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The History of Tea Culture in China
Tea-drinking culture in China originated in ancient times, and there is a saying that Shennong tasted a hundred herbs, met with poison, and solved it with tea. After thousands of years of development, it has formed its own culture. Japanese tea ceremony was introduced to Japan in the Tang Dynasty, but now when it comes to tea ceremony, people only know Japanese tea ceremony, which makes us have to do something to promote this precious traditional Chinese culture. So we call for:

China people drink China tea, carry forward the traditional culture and rebuild the national glory!

China is the hometown of tea. Five thousand years ago, "Shennong tasted a hundred herbs, and when he encountered seventy-two poisons every day, he got rid of it with tea", thus discovering the medicinal value of tea. Since then, tea has gone to the world from the vast virgin forest in southwest China.

For many years, Chinese tea culture has been rooted in the long-standing Chinese civilization, absorbed the abundant supplies from the excellent national traditions, and integrated the strengths of religion, philosophy, medicine, rhythm, music theory, painting, aesthetics, architecture, etc., and developed into a precious heritage in China's cultural treasure house, shining brightly in the long corridor of history.

First, the definition of tea culture Tea is a product of labor and a drink. Tea culture takes tea as the carrier, and spreads various cultures through this carrier. It is the organic integration of tea and culture, which contains and embodies the material civilization and spiritual civilization in a certain period.

Second, the connotation of tea culture Tea culture is an integral part of Chinese traditional excellent culture, and its content is very rich, involving science and technology education, culture and art, medical care, historical archaeology, economy and trade, catering and tourism, press and publication and other disciplines and industries, including tea monographs, tea periodicals, tea and poetry, tea and song and dance, tea and novel, tea and art, tea and wedding, tea and sacrifice, tea and Zen, tea and catalpa.

Third, the history of tea culture system: the origin, discovery and utilization of tea, the formation, development, evolution, characteristics and manifestations of tea culture;

Sociology of tea culture: the influence of tea culture on all aspects of society, the role of social development and progress on tea culture and the relationship between social strata and tea culture;

Folklore of tea drinking: history and modernity, tea drinking customs in various regions and nationalities, cities and rural areas;

Aesthetics of tea: the shape design of finished tea, the naming of famous tea, the design of tea packaging and advertising, etc.

Tea culture communication: international and domestic seminars, tea culture display, tea performance, children's tea art, tea history and culture Expo and tea tourism; Tea culture functionalism: tea culture resources, characteristics, historical tea culture and tea culture in the new period, tea culture function, tea culture's role in modern society and spiritual civilization construction, etc.

Fourth, the historical characteristics of tea culture: the formation and development of tea culture has a long history. Tea has been used as a tribute to the king of Wu. In the later period of primitive commune, tea became an exchange of goods. In the Warring States period, tea had a certain scale. Tea is recorded in the Book of Songs in the pre-Qin period.

In the Han Dynasty, tea became a special tonic for Buddhist meditation. In Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, there was a trend of drinking tea. In the Sui Dynasty, the whole people generally drank tea. In the Tang Dynasty, the tea industry was prosperous, and tea became "indispensable for others", and teahouses, tea banquets and tea parties appeared, encouraging guests to worship tea. In Song Dynasty, fighting tea, tribute tea and gift tea were popular.

In the Qing Dynasty, Quyi entered the teahouse and the foreign trade of tea developed. Tea culture was born with the appearance of commodity economy and the formation of urban culture. In history, tea culture paid attention to cultural ideology, focusing on elegance, focusing on expressing poetry, calligraphy and painting, drinking tea, singing and dancing. In its formation and development, tea culture has melted the philosophical colors of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, and has evolved into the customs of all ethnic groups, becoming an integral part of excellent traditional culture and a unique cultural model.

Times: The development of material civilization and spiritual civilization has injected new connotation and vitality into tea culture. In this new period, the connotation and expression forms of tea culture are constantly expanding, extending, innovating and developing. In the new era, tea culture has been integrated into the essence of modern science and technology, modern news media and market economy, which has made the value function of tea culture more remarkable and further enhanced its role in modern society. The consciousness that the value of tea is the core of tea culture has been further established, and international exchanges have become increasingly frequent. In the new period, the forms of tea culture communication are large-scale, modern, socialized and internationalized. Its connotation has expanded rapidly and its influence has expanded, attracting worldwide attention.

Nationality: All ethnic groups love to drink tea. Tea is combined with national cultural life, forming their own national characteristics of tea ceremony, tea art, tea-drinking customs and festive weddings. Based on the national tea drinking method, the national tea art is formed through artistic processing and tempering, which is more lively and cultural, showing the diversity and colorful life interest of drinking tea. Tibetan, Tujia, Wa, Lahu, Naxi, Kazak, Xibe, Baoan, Achang, Bulang, De 'ang, Jino, Salar, Bai, Kemi and Yugur, and other teas and festive weddings, also fully display the nationality of tea culture.

Regionality: Famous teas, famous mountains, famous waters, celebrities, places of interest, and local tea culture with its own characteristics. China has a vast area, a wide variety of teas, different tea drinking customs, and differences in history, culture, life and economy, which form tea culture with local characteristics. In the big cities with economic and cultural centers, with its unique advantages and rich connotations, it also forms a unique urban tea culture. Since 1994, Shanghai has held four consecutive international tea culture festivals, showing the characteristics and charm of urban tea culture.

Internationality: The ancient Chinese traditional tea culture combined with the history, culture, economy and culture of various countries has evolved into English tea culture, Japanese tea culture, Korean tea culture, Russian tea culture and Moroccan tea culture. In Britain, drinking tea has become a part of life, which is a kind of etiquette for the British to show their gentlemanly style, and it is also an essential procedure in the life of the Queen of England and a necessary ritual in major social activities. Japanese tea ceremony originated in China. Japanese tea ceremony has a strong Japanese national flavor, and forms a unique tea ceremony system, genre and etiquette. Koreans believe that tea culture is the root of Korean national culture, and May 24th is the National Tea Day every year. China tea culture is the cradle of tea culture in various countries. Tea people don't care about national boundaries, races and beliefs. Tea culture can unite tea people all over the world to discuss tea art, academic exchanges and economic and trade negotiations.

5. The social functions of tea culture are mainly manifested in carrying forward traditional virtues, displaying culture and art, cultivating self-cultivation, cultivating sentiment, promoting national unity, showing social progress and developing economy and trade. Traditional virtue is a beautiful morality that has been accumulated for thousands of years and respected by people of all ages, and it is the embodiment of national spirit and social fashion. The traditions of tea culture mainly include loving the motherland, selfless dedication, perseverance, modesty and courtesy, diligence and thrift, mutual respect and mutual accommodation. Mr. Wu Juenong and Hunan Liu Xianhe have devoted themselves to the cause of tea. They are both patriots and outstanding representatives of contemporary tea people.

Lu Yu's Book of Tea is the crystallization of ancient tea people's diligent study, hard study, painstaking exploration and indomitable spirit. Treating guests with tea and replacing wine with tea, "a cup of green tea is intoxicating" is a true reflection of the Chinese nation's treasure of labor achievements and diligence in saving risks. The social functions of tea culture arranged with the word tea as the head are "thinking about the source of tea, entertaining guests with tea, making friends with tea, socializing with tea, being honest with tea, educating people with tea, replacing wine with tea, keeping fit with tea, entering poetry with tea, entering art with tea, entering paintings with tea, dancing with tea, singing songs with tea, promoting culture with tea, giving tea as a gift, promoting agriculture with tea, and promoting trade and harmony with tea". Tea is the pride of China, national self-esteem, self-confidence and pride. Drinking tea can think of the source. Dr Joseph Needham, a world-famous historian of science and technology, regarded China tea as the fifth great contribution to mankind after the four great inventions of China (gunpowder, papermaking, compass and printing). Lu Yu's Tea Classic in Tang Dynasty was the first tea book in the world. China tea culture has a significant influence on the world. Making friends with tea is one of the most extensive social functions of tea culture. In today's market economy, the competition is fierce, the superior and the inferior are eliminated, and interests and benefits are emphasized. However, human feelings are relatively indifferent and interpersonal relationships tend to be indifferent. Through tea houses and tea houses, friends get together to exchange information, feelings, understanding and friendship. Friends get together in the old teahouse, talking and laughing at will, recalling life and enjoying the fun of life again. In ancient times, there was a saying that "guests come to tea as wine on a cold night", and tea instead of wine embodies traditional virtues, which is in line with the requirements of the regulations advocated by the central government today to practice economy and stop extravagance and waste. Educating people with tea is a new social function bred by tea culture in the new period. Shanghai children's tea art learns tea science, promotes traditional excellent culture and receives patriotic education by doing it yourself. In offering tea, we show respect for the elderly, elders, parents and classmates.

The role of tea culture in modern society Modern society relies on high technology and information to create more social wealth, with more and more material wealth and richer life. In the process of industrialization in some East Asian countries, while absorbing the excellent western technology and technology, the decadent western cultural values and customs have also eroded the society, resulting in moral crisis, money worship and extreme individualism. The experience of social development shows that modernization is not the only goal. A modern society needs a spiritual civilization that is compatible with it and needs to explore the spiritual resources of excellent traditional culture. Tea culture has historical, contemporary cultural factors and reasonable factors, which have played and are playing its own positive role in modern society. Tea culture is an elegant culture, and celebrities and celebrities are willing to participate. Tea culture is also a popular culture, and people are widely involved. Tea culture covers the whole people and affects the whole society.

The role of tea culture in modern society mainly has five aspects:

First, tea culture takes morality as the center, attaches importance to people's group value, advocates selfless dedication, and opposes profit-seeking and mercenary. Advocating that righteousness is more important than benefit, paying attention to coordinating the relationship between people, advocating respect for people, and paying attention to cultivating students and morality are conducive to balancing people's mentality, solving modern people's mental confusion and improving people's cultural quality;

Second, tea culture is a good friend to meet the challenges of life. In the fierce social competition and market competition, intense work, entertainment, complicated interpersonal relationships and various kinds of pressure attached to people are not light. Participating in tea culture can relax the spirit and body and mind to meet the challenges of life, and the role of Hong Kong teahouse is very significant.

Third, it is conducive to the construction of community civilization. The economy has gone up, but the culture can't lag behind, the social atmosphere can't be dirty, and the morality can't be decadent and ugly. The spread of tea culture after the reform and opening up shows that tea culture has the function of changing unfair consumption activities, creating spiritual civilization and promoting social progress;

Fourth, it plays an obvious role in improving people's quality of life and enriching cultural life. Tea culture is knowledgeable, interesting and recreational. Tasting famous tea, tea sets and refreshments and watching tea-folk tea art all give people a beautiful enjoyment.

The fifth is to promote openness and promote international cultural exchanges. The International Tea Culture Festival was held in Zhabei District of Shanghai for four consecutive years, which expanded the visibility of Zhabei District at home and abroad. Four teams in Zhabei District decided that the Tea Culture Festival should be held all the time and invested in the construction of tea culture attractions in Zhabei Park, with a view to building a tea culture grand view garden.

The frequent exchange of international tea culture has made tea culture cross national boundaries and become the spiritual wealth of human civilization.