ar-indent-count:2.0000;text-align:justify; text-justify:inter-ideograph;">Tea, the earliest can be traced back to China, documented history, tea has existed for at least 4000 years. As the saying goes: ‘firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy, vinegar and tea, open the door to seven things,’ the status of tea in people's hearts can be said to be indispensable, so how was tea born, it has experienced how the development of the story, let's once again open the ‘history of the ancient books’ again from the ancient times back to the past. Accompany us so far this old friend of the past it.
There are many different opinions about the exact origin of tea, including Shennong's theory, Western Zhou's theory, Qin and Han's theory, and so on.
Shennong said that the discovery of tea can be traced back to the legend of Shennong tasted all kinds of herbs, while the Western Zhou theory, based on the records of Huayang Guo Zhi - Ba Zhi, believes that in the Zhou Dynasty, when King Wu conquered the Zhou Dynasty, the state of Ba had already paid tribute to King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty with tea and other precious products.
As the saying goes, one side of the water and soil nurtures one side of the people, in the southwestern part of China, such as Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, this area has a pleasant climate that is very suitable for the growth of tea trees, and the different teas grown on these lands have different flavours.
For example, Yunnan's Pu-erh tea: its large-leafed species is the main, tender texture, bright red colour, mellow taste, with the effect of lowering fat and weight loss, regulating qi and eliminating food, and relieving stagnation of alcohol and other effects, which is much loved by tea enthusiasts.
Liu Bao tea from Guangxi: famous for its unique five-herb aroma and bright red colour. Liu Bao tea is made from one bud and one leaf or one bud and two leaves, with mellow taste and long-lasting aroma, it has the effect of moistening lungs and regulating qi, refreshing the mind, lowering fat and losing weight.
Gongmei Tea from Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture: it has a unique aroma of flowers and fruits, a refreshing taste, and has the effect of clearing heat and relieving heatstroke, eliminating food and strengthening the stomach.
Is not listening to think that tea is really nature gifted mankind green drink it, but in fact, ah, with people's impression is different, the original tea is not as a drink but as a medicinal plant.
From ‘Shennong tasted a hundred herbs, the day met seventy-two poisons, get tea and solution,’ this legend shows that tea was first discovered as a medicinal plant, in China, the legend says that tea is ‘hair in the Shennong, heard in the RuZhouGong, rise in the Tang and bloomed in the Song Dynasty’, the tea was initially as a medicinal, and later developed into a beverage. Tea was initially used as medicine, and later developed into a beverage. Hua Tuo of the Eastern Han Dynasty, ‘Food Classic’ also recorded ‘bitter tea for a long time, beneficial meaning’, all reflecting the medical value of tea in the early days.
As the saying goes: ‘food for the people,’ tea was used by the people in the early days and food mixed together and cooked into a medicinal porridge to eat, and to the Han Dynasty tea drinking habits have been formed, with the passage of time, the tea gradually transformed from the medicinal to the daily drink, and in the social and cultural in occupies an important position.
The formation of tea culture can be traced back to the Han Dynasty. Tea-drinking and tea culture began to take root in the soil of culture from that time onwards, when tea began to circulate among the nobles and literati, becoming a kind of elegant enjoyment. People began to study the tea planting, picking, production and brewing methods, and formed some preliminary rules and etiquette. Tea utensils also gradually had a trend of specialisation and artistry during this period, and the production and use of tea utensils was also an important part of tea culture, while there were many references to tea in medical literature, making it a part of literature.
And to the second generation of the Tang and Song dynasties, tea culture has reached an unprecedented height, the Tang Dynasty is one of the most glorious period in Chinese history, its political, economic, cultural, military and diplomatic aspects have reached an unprecedented height, tea is no exception to accompany this glorious history, sitting in a wooden boat, along the Silk Road, across the sea, across the mountains, across the sand, across the forests, came to the then can reach the countries, spreading its own flavour with its name and the thousand-year breath of the Chinese land it contains, informing the world together. In the Song Dynasty, the emergence of tea ordering and tea cake technology made tea culture not only flourish in the upper class society, but also gradually spread throughout the country and popularise the folk. The emergence of tea-fighting and tea-splitting made tea culture more diversified and artistic.
But the so-called ‘prosperity will decline, things are opposite,’ the Republic of China, Chinese society, internal and external problems, frequent wars, social unrest, leading to the tea culture ushered in its own dark period, part of the culture gradually declined, but ‘the wildfire can not be eliminated, the spring breeze blows again,’ Behind the decline is not a stumble, but on the contrary may be a new birth of life.
After the founding of new China, tea has once again been restored and developed, tea culture has also been revived and inherited, in the destruction of the newborn, in the broken with both hands a grass and trees to rebuild, is the root of our Chinese people's unending, if the tea can speak, the reason why she is willing to accompany us, I think it must be the quality of our unending and admire it.
Editor:Zheng Jue
