Emblem tea character image of the Song Dynasty tea man Zhang Xiaoxiang

Zhang Xiaoxiang was a politician and writer of the Southern Song Dynasty. In the twenty-fourth year of Shaoxing (1154), he was awarded the title of Chengshi Lang (承事郎) and the judge of the Eastern Army Festival of the Zhen dynasty. Because Shangshu was wronged by Yue Fei and was jealous of Qin Ju, the minister of power at the time, Juniper falsely accused his father Qi of conspiring against him and sent his father to prison. The following year, Juniper died and was given the title of Secretary of Xiaoxiang Province. In the fifth year of Qiandao (1169), he died of illness in the same year as the Scholar of Xianmu Ge. Zhang Xiaoxiang insisted on resisting Jin, opposing humiliation and surrender, and advocating the recovery of the lost land in the Central Plains; therefore, his concern for state affairs also became the main theme of poetry creation; so that the work was broad in artistic conception, rich in imagination, and had a strong artistic appeal.

Zhang Xiaoxiang, under the influence of the tea style of the Song Dynasty, was quite literate in tea learning, and the tea poems he wrote were fresh and pleasant, and he appreciated and read them well; for example, the Song Dynasty song Dynasty named Tea Jiaokeng Tea", "Send Zhou Deyou Deyou deyou to give tea servants Wuzhiye" the second poem: "The emperor is good to give Yunlong, only to the tune yuan six seven gong." Lai has a family mountain for small grass, and YuKanshi old recommends spring wind. "Qiu Chi's poems recognize the scorch pit, and the flavor official roast can resist." Drill Yu Quan also like me, ten generations before leaving to try to cook. These two tea poems were composed by Zhang Xiaoxiang's father Zhang Qi, the former poem cleverly used the famous tea person Huang Tingjian's tea poetry, and the latter one cleverly used the famous poet Su Shi's tea poem "Lychee Sigh"; the artistic conception was subtle and very ingenious.

Zhang Xiaoxiang's tea poems are reasonable, such as "The New Tea of the Second Liu Gong Father" (two of the three songs), which is an example: "Mr. Li's pen gesture carries the wind and thunder, and the spring color first returns from the bottom of the pen." But he laughed at the rude official into a rambling, and Wanglin quenched his thirst without plum (self-note: tea was stolen by the postman, but the poetry barrel reached the ear). These two tea poems were given by a friend of Liu Jue (1122~1178) as a gift of new tea, but the tea leaves were stolen by the postman, and only the gift poems remained. Helplessly, I can only hope that Mei will quench her thirst. But it is interesting that in the whole poem, Zhang Xiaoxiang did not write a word of "tea", but it was full of fun... In addition, Zhang Xiaoxiang's poem "Sending a Constitutional Car with New Tea" is also quite innovative; "Dragon roasting new spring out of shangfang, fine officials and good sentences can always taste." Haruka raised his eyebrows and then released Xuantang Shou weiyang. "The ancients gave tea to their friends, which is a long-standing custom, which is not surprising; but the poet combined this friendship with his wife's birthday, which can be described as ingenious." Zhang Xiaoxiang's other poem "Sending Tea" is also worth reading; "The first eight cakes of the Dense Cloud Dragon, once served the Emperor to open the imperial seal." Today, Xiangzhong saw the new hammer and recalled the nine smoke weights of the dream. In the Song Dynasty, the "first gang" Miyun Dragon Tea was a tribute tea, and only the officials of the upper class had the opportunity to taste it if they had the opportunity to get the emperor's reward; Zhang Xiaoxiang recalled in the poem that when he was a Zhongshu Sheren in the past, he tasted the honor of the dragon tea; today, when he was in Office in Tanzhou, the glory of the past has been like a cloud of smoke; a trace of a dream, a cup of hot tea; and the poem "Sending Tea" truly reflects the historical truth that the Song Dynasty tribute tea was only given to close subjects.

Tea began in the Tang Dynasty, and reached the peak of song influence, not only became a "necessity" for hospitality, but also developed into a broad and profound culture; and the emperor gave tea, the minister divided tea, the literati chanted tea, and the tea drinking habit spread throughout the Song Dynasty and evolved many tea-related customs; so that tea people both like to give tea and often beg for tea. Zhang Xiaoxiang also has a poem "From Wu Bocheng Begging For Tea": "The new tea in March is still unknown, and I write a poem to ask Ye Tangjun." The spring wind has feet and homes, and it is determined to be a rough official and does not see the points. The author said that "March New Tea" was listed, but I was "still unaware" and did not taste it at this time? Write a poem and ask... In the minds of the ancients, tea is a holy and noble thing, with tea as a gift, representing a kind of respect; whether it is sacrifice, marriage or hospitality, gift-giving, all important occasions are inseparable from the participation of tea. Therefore, sending tea or begging for tea is a way of interpersonal communication; and the "sending tea" or "begging tea" between the literati of the Song Dynasty singing tea poems; nothing more than a fashion in the hot tea wind of the Song Dynasty; at the same time, it also fully shows the emotions of tea people who are fascinated by tea, love tea, think about tea, and read tea; it can be said that they are related to tea, and the tea is deeply loved!

Note: Zhang Xiaoxiang (1132~1170), also spelled An Guo, was a native of Wujiang, Hezhou (present-day Hexian County) in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Content Source/Huicha October 2020 Huizhou Tea People/Zheng Yi Written by Beiming Culture/Sun Mengmeng Editor