China Popular Itineraries |
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The Custom of Drinking Tea |
The ancient Chinese gave tea different names. Those that were picked early were named "cha " while those that were picked later were named "ruing. " Lu Yu of the Tang Dynasty classified tea into five types: cha, jia, she, ruing and chuan. The tender tea leaves were regarded as the first-class tea. They were called "chasun, "" chaqi" or "chaqiang".
At the same time the ancient Chinese were particular about the water which was used to boil tea. Zhang Youxin of the Tang Dynasty once wrote a book On Boiling Tea Water, discussing the merit and demerit of the spring water used to boil tea. It was described in detail in A Dream of Red Man-sions :
As soon as they had finished this collation the Lady Dowager took Granny Liu to Green Lattice Nunnery. Miao-yu promptly ushered them into the courtyard, luxuriant with trees and flowers.
"It's those who live the ascetic life, after all, who have time to im-prove their grounds, " observed the Lady Dowager. " These look better-kept than other places."
As she spoke, they were walking towards the hall for meditation on the east side, and Miao-yu invited them to go in.
"We've just been having wine and meat," said the old lady. "As you ' ve an image of Buddha inside, it would be sacrilege. We' ll just sit in the outside room for a while and have a cup of your good tea.
Miao-yu at once went to make tea.
Pao-yu watched the proceedings carefully. He saw Miao-yu bring out in her own hands a carved lacquer tea-tray in the shape of crab-apple blos-som, inlaid with a golden design of the "cloud dragon offering longevity." On this was a covered gilded polychrome bowl made in the Cheng Hua Peri-od, which she offered to the Lady Dowager.
"I don ' t drink Liuan tea, " said the old lady.
"I know, " replied Miao-yu smiling. "This is Patriarch's Eyebrows."
"What water have you used ?"
"Rain water saved from last year."
The Lady Dowager drank half the bowl and passed the rest with a twinkle to Granny Liu, urging her to taste the tea. The old woman drank it straight off.
"Quite good, but a bit on the weak side," was her verdict, which made everyone laugh. "It should have been left to draw a little longer."
All the others had melon-green covered bowls with golden designs of new Imperial kiln porcelain.
Having served tea, Miao-yu plucked at the lapels of Pao-chai ' s and Tai-yu's clothes and they went out with her, followed surreptitiously by Pao-yu. She invited the two girls into a side room, where Pao-chai sat on a couch and Tai-yu on Miao-yu ' s hassock, while the nun herself fanned the stove and when the water boiled brewed some fresh tea. Pao-yu slipped in then and accused them teasingly:
"So you are having a treat here in secret ! " The three girls laughed.
"What are you doing here ? There' s nothing here for you. " Miao-yu was just looking for cups when an old nun came in bringing the used bowls.
"Don' t put away that Cheng Hua bowl, " cried Miao-yu hastily. "Leave it outside."
Pao-yu knew that because Granny Liu had used it, she thought it too dirty to keep. Then he saw Miao-yu produce two cups, one with a handle and the name in uncial characters : Calabash Cup. In smaller characters it bore the inscriptions " Treasured by Wang Kai of the Tsin Dynasty" and "In the fourth month of the fifth year of the Yuan Feng Period of the Sung Dy-nasty, Su Shih of Meishan saw this cup in the Imperial Secretariat." Miao-yu filled this cup and handed it to Pao-chai. The other, shaped like a small alms-bowl, bore the name in the curly seal script : "Rhinoceros Cup." Hav-ing filled this for Tai-yu, she offered Pao-yu the green jade beaker that she normally drank from herself.
ˇ°I thought that according to Buddhist law all men should be treated a-like, " said Pao-yu with a grin."Why give me this vulgar object when they get such priceless antiques?"
" Vulgar object ! " retorted Miao-yu. "I doubt if your family could pro-duce anything half as good, and that ' s not boasting either. "
"As people say, 'Other countries, other ways.' Here with a person like you, gold, pearls, jade and jewels must all count as vulgar. " Very gratified by this remark, Miao-yu produced a huge goblet carved out of a whole bamboo root which was covered with knots and whorls.
"Here is the only other one I have," she said. "Can you manage such a large one?ˇ±
"Of course I can!" declared Pao-yu delightedly.
"Even if you can, we not so much tea to waste on you. Have you nev-er heard the saying: 'First cup to taste, second to quench a fool's thirst, third to water an ox or donkey?" What would you be if you swallowed such an amount?."
As the three others laughed, Miao-yu picked up the pot and poured the equivalent of one small cup into the goblet. Pao-yu tasted it carefully and could not praise its bland purity enough.
" You ' ve your cousins to thank .for this treat, " observed Miao-yu prim-ly. "If you' d come alone, I wouldn' t have offered you tea.
"I' m well aware of that. " Pao-yu chuckled. "So 1' ll thank them in- stead of you. "
"So you should," said the nun.
"Is this made with last year' s rain-water too 9'" asked Tai- yu .
Miao-yu smiled disdainfully.
"Can you really be so vulgar as not even to tell the difference ?. This is
snow I gathered from plum-blossom five years ago while staying in Curly Fragrance Nunnery on Mount Hsuanmu. I managed to fill that whole dark blue porcelain pot, but it seemed too precious to use so I ' ve kept it buried in the earth all these years, not opening it till this summer. Today is only the second time I' ve used it. Surely you can taste the difference 9. How could last year's rain-water be as light and pure as thisg'"
Tai-yu, knowing her eccentricity, did not like to say too much or stay too long. After finishing her tea she signalled to Pao-chai and the two girls left, followed by Pao-yu.
(Taken from A Dream of Red Mansions Chapter 41)
If tea picking, tea making and tea boiling were conducted improperly it was called "tea sickness."
The ancient Chinese drank tea in a way different from that of today. Tea was first used as a kind of medicine, so the way to drink tea at that time was almost the same as the method to boil traditional Chinese medicine today. Be-fore the Tang Dynasty the method for drinking tea was as follows: first, tea leaves were crushed to powder by "tea mill, " then add ointment and rice flour into it, thus the tea cake was made, then pound the tea cake to pieces and boil it together with onion, ginger, salt, tangerine peel, date and peppermint.
From the Yuan Dynasty the baked tea leaves were boiled directly without anything else, hence the method of making tea. Later the ancient Chinese got to know the appropriate time for drinking tea and the taboos of drinking tea. Feng Zhengqing of the Ming Dynasty put forward the twelve appropriations and the seven taboos for drinking tea in his On Tea. It was appropriate to drink tea in the following twelve cases: when one was free, when good friends came, when one was alone, when one read poems, when one wrote some-thing, when one wandered about, when one awoke after taking a nap, when one got up in the morning, when offering sacrifices to gods or ancestors, when listening to Buddhism in Buddha hall, when one contemplated on some-thing and when one appreciated something. The seven taboos for drinking tea were as the following: Not to drink it when the tea was not properly made; or when the drinking vessels were not clean, or when the drinkers were rude, or when one was at the party of official circles, or when the tea was mixed with something else, or when one was in a hurry, or when the environment was not good.
The ancient people were increasingly particular about the art of drinking tea, so the requirement for tea culture was increasingly fastidious.
In ancient China the public place for drinking tea was called chafang or chasi meaning teahouse, where there were some calligraphy and paintings of eminent people. The waiter in the teahouse was called "tea doctor. " The pri-vate place for drinking tea was called "chaliao."
The appliances used to boil and drink tea were called tea set. Those used to dry tea were called "chaqian" and those used to bake tea were calledˇ°chabei.ˇ± The utensil used to grind tea was called tea grinder. The stove used to boll tea was called tea stove; the utensil used to bod tea was called tea tri-pod. The appliance used to stir tea was called "chaxian." The tea spoon was a1so a kind of utensil used to stir tea.
There were many kinds of tea drinking customs. Take Gongfu tea of Fujian Province for example.
Gongfu tea came into being in the Qing Dynasty. One must spend a lot of time selecting tea appliance, making and tasting tea, that' s why it was named Gongfu tea(the Chinese word Gongfu means time, or time-consuma ing). The appliance for drinking Gongfu tea was not only small and exquisite but also simple and elegant. The tea pot was as small as a fist and the teacup was as small as a walnut. Drinking process begins with heating the tea pot and tea cup, then fill the tea pot with seven tenth of tea and then pour hot water into it. When pouring Gongfu tea one should do according to the skill of "Gaochong Dizhen , " "Lingai Tangbei, " "Kuomochengqing. " "Gaochong" was to raise the kettle high and pour the hot water directly into the teapot. "Dizhen" was to lower the teapot, making its spout close to the tea cup when pouring tea. Moreover, Gongfu tea should not be poured one cup after anoth-er but in a circle, and each tea cup should be poured two or three times so that the tea would be evenly made and with the same smell. The drinkers would feel that they were treated equally. What is more, when only drops of tea wa-ter were left, one would go on pouring them evenly into each tea cup in turn up to the last drop. The tea pot for Gongfu tea was very small, so the person who poured tea should not take the teapot into his hands but take the handle of the teapot with his thumb and middle finger, push the teapot lid open with his forefinger, make the tea water drip up by means of the pressure of air. Af-ter each turn the tea cups were also to be washed with hot water to keep them clean. What is called as "Kuomo skill" was to wipe out the foam at the spout of the teapot with the teapot lip. As for the skill of "Chengqing," it was to pour the water out of the teapot completely so that no bitter smell would be left. When drinking tea one should not drink it up but smell it first, then taste it and drink it slowly. It should be smelt first from far to near and then from near to far. One should stop after tasting a little of the tea, leaving a lasting and pleasant after taste. Otherwise you would be considered as igno-rant of the rules for drinking tea.
Actually the customs of drinking tea in most of our country are different from that of Gongfu tea. For example, in Shandong Province, one should neither pour the tea cup full nor empty the tea pot and tea cup. If the guest empties his tea cup, the host will think that he doesn't want any more and he will not pour any tea for him. Certainly it is true that the different drinking tea customs make up the rich and varied Chinese tea culture.
The ancient Chinese ate various kinds of cakes when drinking tea. They were called cakes and sweetmeats. Now in Qingpu, Shanghai one eats melon seeds, pickles and radish slip and so on when drinking "Granny tea. " Fucha tea in the south of China, Xiangcha tea in Wujiang, Suzhou and Rougu tea in Fujian are drunk together with cakes and sweetmeats. At the tea banquet of the ancient Chinese scholars, drinkers' wager game was played to add to the fun.
With the prevailing of ancient Chinese tea culture, it had influenced gradually other folklore culture. In the Tang Dynasty "cha" was given a spe-cial kind of meaning and became the good name of girls. Little girls were named "little cha" or "chacha. "
Tea can only propagate themselves by seeds and can't be transplanted once they are planted, so most of the betrothal gifts of the ancient Chinese marriage were tea, so betrothal gifts were also called tea gifts. The betrothal gifts from the bridegroom's family were called "tea giving " and the betrothal gifts to the bride's family were named "tea receiving. "
"Listen to her! " cried Tai-yu. "Just take a little tea from her and she starts order you about. "
Hsi-feng chuckled.
"Asked a favour, you make such a fuss! Over drinking tea too. 'Drink our family' s tea, a daughter-in-law to be' ! "
As the whole party burst out laughing, Tai-yu blushed and turned her head away, saying nothing.
(Taken from A Dream of Red Mansions Chapter 25)
From all of above, we can see that tea culture has become one part of Chinese culture.
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