In the vast history, the Chinese nation has written the pursuit of a happy life, the exploration of democracy, prosperity and strength, and the yearning for peaceful development of the Chinese people after 5,000 years of inheritance. The Chinese nation is a country of etiquette, gentle, courteous, courteous and courteous. Chinese culture has a long history, is broad and profound, and is splendid and colorful. As one of the important branches, Chinese tea culture has played an extremely important role in the formation and development of Chinese culture.
People's understanding of tea basically starts with "Shennong tastes a hundred herbs, encounters 72 poisons a day, and gets the solution". In 2004, archaeologists found a large area of dense tree roots in the Tianluo Mountain site 6000 years ago, and in 2008, the theanine content of these roots was 1493 micrograms, and from the obvious artificial excavation traces and broken pottery shards around it, it is not only a tea tree, but also an artificial cultivation type.
Another piece codenamed "M16" with the burial pottery, with a spout and a handle resembling a teapot. This astonishing discovery directly pushed China's tea culture back from 3,000 years to 6,000 years ago. Thinking about it, 6,000 years ago, our ancestors knew that they were tired of making pots, and tea was refreshed.
Located in Fengqing County, Yunnan Province, the splendid tea ancestor is more than 3,200 years old. It can be said that he is the first brother in the tea industry in the world, with a waist circumference of 528m。The tree is 10 years tall6m, it is a cultivated type. He is 100 years older than Jiang Ziya in "Romance of the Gods" and 700 years older than Confucius. He is 1,000 years older than Qin Shi Huang.
Tea culture not only runs through China's 6,000-year history, influencing the economy, politics, diplomacy and even national strength of many dynasties, but also integrates the religious culture of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in medicine, literature, etiquette and other aspects.
First of all, in terms of medicine, since the Shennong era, many medical sentences in various dynasties and generations have a certain understanding and application of tea for thousands of years.
In the eyes of the literati, tea has been appreciated by both the elegant and the vulgar throughout the ages. "Piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, wine, tea. Since the modern literati Du Wei's "tea fu", how many literati and ink writers have formed an indissoluble bond with tea, or in the form of writing, or through the investigation of nostalgia, or with tea to lodge, or to pour love, or to meet friends with tea. Tea saint Lu Yu, Yasheng Lu Tong, tea fairy Su Shi, tea monk Jiaoran, tea god Lu You, tea emperor Qianlong, tea monster Zheng Banqiao, etc. are all love tea and leave masterpieces. Tang Xianzu used tea to mingzhi, Lu You used tea to help students, and Li Qingzhao "drank tea to help students". Pu Songling exchanged tea for the material of "Strange Tales from Liaozhai", and "Dream of Red Mansions" talked about nearly 300 tea rooms, which can be described as a "Dream of Red Mansions" full of tea fragrance. The modern Lao She has achieved a classic on the oriental stage with his "Teahouse", and it is said that the Qianlong Emperor is still drinking tea at the age of 85. Wanting to retreat and give way, the ministers of the DPRK and China admonished that "the country cannot be without a king for a day". Qianlong returned to "You can't go without tea for a day". It can be seen that the tea presentation also has such a lovely side. In the eyes of the literati, tea is not only a drink, but also a symbol of the art of living, which contains rich cultural connotations and philosophies.
As an ancient drink, tea is also closely related to Chinese religious culture such as Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.
Buddhism's recognition and advocacy of tea can be traced back to the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Buddhist monks choose to use tea to refresh their minds. Take tea as part of your practice. The perfect combination of tea and Buddhism has formed a high-level realm of "Zen tea taste".
The Taoist concept of "emptiness and tranquility" has penetrated into the tea ceremony and has become one of the most basic spirits of the Chinese tea ceremony. Many Taoist cultures have also become beautiful scenery in tea culture. The origin of Taoism and tea can be traced back to 52 B.C., according to legend, Wu Lizhen, a Taoist figure of the Western Han Dynasty, discovered and domesticated wild tea trees in Mengding Mountain, Ya'an, Sichuan, and planted seven tea trees under them, creating a precedent for artificial tea planting, and was respected as the "ancestor of tea planting". Legend has it that after the conquest of Yunnan by Wuhou Zhuge Liang during the Three Kingdoms period, he let the sick and disabled soldiers sow tea in the local area, and was regarded as the "tea ancestor" by the local tea farmers. "Respect" is an important category in Confucian tea culture. Liu Zhenliang's "Ten Virtues" said that "paying tribute with tea" and "benefiting benevolence with tea" are all manifestations of tea culture. After a long period of development and accumulation, Chinese tea culture has incorporated and integrated the ideas of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and has been constantly supplemented and integrated. As a result, the Chinese tea culture that has been inherited to this day has been formed.
Tea also played a very important role in the politics, economy, and diplomacy of ancient Chinese dynasties. In ancient China, tea became an important means of controlling the frontier peoples. Through a strict tea monopoly system, control over the border areas was ensured and political stability was maintained. Most of the nomadic people around the Central Plains regime eat indigestible things such as beef and mutton, and lack fruits and vegetables to supplement nutrition. These are problems that can be solved by checking, so the idea of using tea to control Yi is the consistent governance of the Central Plains Dynasty from the Tang and Song dynasties to the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the earliest tea ** can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when tea was regarded as a medicinal material and tribute. Since the Tang Dynasty, it has gradually become an important cash crop, ancient China is the starting point of the Silk Road, and tea as an economic commodity has also become an important product on the Silk Road. Chinese tea is exported to all over the world, bringing abundant foreign exchange and business opportunities to China. The Tang Dynasty created the first "tea and horse market" in history. Some nomads have relied on him to a great extent, and even reached the level of "one day without tea will be stagnant, and three days without tea will be sick". In the Song Dynasty, the "tea and horse market" was more frequent, and the tea and horse trade between Han and Tibet in the Ming Dynasty reached its peak. It became an important material for the Ming Dynasty to rule, entrap and contain ethnic minorities. Since the 16th century, with the rise of Chinese tea in Britain and other European countries, a large number of ** has flowed into China. In the first decade of the 19th century, Britain exported 983 tons to China. On the eve of the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty's GDP accounted for more than 30% of the world's GDP at that time, much higher than that of the United States today.
A magical leaf not only witnessed and influenced the development and formation of Chinese culture, but also made the wise Chinese form a restrained, pure, tolerant, generous, generous, and self-reliant character. Tea culture and Chinese culture have long penetrated and blended into one.