The mainland has an extremely long and rich tea culture, and the Forbidden City (Forbidden City) was a place for the emperor to govern and live in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and tea was inseparable from the daily use of the court. Judging from the tribute tea recorded in historical records, hundreds of kinds of teas such as Wuyi rock tea, Biluochun, Longjing, Pu'er, etc., have entered the Forbidden City, and the quantity is huge, the use is wide, and it has become an indispensable part of court life. So, what is the relationship between the emperor of the Forbidden City and tea in the Ming and Qing dynasties, what kind of tea is prevalent in the palace, and is there any uniqueness in the emperor in the palace in drinking tea? The following is a selection of typical teas for interpretation.
Zhu Yuanzhang "ruthlessly" treated tea
Although Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, did not live in the Forbidden City, he had a clear influence on the tea drinking tradition of the Forbidden City Emperor. Before the Ming Dynasty, tribute tea was mostly tea cakes (group tea), which were painted with dragon and phoenix patterns. After the tea buds are harvested, they must go through multiple processes such as steaming, pressing, grinding, pressing, drying, and drying before they can be made into tea cakes. After Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he abolished this tradition. According to the "Ming Hui Yao": In September of the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu (1391), Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict, believing that the tribute tea in the form of tea cakes in the dragon and phoenix group is laborious and costly, and the tea households can directly pay tribute with loose tea after picking the tea buds. This not only reduced the burden on the people, but also gave famous loose tea from all over the mainland the opportunity to enter the court.
The Forbidden City Tibetan Pu'er Tea Dumpling
Zhu Yuanzhang killed the concubine Ouyang Lun because of tea. At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there was a ban on tea and horses, and tea, as a strategic material of the Ming Dynasty, was monopolized by the state to trade with nomads, and in exchange for extremely needed horses. It should be noted that most of the ethnic minorities in the north of the mainland are nomadic people, and their diet is meaty and milky, which is not easy to digest, while the tea produced by the Han nationality has the effect of relieving greasy and promoting digestion. And through smuggling, the tea can be sold to Fandi, and high profits can be obtained. As a result, some businessmen and eunuchs ignored the ban and smuggled and sold tea from the mainland to Tibet and Mongolia.
Princess Anqing, the second daughter of Zhu Yuanzhang and Queen Ma, is married to Ouyang Lun. According to the "Daming Record", Ouyang Lun relied on himself as a colt to smuggle tea to and from Shaanxi, and the local officials "although the ministers of the feudal clan, they were all afraid of authority and obedience, and did not dare to disobey it." In April of the thirtieth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1397), Ouyang Lun asked for fifty horse-drawn carriages from the Shaanxi Buzheng Department for tea sales, and sent his family Zhou Bao and his party to transport them to Hezhou (under the present-day Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture of Gansu Province). When Zhou Bao and his entourage arrived at the river bridge in Lanxian County (now Lanzhou City, Gansu Province), they were disrespectful to the officials of the inspection department and beat them. The local officials were overwhelmed and reported to the imperial court. Zhu Yuanzhang once clearly stipulated that "those who make private tea are guilty of death, although there is no loan for their relatives" ("History of the Ming Dynasty", vol. 62). After he learned of this, he showed no mercy and ordered Ouyang Lun and Zhou Bao to be executed, held accountable the Shaanxi Political Secretary for his misconduct, and commended the officials of the Lanxian River Bridge Inspection Division.
It should be noted that Ouyang Lun sells black tea. Black tea is a post-fermented tea, produced in Hunan, Sichuan, Yunnan, Shaanxi and other places. In the early days of the tea and horse trade, the tea used was green tea, but because the horses carried the tea into the Tibetan and Mongolian regions, it lasted for several months, and the tea leaves were often wet and dried on the way. This alternating process caused the tea to gradually ferment during transportation, which led to the later formation of black tea and the corresponding production process. Black tea is brown and black in color, mellow in taste, and has the effects of lipid reduction and weight loss. In the Ming Dynasty, Hunan's Anhua black tea entered the court as a tribute tea and was welcomed by members of the royal family.
The emperor of the Ming Dynasty loved to drink Wuyi rock tea
Wuyi rock tea is a kind of oolong tea with rock rhyme quality, which is produced in the Wuyi Mountain area of Fujian Province, and the tea trees grow in the rock crevices. Its appearance is stout and sturdy, and its color is dark. Its sense of taste, the description of Yuan Mu's "Suiyuan Food List" of the Qing Dynasty is: the first cup is "clear and fragrant, the tongue is sweet", and the second cup is "relieved and calm, pleasant"; Compared with Longjing, "although it is clear and thin", Yangxian is "good but inferior in rhyme". It can be seen from this that Wuyi rock tea has an excellent taste.
Zhu Yuanzhang likes to drink Wuyi rock tea, and believes that "there is a quota for all the tributes of the year, and the tea quality of Jianning (Wuyi Mountain) is the best", and divides Wuyi tea into four grades: Tanchun, Xianchun, Second Spring, and Purple Bamboo Shoots. Lu Tingcan, a Qing dynasty scholar, quoted Wang Caotang's "Tea Sayings" in the "Continuation of the Book of Tea" to introduce the classification of Wuyi tea: the tea picked between Guyu and Lixia is called "Touchun"; Tea that is picked after about 20 days is called "Erchun"; The tea that is picked again after another twenty days is called "Sanchun"; There is also one harvest in late summer and early autumn, and the tea at this time is called "autumn dew". The tea of the first spring has a thick shape and a strong taste; The shape of the tea in the second and third springs gradually becomes thinner, and the taste gradually fades; The tea of autumn dew has a strong fragrance and good taste, but in order to plan for the next year, it is not advisable to pick more. The analysis suggests that there may be a similar correspondence between "Tanchun, First Spring, Second Spring, Purple Bamboo Shoots" and "First Spring, Second Spring, Third Spring, and Autumn Dew".
Ming Wen Zhengming Tea Set Ten Wing Picture Axis (Detail)
In fact, Fujian Wuyi rock tea was loved by the emperors of the Ming Dynasty. According to the "History of the Ming Dynasty": during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1398), the annual tribute of Wuyi Mountain tea was more than 1,600 catties; In the early years of Longqing (1567-1572) in the Ming Dynasty, the annual tribute increased to more than 2,300 catties. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Wuyi rock tea still dominated the consumption of tea in the imperial court. According to the "Ming Huidian", the thirteenth year of Ming Hongzhi (1500) set: the bud tea that is paid tribute every year from all over the country is limited to Guanglu Temple within ten days after the rain, with a total of 4,000 catties, while Fujian Wuyi rock tea accounts for 2,350 catties. Among them, "Jian'an County, Jianning Prefecture (under the current Sanming City, Fujian Province) 1,360 catties, 27 catties of internal spring, 643 catties of Xianchun, 262 catties of the second spring, 227 catties of purple bamboo shoots, and 201 catties of recommended new"; "Chong'an County (belonging to Wuyishan City, Fujian Province) 990 catties, 32 catties of internal spring, 380 catties of the first spring, 150 catties of the second spring, and 428 catties of the new one."
Emperor Kangxi personally named "Biluochun"
Biluochun is a traditional famous tea in the mainland, produced in the area of Dongting Mountain (now Wuzhong District, Suzhou), Wuxian County, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, so it is also called "Dongting Biluochun". Biluochun belongs to the tea in front of the society (generally refers to the tea picked before March), picked in the Qingming season, the tea leaves at this time are delicate and precious. In the pronunciation of the locals of Dongting Mountain, "she" and "longevity" are sometimes mixed together, so Biluochun is sometimes called "Shou tea". However, the origin of the name "Biluochun" is closely related to Emperor Kangxi's love for this tea.
The "Tea Tribute" of Gu Lu's "Qing Jialu" of the Qing Dynasty contains: The locals of Dongting Mountain have to carry baskets on their backs every year to go up the mountain to pick this kind of tea. In a certain year of Kangxi, a tea picker felt that there were a lot of tea leaves picked and the basket could not be filled, so he put the tea leaves that could not fit the basket in his arms. Unexpectedly, the tea leaves emitted a strange fragrance because of the human body temperature, and the tea pickers suddenly called this aroma "scared people" (Wu Zhong dialect, which means "scared Lao Tzu to death"). Since then, the local people call it "scared and killing" tea, and regardless of men, women and children, they will bathe and change their clothes before picking tea, no longer bring a basket, and put the tea leaves in their arms. Among them, there is a person named Zhu Zhengyuan, who makes a particularly fine tea that scares people and kills people. In the spring of the thirty-eighth year of Kangxi (1699), Emperor Kangxi toured south and went to the Taihu Lake area. The governor at the time, Song Ju, bought this tea from Zhu Zhengyuan and paid tribute to Emperor Kangxi. Emperor Kangxi praised it again and again after drinking it, but learned that this tea had an extremely "indecent" name, so the royal title was "Biluochun".
So what is the appearance and taste of Biluochun? Qing Xie Zhangling's "Words of Gambling Chess Villa" contains: "Its color is like a snail, its taste is like an orchid musk deer, and its thinness is like a silkworm eyebrow." Here, "Luodai" is blue-black; "Orchid musk" refers to orchid and musk, which generally refers to the aroma of precious spices; "Silkworm eyebrows" are the appearance of tea leaves like lying silkworm-shaped eyebrows. From the above, it can be seen that Biluochun is indeed good in color and fragrance, so it is loved by Kangxi.
Emperor Yongzheng set up a government because of Pu'er tea
Pu'er tea is produced in the area near Simao and Xishuangbanna in present-day Yunnan. Zhao Xuemin's "Compendium of Materia Medica" of the Qing dynasty contains the effects of Pu'er: "bitterness, phlegm and lower qi, scraping the intestines and venting", "eliminating food and phlegm, clearing the stomach and rejuvenating the body, and the power is especially great". Because most of the rulers of the Qing Dynasty came from the nomadic people in the northeast of the mainland, their diet structure was mainly meat-based, and Pu'er tea had the effect of lowering fat and losing weight, relieving oiliness, and the tea was mellow and resistant to bubbles and easy to store, so it was welcomed by the Qing Dynasty royal family. According to the modern literati Luo Yangru's "Collection of Records of My Knowledge", as early as the Kangxi period, Pu'er tea entered the palace as a tribute tea and was drunk by members of the royal family. During the Yongzheng period, Emperor Yongzheng attached great importance to the production and management of Pu'er tea because he liked to drink Pu'er tea, and even ordered the establishment of "Pu'er Mansion".
"Yinzhen Cultivation and Weaving Image Album" created with Emperor Yongzheng as the protagonist
During the reign of Emperor Yongzheng, he was extremely diligent and often criticized until late at night, so he often had a situation of fatigue. When Ortai, who was the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou at the time, learned of this, he paid tribute to Emperor Yongzheng with Pu'er tea. After drinking it, Emperor Yongzheng was refreshed and happy, so he was impressed by Pu'er tea and attached great importance to the production and management of Pu'er tea.
At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Wu Sangui pacified Yunnan and reorganized thirteen places such as Pu'er and Simao into thirteen bannas, all of which were under the jurisdiction of Yuanjiang Prefecture, and Pu'er was called "Pu'er Mountain of Yuanjiang Prefecture". In order to facilitate the management of the supply and marketing of Pu'er tea, Emperor Yongzheng promoted the administrative status of the Pu'er region. According to the Yongzheng Dynasty's "Yunnan Tongzhi", it is recorded that in the seventh year of Yongzheng Dynasty (1729), Emperor Yongzheng ordered the revocation of the general judgment (the governor of the state capital) in the Yuanjiang region, and added Pu'er Mansion, which has jurisdiction over the six major tea mountains, olive dams, and six banna in Jiangnei (under the current Xishuangbanna) and other places. Jiaqing's "Unification Chronicles of the Qing Dynasty" contains: "Pu'er Mountain, in the realm of Fu, mountain tea, warm and fragrant, different from other products, named Pu'er tea, the house is famous." This sentence illustrates: Pu'er tea is of excellent quality, and Pu'er Mansion is named after Pu'er tea.
After setting up Pu'er Mansion, Yongzheng ordered Ortai to control the trade of Pu'er tea. According to the Qing Dynasty Ni Xuan's "Dian Yun Chronicles": With the approval of Emperor Yongzheng, Ortai set up a general tea shop in Simao in the seventh year of Yongzheng, which was presided over by Tongju himself, in order to monopolize the local Pu'er tea trade and ensure that Emperor Yongzheng had a demand for Pu'er tea. In order to win the favor of Emperor Yongzheng, Ortai also promoted the promotion of tea buds, and selected the best Pu'er tribute palace every year.
It is not difficult to find from the above that Emperor Yongzheng set up the "Pu'er Mansion", which played an important role in promoting the popularity of Pu'er tea in the Qing Dynasty.
Emperor Qianlong "invented" Sanqing tea
In the Forbidden City of the Qing Dynasty, there were more than 60 kinds of tea for the emperor to drink, and most of them were precious and rare varieties. However, even so, Emperor Qianlong had a unique taste and "invented" Sanqing tea.
According to the fourth volume of the "King James Qingliang Mountain Chronicles": Emperor Qianlong visited Wutai Mountain in Shanxi Province in the autumn of the eleventh year (1746), passed through Dingxing, Hebei Province on the return journey, and immediately came to Yaxing on a snowy day. Emperor Qianlong believed: plum blossoms stand proudly in the cold winter, and the quality is high and fragrant; The pine fruit is evergreen all year round, and the taste is sweet and full; Buddha's hand and "Fushou" homonym, sip of warm and fragrant; Snow water is a valuable recipe for tea. Emperor Qianlong not only "invented" Sanqing tea, but also made a special tea set for it, used it as a special tea for the New Year's "tea party" in Chonghua Palace, and praised it many times.
Fig. 1: The façade of the tea pot with a red color inscription poem pine bamboo Buddha hand pattern
Figure 2: Red color inscription poem pine bamboo Buddha hand pattern tea ou looking down
The Palace Museum's collection of alum red color inscription poem pine and bamboo Buddha hand pattern tea ou (Picture 1-Picture 2) and blue and white color inscription poem pine and bamboo Buddha hand pattern tea ou (picture 3) were both fired during the Qianlong period, and were used exclusively for Sanqing tea. Its appearance characteristics are: skimming mouth, deep arc abdomen, circle foot; Ou heart has plum, pine, Buddha hand pattern; The inner wall of the ou has the upper and lower two circles of Ruyi moire; The outer wall of the ou is evenly engraved with the poem "Sanqing Tea" written by Emperor Qianlong: "The plum blossom color is not demonic, and the bergamot is fragrant and clean." The pine fruit is fragrant, and the three products are very clear, and the above characteristics are in line with the will ......of Emperor Qianlong. In addition, Emperor Qianlong had high requirements for the firing of Sanqing tea sets. For example, Emperor Qianlong wrote the poem "Yongjiajing Carved Lacquer Tea Tray" in the forty-sixth year (1781), and annotated in the poem: The fired tea pot "is elegant, and does not allow Xuande and Chenghua old porcelain." ”
Fig. 3: Blue and white inscription poem pine and bamboo Buddha hand pattern tea ou façade
Sanqing tea is the special tea of the Chonghua Palace tea banquet. "Chonghua Palace Tea Banquet" began in the Qianlong period, generally held between the second day of the first month and the tenth day of the first month, and was the "New Year's Tea Party" presided over by the emperor himself. At the banquet, the king sang the ministers and recited poems, which was Yaxing. The "Tea Banquet Couplet" in Volume 46 of the "Continuation of the History of the Imperial Palace" also records the characteristics of the tea banquet in Chonghua Palace: "It is a banquet, such as the Buddha award, and the tea is made of three kinds of pine fruit, Meiying, and Buddha's hand, and Wo Xue cooks tea, which is called 'Sanqing Tea'; ”
Milk tea was popular among the royal family in the Qing Dynasty
Milk tea, also known as cheese tea and milk tea, was an important part of court life in the Qing Dynasty. The milk tea boiled with milk, yellow tea, green salt and water from Yuquan Mountain is like coffee, exudes bursts of milky fragrance, its taste is mellow, nutritious, can relieve greasy, remove fishy fat, drive away cold and warm belly, and is favored by the emperor and queen.
The milk required for milk tea, the Qing Wu Zhenqi "Yang Ji Zhai Records" contains: "The old custom is the most fashionable milk tea, and there is a fixed number of dairy cows for the royal dairy cows and the main use of dairy cows every day. "In the palace, from the Empress Dowager to the Prince Fujin, there are regulations on the daily supply of milk. The yellow tea required for milk tea belongs to the fermented tea, which refers to a kind of tea formed by smothering it in a humid and hot environment before or after the drying process in the process of roasting green and green tea. Yellow tea has a golden color and mellow taste, which can refresh the mind, eliminate food and stagnation. The yellow tea required for Qinggong milk tea mainly originates from Zhejiang. Yongzhengchao's "Zhejiang Tongzhi" contains Zhuji "The tea leaves produced are thick in quality and heavy in taste, and the best milk tea is used, and it is purchased into Beijing every year, and the annual sales are the most prosperous".
Milk tea was used in various ceremonies and banquets in the Qing court. For example, Emperor Qianlong's imperial poem "Yonghe Khotan White Jade (Bowl)" contains "buttermilk boiled milk, jade bowl like mutton fat." The majesty of the palace is praised, and the tea is gracious". The poem also notes: "cheese" is milk tea; At the state ceremony, giving milk tea to the princes and ministers is conducive to promoting the exchange of feelings between the monarch and the minister. Another example is the Jiaqing Dynasty's "Case 2 of the Imperial Decree of the Qing Dynasty": The emperor will also give milk tea in important activities such as the banquet, the New Year's family banquet, the welcome and sending off the generals, the reception of envoys, and the marriage of the princess of the foreign domain.
Milk tea was also used in the daily meals of the emperors and queens of the Qing Dynasty. For example, the French missionary Jiang Youren once wrote to his friend that Emperor Qianlong "usually used tea as a drink during meals, or tea brewed with ordinary water, or milk tea, or tea made by fermenting and preparing various teas together after grinding" (Brief Collection of Chinese Books of the Jesuits, Vol. 6, Elephant Publishing House, 2005). Another example is the palace maid He Rong'er's recollection of the scene of Cixi's breakfast drinking milk tea: "After smoking two tubes of cigarettes, the milk tea of the old eunuch Zhang was offered...... The early days in the palace still retain the habits of the Northeast people, and the milk should be called milk tea when drinking milk. Milk tea is not served by the imperial tea room, but by the small tea stove of Chuxiu Palace. Therefore, milk tea was a "popular tea" in the life of the royal family in the Qing Dynasty.
About the Author:
Zhou Gan
Zhou Qian, Ph.D. in mechanics, finally went to the Forbidden City to climb the roof, and conducted a "microscope observation" of hundreds of buildings from an academic perspective. The Forbidden City has a large number of palace complexes, which are valuable objects that confirm the ancient architectural skills of the mainland and the history and culture of the palace, which can make this researcher of the Palace Museum very happy.
Editor's note:
This column will be serialized by the Palace Museum with the theme of "Palace Museum Architecture and Court Life", fifteen issues are serialized, in line with the season, and the following contents are interpreted respectively: the ancient heating system in the Forbidden City, the ancient wisdom of "lighting up the golden plaque" on the winter solstice of the Forbidden City, the Qing Dynasty royal "Winter Games", the New Year's banquet of the Emperor of the Forbidden City, the Ming and Qing Dynasty royal "fireworks show", what tea does the emperor of the Forbidden City like to drink, what wine does the emperor of the Forbidden City like to drink, the "swing" of court entertainment in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the fire prevention method of the ancient buildings of the Forbidden City, the earthquake-proof wisdom of the ancient buildings of the Forbidden City, The Dragon Boat Festival customs in the Forbidden City, the ancient refrigerator in the Forbidden City, the ancient drainage system of the Forbidden City, the ancient royal school of the Forbidden City, the royal moon worship and moon appreciation in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Author丨Zhou Qian
[Source: Beijing Chronicle, May issue]