Traditional tea processing techniques and associated social practices in China were added to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on 29 November. Tea, which has fascinated and delighted the world for thousands of years, has finally been recognized globally as a common cultural treasure of humanity.
This status was granted by the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage held in Rabat, Morocco. The management of tea plantations consists of knowledge, skills and practices related to the collection of tea leaves and the processing, drinking and sharing of tea.
According to UNESCO, traditional tea processing techniques in China are closely related to geographical location and natural environment. The techniques are mainly found in the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Hunan, Anhui, Hubei, Henan, Shaanxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Fujian and Guangdong, and in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. However, related social practices are spread across the country and are shared by multiple ethnic groups.
source of tea in china
The tea tree originated in China about 70 or 80 million years ago, but the discovery and evaluation of tea dates back only 4 to 5 thousand years ago. According to written records, 3 years ago, the local government in today's Sichuan province chose the region's tea as a gift to be presented to the king. Accordingly, at least 3 thousand years ago, tea plants began to be cultivated and tea processed in China. So far, no similar discoveries or records have been found in other countries of the world. Therefore, China is the first country in the world to process and drink tea.
The oldest and most abundant tea trees in China are found in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Hubei provinces in the southwestern part of the country and in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. In 1961, a wild tea tree with a height of 32,12 meters and a trunk diameter of 2,9 meters was discovered on a mountain in Yunnan, the tree is 1700 years old. Two 2- and 800-year-old tea trees were found in two other counties of the state. These tea trees are under protection today. It is claimed that the homeland of tea trees in China is in the Xishuangbanna region of Yunnan province.
Discovery and evaluation of tea with Shennong's 100 herb tastings
According to the account in the book Shennong's Medicinal Herbs from the Warring States (476 BC – 221 BC) period, Shennong reportedly tasted 100 kinds of herbs and was poisoned a total of 72 times, but purified himself from the poison with tea.
Shennong was the person who invented agriculture and medicine 5 years ago. To relieve the suffering of the people, Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs and tried to find herbs that could cure diseases. One day, after Shennong tasted 72 kinds of poisonous herbs, the poisons accumulated in his stomach, it was as if a flame had burned in his body. Unable to bear it, Shennong slept under a tree. Meanwhile, a wind was blowing and a leaf fell from the tree into his mouth. A very simple and sweet scent made Shennong feel at ease. Shennong immediately put a few more leaves in his mouth and the poison in his body disappeared. Concluding that these leaves are good for many diseases, Shennong called the leaves tea. Shennong introduced tea leaves to people and saved people from various epidemics.
A cemetery dating back 2100 years has been discovered in Changsha, the central city of Hunan province. Tea is among the items buried in this tomb. Among the numerous items from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) unearthed at the Famen Temple in Fufeng County, Shaanxi province, there are gold and silver tea sets and tea-serving items. These were kept underground for 1100 years.
A sacred Buddhist site during the Tang and Song （960-1279） Dynasties, Guoqing Temple and Jinshan Temple are the cradles of tea cultivation, making, and Buddhist tea ceremony. During the Tang Dynasty, a priest from Japan returned to Japan after learning about Buddhism and tea ceremony at Guoqing Temple in Saicho Zhejiang Province, taking tea seeds with him and contributing to the introduction of tea into Japan. This event is described on a stone slab in the temple. Another Japanese monk introduced this Buddhist tea drinking method to Japan after learning about the tea feast at Jinshan Temple, and it took the first form of today's Japanese tea ceremony.
Tea Ceremony
茶道 (Cha Dao), these two Chinese characters describing the way to experience the enchantment of tea, is also a life art about brewing and drinking tea, a life protocol in which tea plays a mediating role. Cha Dao is a harmonious ceremony that aims to strengthen the friendship between people by brewing tea, watching the beautiful shape of tea, smelling it, drinking it, beautifying the heart of people, and introducing traditional virtues. It is translated as Tea Ceremony in English.
In fact, whether tea is good or not depends on people.
Ordinary people in the countryside or city have seen tea as an ordinary commodity and have been drinking it for more than a thousand years. Apart from its functions of making people awake and removing fat from their body, tea is a place where people sit alone, sohbet He is someone who accompanies him when he goes on a trip. He does not give an answer about his peculiarity, he just feels like an inseparable partner in his life. This is a kind of Cha Dao.
Before the 1950s, it was difficult for ordinary families in Beijing, the capital of China, to get a certain amount of famous branded tea from tea shops. For this reason, small portioned packages were usually offered in shops, 3 tea packages of 10 grams per minute were prepared. These packages would still be very nice, because Beijing people gave great importance to the outward appearance of the goods.
Landscape with tea, travel with tea, thought of philosophy with tea create a beautiful painting. The place of origin of the famous tea will surely have beautiful views. For example, West Lake Longjing Stream grows within the tourist attraction of the city of Hangzhou, which is considered one of the most beautiful cities in China. Today, tea-related travel programs that fuse with the tea culture attract the attention of many people. Entering the tea field, participating in the tea gathering, watching the tea processing procedure, tasting the tea, then taking it, as well as watching the scenery, presents a consumption style that delights the consumers.
Today, there are countless teahouses throughout China. The consumption level of some places is much more expensive than bars and restaurants, but it attracts people. Maybe this is Cha Dao's charm. People who go to the teahouse, more contact, sohbet and exchanges ideas. Compared to this, those who go to the bar pay more attention to the drinks, the brand of the drink is important for them, they try to drink until they get drunk. A Chinese writer's statement that drink is romantic and tea is classic represents the view of most people.
In general, people with different consumption level, education level and pleasure psychology have different ideas about the tea ceremony.
Buddhism with tea
Buddhism BC. It was introduced to China through the Western Regions after being established in Nepal between the 6th and 5th years. However, the spread of Buddhism was in the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). Buddhism and the temple economy made great strides when the Sui (581-618) and Tang, especially during the Tang Dynasty's rise, came to the fore. There is a very common rumor in Chinese history; Tea became fashionable in the Tang Dynasty and popular in the Song Dynasty.
During the Tang Dynasty, tea became fashionable on the basis of the development of Buddhism, especially the Zen school. The Linyan Temple on Mount Tai was the seat of the Zen school. The priests here were learning the classics day and night, but only tea was allowed as it was forbidden to eat in the afternoon. Over time, ordinary people began to imitate this practice and drink tea, and a new fashion emerged.
Zen means to rectify or to think calmly. Thinking calmly with eyes closed makes one easily drowsy, so in Zen practice drinking tea is allowed. With the revival of the Zen school in northern China, tea drinking became popular in the northern part, which encouraged tea production in the southern part of China and the development of the tea industry throughout the country.
The above explanation is not in the sense that tea is only associated with Buddhism during the Kaiyuan period (713-741) of the Tang. In fact, in earlier dynasties, tea was the drink most often used by priests in self-improvement work. This fact is featured in books such as The Tea Classic by Tea Genius Lu Yu.
Because every school of Buddhism attaches great importance to tea, a tea room was set up in every great temple to host valuable guests, and some instruments were even named after tea. The drum in the northwest corner of a temple that normally had two drums was called the Tea Drum.
The homeland of tea is China, where tea growing and processing techniques and drinking practices in other parts of the world stem directly or indirectly from China, with Buddhism having a great influence in this process.
Because tea has such a close relationship with Buddhism, tea was widely grown in temples in southern China after the middle period of the Tang Dynasty, with every priest drinking it. Numerous historical records about tea have been left behind. According to one record, tea was drunk from sunrise to midnight in temples throughout the year during the Tang Dynasty. Over time, the Chinese could no longer give up tea while relaxing in the restaurant, in the cool place, writing poetry and playing chess.
Buddhist temples have been a center for producing, researching and promoting tea. Of course, in every temple that owns a certain amount of land, high-ranking priests are not required to participate in production activities, so there is time to gather the tea, brew it, and promote it by writing poetry. That's why there is a rumor in Chinese history that "The famous type of tea comes from the famous temple". For example, Huangshan Maofeng grows in the area where the 3 temples are located in Huangshan mountain.
Tea is so important that people in many parts of China have historically called drinking tea "don't eat tea".
Types of tea
The most popular type of tea is Green Tea.
The collected Green Tea leaves undergo oxidase removal by high temperature, besides the green color of the leaves is preserved. Then, after rolling and drying, it becomes green tea. Tea obtained by oxidase steam removal is the oldest type of tea. On the other hand, the tea obtained by quarrying management is the most common type of Green Tea with the highest production.
The raw materials of Red Tea are the same as those of green tea, but no high-temperature oxidase removal is applied. Instead, after the stages of holding at normal temperature, rolling and fermentation, the leaves turn red, followed by fire drying and Red Tea is obtained. A kind of Red Tea in Fujian province has a pine scent because the pine wood is burned during the drying stage. This type of tea is in demand throughout China today.
Wulong Tea is a semi-fermented tea. After the leaves of this tea are brewed, there is a red and green color on them, normally the middle of the leaf is green and the edge is red. Wulong is appreciated by tea fans in Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asia as it is a natural floral fragrance. The most famous Wulong Tea is found in Chong'an and Anxi cities of Fujian province and Taiwan region.
White tea is a type of tea obtained after a mild fermentation process. For the making of this tea, leaves with fine white hairs are selected. After drying, the white fine hairs on the leaves are still preserved, hence the name White Tea. The taste of this tea is mild.
In China, there are also types of tea such as yellow tea, black tea, flower tea, fruit tea, medicinal tea.
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