Chinese tea culture

Chinese tea culture
Traditional Chinese	中國茶文化
Simplified Chinese	中国茶文化
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōngguó chá wénhuà
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	茶藝
Simplified Chinese	茶艺
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Cháyì

A tea house in Shanghai, China

A tea house in Presidential Palace Garden in Nanjing, China

Chinese tea culture refers to how tea is prepared as well as the occasions when people consume tea in China. Tea culture in China differs from that in European countries like Britain and other Asian countries like Japan in preparation, taste, and occasion wherein it is consumed. Even today, tea is consumed regularly, both at casual and formal occasions. In addition to being a popular beverage, tea is used in traditional Chinese medicine, as well as in Chinese cuisine.

Etymology

The concept of tea culture is referred to in Chinese as chayi ("the art of drinking tea"), or cha wenhua ("tea culture"). The word cha (茶) denotes the beverage that is derived from Camellia sinensis, the tea plant. Prior to the 8th century BCE, tea was known collectively under the term 荼 (pinyin: tú) along with a great number of other bitter plants. These two Chinese characters are identical, with the exception of an additional horizontal stroke in the Chinese lettering 荼, which translates to tea. The older character is made up of the radical 艸 (pinyin: cǎo) in its reduced form of 艹 and the character 余(pinyun: yú), which gives the phonetic cue.

Tea drinking customs

A set of equipment for drinking tea

A hostess serves tea at a traditional Chinese tea house.

There are several special circumstances in which tea is prepared and consumed in Chinese culture.

• A sign of respect

In traditional Chinese society, members of the younger generation always shows their respect to members of the older generation by offering a cup of tea. Inviting their elders to restaurants for tea is a traditional activity on holidays. In the past, people of the lower class served tea to the upper class in society. Today, with the increasing liberalization of Chinese society, this rule and its connotations have become blurred. Sometimes parents may pour a cup of tea for their children to show their care, or a boss may even pour tea for subordinates at restaurants to promote their relationship. However, in formal occasions, this rule has remained unchanged.

• Family gatherings

When sons and daughters leave home due to work or marriage, they may spend less time with their parents. Therefore, going to restaurants and drinking tea becomes an important activity for family gatherings. Every Sunday, Chinese restaurants are crowded with families, especially during the holiday season, for this reason. This phenomenon reflects the function of tea in Chinese family values.

• To apologize

In Chinese culture, tea may be offered as part of a formal apology. For example, children who have have misbehaved may serve tea to their parents as a sign of regret and submission.

• To show gratitude and celebrate weddings

In the traditional Chinese marriage ceremony, both the bride and groom are supposed to kneel in front of their parents and serve them tea, which is the most devout way to express their gratitude. Traditionally, the couple being married would serve their parents tea, and to thank them.As the tea is served, the couple customarily offer thanks to their parents for raising them. On some occasions, the bride serves the groom's family, and the groom serves the bride's. This process symbolizes the two families joining together in bond.

Finger tapping

Four Chinese tea cups

Light finger tapping is a custom for thanking the tea master or tea server for tea. After one's cup is filled, one may knock their bent index and middle fingers (or some similar variety of finger tapping) on the table to express gratitude to the person who served the tea. However, this custom is common in southern Chinese cultures, like the Cantonese in other parts of China. It is only acceptable if the person wishing to express their gratitude is preoccupied with conversation or cannot actually say "thank you" when their cup is filled.

This custom is said to have originated in the Qing dynasty when the Qianlong Emperor traveled in disguise throughout the empire. Servants were told not to reveal their master's identity. One day in a restaurant, the emperor, after pouring himself a cup of tea, filled a servant's cup as well. To that servant it was a huge honor to have the emperor pour him a cup of tea. Out of habit, he wanted to kneel and express his thanks to the emperor. However, he could not do this since that would reveal the emperor's identity, so he bent his fingers on the table to express his gratitude and respect to the emperor. In this sense, the bent fingers for knocking are supposed to be there to signify a bowing servant. One finger is the head and the other two are the arms.

It should be noted that in formal tea ceremonies nodding of the head and/or saying "Thank you" is more appropriate.

Brewing Chinese tea

Main articles: Tea preparation and Tea culture

The different ways of brewing Chinese tea depend on variables like the formality of the occasion; the means of the people preparing it and the kind of tea being brewed. For example, green teas are more delicate than oolong teas or black teas, tea should be brewed with cooler water. The most informal method of brewing tea is the simple adding of leaves to a pot with hot water. This method is commonly found in households and restaurants, for example in the context of dim sum or yum cha in Cantonese restaurants. Another method is to use a small lidded bowl called a gaiwan. The Hongwu Emperor of the Ming dynasty contributed to the development of loose tea brewing by banning the production of compressed tea.

Gongfu cha

A Yixing clay teapot

Main article: Gongfu tea ceremony

Gongfu cha, meaning "making tea with effort", is a popular method of preparing tea in China. It makes use of small Yixing teapots of about 100 – 150 ml (4 or 5 fl.oz.) to enhance the aesthetics, and to "round out" the taste of the tea being brewed. Yixing teapot brewing can be used for private enjoyment of tea, as well as for welcoming guests. Depending on the region of China the steps of brewing may differ, as well as the tools used in the process (e.g. Taiwanese-style gongfu cha, which makes use of several additional instruments including tweezers and a tea strainer). This procedure is mostly applicable to oolong teas, but some use it to make pu'er and other fermented teas.

Influence on Chinese culture

Tea has a major influence on the development of Chinese culture. Chinese traditional culture is closely connected with Chinese tea. Tea is often associated with literature, arts, and philosophy and is connected closely with Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Roughly, since the Tang Dynasty, drinking tea is a must for self-cultivation. Chinese Chan (similar to Japanese Zen) philosophy is also linked with drinking tea.

Teaware

Traditionally tea drinkers were regarded as the academic and cultural elites of the society because the practice of drinking tea was considered to be an expression of personal morality, education, social principles, and status. Increased enthusiasm for tea drinking led to the greater production of teaware, which significantly popularized Chinese porcelain culture.

Teahouse

Chinese scholars have used the teahouse for places of sharing ideas. The teahouse was a place where political allegiances and social rank were said to have been temporarily suspended in favor of an honest and rational discourse. In this sense, the leisure consumption of tea was common in promoting conviviality and civility amongst the participants.Teahouse is not only the by-product of Chinese tea culture but also the historical evidence of Chinese tea history. Currently, people can also feel a kind of humanistic atmosphere in Beijing's Lao She Teahouse and teahouses in East China cities like Hangzhou, Suzhou, Yangzhou, Nanjing, Wuxi, Shaoxing and Shanghai and so on. It is still dynamic and vigorous.

Modern culture

In modern China, virtually every dwelling — even down to the simplest mud hut — has a set of tea implements for brewing a hot cup of tea. These implements are symbols of welcome for visitors or neighbors. Traditionally, a visitor to a Chinese home will be expected to sit down and drink tea while talking; the Chinese consider having such visits while standing to be uncouth. There are several types of tea: green tea, oolong tea, red tea, black tea, white tea, yellow tea, puerh tea and flower tea. Tea leaves are traditionally produced by constantly turning fresh leaves in a deep bowl. This process allows the tea to dry with its full flavor ready to be used.

Folding the napkin in tea ceremonies is a traditional action and is done to keep away bad qi energy in China as tea was regarded as one of the seven daily necessities, the others being firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar.

See also

• Chinese tea ceremony schools
• China National Tea Museum
• Chinese art
• Chinese social relations
• Chinese tea
• Culture of China
• Gongfu tea ceremony
• Japanese tea ceremony
• List of Chinese teas
• Tea ceremony
• Tea Classics
• Teaism
• The Classic of Tea
• Yum cha

External links

• Tenfu Tea College
• Lu-Yu Tea Culture Institute
• A bilingual website that introduces Chinese Tea culture and teapots
• A bilingual website with ceremony/brewing guides and tea history
• Traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony
• Basic Facts of Tea
• An Offering of Tea during a Chinese Wedding
• Commented pictures on how to brew tea