphasis on agriculture and suppression of commerce, the better development of commerce, the flow of goods, and the rapid development of the economy of the Song Dynasty.
2. Progress in agricultural technology
The Quyuan plough that appeared at the end of the Tang Dynasty was rapidly popularized in the Song Dynasty, and the emergence of bent hoes, iron ploughshares, all kinds of new agricultural tools, the use of large water conservancy tools such as keel overturning, and new cultivated land such as terraces and silt fields were reclaimed, so that the cultivated land area and the average yield of grain per mu in the Song Dynasty rose rapidly.
The grain in the main grain-producing areas of the Song Dynasty, such as the Jiangnan region and the Guanzhong Plain, increased year by year, and the surplus of grain allowed merchants to plant other crops, such as Sichuan, Fujian, and Liangguang, all of which were planted with a large amount of tea, which was the main production area of tea at that time.
3. The demand for tea is large
Under the influence of the Tang Dynasty, tea has already spread throughout the surrounding countries, when the neighboring countries near the Song Dynasty, such as Xixia, Dali, Tubo, Daliao, Waguo, etc., the demand for tea is great, tea is the main commodity of the Song Dynasty trade at that time, which also stimulates the enthusiasm of merchants to plant tea.
Second, the formation of the fashion of drinking tea
The Song Dynasty was the scholar and the emperor to govern the world together, whether it was the powerful of the dynasty or the people on the street, they were all proud of reading, and the literati were precious, and the literati were seven elegant things, "piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, wine, tea, flowers, tables, cups, and dust." Naturally, people at the time followed suit.
1. In the Han Dynasty, people began to realize the benefits of tea to the body, with the publication of the "Book of Tea" written by Lu Yu in the Tang Dynasty, tea gradually became popular, and both princes and nobles and ordinary people began to enter the ranks of drinking tea.
At that time, the developed economy of the Song Dynasty made the common people have enough time and money to consume, and the emergence of a large number of shops gradually integrated the previously distinct squares and cities, and a large number of new tea shops, restaurants, and tile houses appeared, allowing people to have the opportunity to get together to fight, discuss and taste tea together.
2. The powerful and the literati are vigorously sought after.
At that time, both the emperor and the scholar class had reached the point of obsession with tea, and Huizong of the Song Dynasty at that time even wrote a masterpiece of tea, "Daguan Tea Treatise", which is still used today.
"If the tea is a thing, good at the delicate atmosphere of Ou Fujian, the spiritual endowment of Zhongshan River, the stagnation of the placket and cleansing, and the clear guide and, then the non-mediocre children can be known and known, the middle is leisurely and clean, and the rhyme is high and quiet. It is not a good time to get it. ”
It is not difficult to see that Song Huizong loved tea at that time, and raised tea to the spiritual realm, describing it as a sacred object that gathers the beauty of heaven and earth and the spiritual endowment of all things.
The upper and lower levels will naturally follow suit, and a tea drinking fashion will become popular among the upper classes.
At that time, literati and writers also loved tea, such as Lu You, Ouyang Xiu, Su Shi, etc., and wrote countless poems about tea, especially Lu You wrote more than 300 poems about tea in his life, such as "Mo Shangxing Song is long, Wu silkworm catches wheat debut." Lanting wine is drunk every time, and Huawu tea is full of fragrance. "It shows that I love tea.
The circulation of tea masterpieces one after another made the people of the lower classes know that tea is a good thing, and they began to follow suit, and people gathered in the Washe and the tea shop, watching the performance of the Washe while fighting tea.
"The milk mist is surging, overflowing, whirling around and not moving, which is called biting the lamp. It should be evenly distributed, and those who are light and clear and float should drink it. What is described is the excellent quality of the tea soup in the bucket tea, and the best one can even use the tea soup to make an ink painting in Jianzhan.
On the surface of the tea soup, there are patterns such as mountains and clouds, flowers, birds, insects and fish, like an ink painting floating in front of you, which is known as "water danqing" and "tea hundred operas" of tea distribution skills, such superb skills are really amazing, and it is not difficult to see the prosperity of tea culture in the Song Dynasty at that time.
3. The nascent burgher class
The rapid economic development of the Song Dynasty and the advancement of agricultural technology made it possible to eliminate the need for such an agricultural population to cultivate. At the same time, the rapid growth of the merchant class and the occupation of the court by the scholar class also broke the monopoly of the family lords before the Tang Dynasty, and people could choose all walks of life to develop.
A large number of people poured into the city, and the monopoly of the family gate valve was broken so that people would not be fixed in a certain place, and more and more people entered the city, and Bianjing, the capital of the Song Dynasty alone, had a population of one million, which can be seen from the "Qingming Riverside Map" and "Tokyo Menghualu".
The huge population naturally gave rise to a large number of businesses, which in turn required a large number of people to sustain them, and many people lived in Bianjing, most of whom were craftsmen and merchants, and gradually formed a new class of burghers.
1. The needs of the class have promoted the development of the Washe Tea Shop, the emergence of the citizen class makes people no longer limited to the sunrise and sunset, and people need some places to spend their leisure time, such as the Washe and the Tea Shop, and the needs of the people have promoted the development of these places, and these places will come up with many new tricks in order to attract customers.
The high-end tea shops of the Song Dynasty are not far behind today's five-star restaurants, carved beams and painted buildings, pavilions and pavilions, landscape paintings, sometimes there are singing and dancing performances of the Lingren plays, the elegant and quiet environment also attracted the scholar class, and the mainstream of tea drinking at that time was the scholar class, a large number of citizen classes in order to enter the upper class, have begun to follow the example of the scholar class, in order to learn to Xi tea brewing and drinking tea at that time, a large number of tea shops have opened.
The progress of handicraft industry also affected the development of tea culture, the tea drinking utensils in the Song Dynasty were doubled compared with the Tang Dynasty, such as the common wind stove, tea mill, tea bottle, tea cup, tea Luo, etc., these utensils are made of gold and wood, and there are also porcelain, and the developed handicraft industry allows more tea sets to appear, and also makes the utensils more delicate and beautiful, which makes people love it.
The processing of tea is also more refined, the tea making process of the Song Dynasty is mainly steamed Qingtuan tea, which will also be carved with dragon and phoenix patterns, also known as dragon and phoenix group tea, the Song Dynasty tea-making process is also more and more complex, there are a total of seven steps, divided into tea picking, tea picking, steaming tea, tea squeezing, tea grinding, tea making, yellowing, fine steps let the tea be better processed, the bitter and astringent taste is reduced, the tea aroma and sweetness are increased and amplified, so that more people accept the taste of tea.
In general, the most important points for the prosperity of tea culture in the Song Dynasty are the following.
1. The prosperity of tea culture in the Song Dynasty was mainly due to social stability, people had sufficient time and energy, coupled with the progress of agricultural technology, a large number of new tools were invented, a large number of fertile fields were reclaimed, and people had more open space to plant a large number of tea trees.
Because of the need for trade, the main trade product of the Song Dynasty at that time was tea, which also made more merchants see that it was profitable, and the Song Dynasty happened to not carry out heavy agriculture and suppress business, which allowed more people to participate in the tea trade, and the need of the market also happened to make tea get rapid popularization.
2. The love of the upper class, whether it is the princes and nobles or the literati, are very fond of tea, coupled with the wide spread of the "Book of Tea" makes people know the benefits of drinking tea, and then there are literati and ink writers to praise the poetry of tea, so that people have fallen in love with this magical leaf.
At the same time, more people from the bottom entered the upper class through the imperial examination, and in order to better integrate into the upper class, they also began to follow suit.
Then there is the demand of the new burgher class, in order to kill their leisure time, they have organized tea fights together, and in order to gain fame to attract the attention of the upper class, so that they can get the opportunity to promote the class.
3. The rapid development of the handicraft industry has also greatly improved the equipment for making tea and the method of making tea. At the same time, the well-made tea set also makes the upper class very loved, but also more able to reflect their status and strength, the improved tea-making process also removes most of the bitter and astringent taste in the tea, highlights the aroma, so that more people like tea, so that more people accept tea.
summary
The reason why the tea culture of the Song Dynasty was so prosperous was mainly contributed to many aspects, such as social stability, food abundance, the needs of the market, the love of the upper class, the needs of the burghers, and the development of handicrafts.
These factors have created the prosperity of tea culture, and also integrated tea culture into our culture and become an inseparable part of us, and now tea culture is also following the development of the times, being loved by more people, and becoming one of the fashions in the popular world.
bibliography
1, "Daguan Tea Theory" Zhao Ji
2, "On Lanting Road" land tour
3, "Beiyuan Farewell" Zhao Ruli