Chinese Tea Culture
Whether it was a coincidence or a cultural trend, just within the past few weeks, I was invited twice by friends to two separate formal Chinese tea ceremonies and got to learn more about Chinese tea culture at two different high-end cultural spaces. Tea is an integral part of Chinese culture throughout history. The result is a tea culture that embodies a combination of tea art and the learning of literature and spirituality.
The two settings I went were beautiful: the first space was called “Pusu,” meaning plain and modest. The other space I went was called “Nan Shu Fang,” meaning the Qing Dynasty Kang Xi Emperor’s imperial library. Both places showcased very beautiful items used in the Chinese tea culture and tea art. Basic items in a tea set include a teapot, teacups, pitcher, strainer, canister, tray with built-in water storage, towel, scoop, scraper, plus a water boiler. The experience one observes in a tea ceremony is directly linked to the person who holds it. It encompasses the person’s personality, interests, preferences, cultural knowledge and background, as well as the state of mind. The surrounding physical elements, including the choices of tea sets and equipment used, furniture, and floral arrangement, also affect the entire presentation. Top-quality tea could cost a fortune, and so could the elements used in its surrounding. Compared to the nice Western tea sets that I am familiar with, a nice Chinese tea set is much more complicated, smaller in size, and higher in price. Much study is also needed before making any prudent investment in a nice tea set. The spiritual part of tea culture, which was written and explained in the “Guide to Teaism” (茶經) by the renowned scholar Lu Yu (陸羽) in the Tang Dynasty, includes the moral and cultural standards set by Chinese traditional philosophy, which is a combination of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. Over 400 nice poems related to tea art were written, identified, and passed down from the Tang Dynasty, as part of the foundation of Chinese tea culture. Time seemed to slow down immediately as I entered these spaces.
As we are on this topic, I think it is important to revisit and highlight what is the Chinese tea culture, as the tea art and ceremony are only part of the overall tea culture. To understand tea art, one must first understand the tea culture. Below is an intro I found on Wikipedia, which has a very good overall coverage for your reference:
“Chinese tea culture 中國茶文化 includes all facets of tea, both physical and spiritual, that significantly influenced Chinese culture throughout history. Physically, it consists of the history of tea cultivation, brewing, serving techniques, methods of consumption, arts, and the tea ceremony. Tea culture is to take tea as a carrier, and through this carrier to spread various arts. Tea culture is an integral part of traditional Chinese culture. It is the organic fusion of tea and culture, which contains and embodies the manifestation of a certain period of material and spiritual civilization.
The tea culture emerged in China in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song and Ming Dynasties, and declined in the Qing Dynasty. Tea culture in China was the source of influence on tea cultures in neighboring East Asian countries such as Japan and Korea since the ancient and medieval times, with each country developing a slightly different form of tea ceremony throughout the history; nevertheless, this difference is small when compared to countries that were late adopters to tea, such as the United Kingdom, United States, and Russia, who have developed vastly divergent tea cultures from China, especially in terms of preparation, taste, and occasion when it is consumed. Tea is still consumed regularly, both on casual and formal occasions in modern China. In addition to being a popular beverage, it is used as an integral ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine as well as in Chinese cuisine.”
Photos by Irene Chang Studio
