The Book Of Tea

The Book of Tea, written by Lu Yu in the Tang Dynasty, is the earliest, most complete and most comprehensive monograph on tea in China and even in the world. It is known as the encyclopedia of tea & teapot.

This book is a comprehensive treatise on the history, origin, current situation, production technology, tea drinking skills and tea ceremony principle of tea production. It is an epoch-making monograph on tea science, an incisional work on agriculture and a book on tea culture. Elevating ordinary tea into a wonderful cultural art has promoted the development of Chinese tea culture.

Lu Yu, given name Ji, styled Hongjian and Ji Ci, styled Sangzhu Weng and Jinglingzi, was a native of Jingling In Fuzhou (now Tianmen, Hubei province) in the Tang Dynasty. Born in 733, the buddhist temple in childhood, studious since childhood, learned, poetry is also good, and people lofty, indifferent to fame. Once recruited as prince Taixue, too often temple too zhu and not. 760 years to avoid an Shi Rebellion, Lu Yu lived in seclusion in Tiaoxi, Zhejiang (today's Huzhou). During this period, on the basis of personal investigation and practice, he carefully summarized and studied the production experience of predecessors and tea at that time, and completed the original work "The Book of Tea". Therefore, he is respected as the tea god and tea fairy. The Classic of Tea is divided into three volumes and ten sections, with about 7,000 words. Volume 1: the origin of tea, about the origin, shape, function, name, quality; Second, talk about tea picking tea making utensils, such as Tea picking basket, steaming tea stove, baking tea shed, etc.

The types and methods of tea extraction are discussed. Volume: four utensils, describing tea cooking and drinking utensils, namely 24 kinds of tea drinking utensils, such as air stove, tea kettle, paper bag, wood mill, teapot, etc. Volume 2: Five cooking, about the preparation of tea and the water quality of different places; The sixth part is about the customs of drinking tea, that is, the history of drinking tea before the Tang Dynasty; Seven things, related to the ancient and modern tea story, origin and medicine; The distribution of tea regions in The Tang Dynasty was divided into eight regions: Shannan (south of Jingzhou), South Zhejiang, west Zhejiang, Jiannan, East Zhejiang, central Guizhou, Jiangxi and Lingnan, and the advantages and disadvantages of tea produced in each region were discussed. Nine, the analysis of tea picking, tea making utensils can be according to the environment at that time, omit some utensils; Ten pictures, teach people to write silk tea sutra, Chen seat corner, witness and save. "The Book of Tea" systematically summarized the experience of tea harvesting and drinking at that time, comprehensively discussed the origin, production, drinking and other aspects of tea, spread the scientific knowledge of tea industry, promoted the development of tea production, and opened a precedent of Chinese tea ceremony. Besides, The Book of Tea is the most complete tea book in ancient China. Besides the tea law, all kinds of contents related to tea are described. From now on, tea books are all written here.

Liu yu is determined to write when I was 20 year old "saint", began to tea for this travel, he pick-up, hungry to eat solid food, drink tea drinking water, after YiYang, xiangyang, NaZhang, until the sichuan wushan, everywhere, namely with the local village old talk about tea, the tea made from a variety of all kinds of specimens, the tea on the way to understand knowledge anecdotes of note, done a lot of "tea".

After more than ten years of field visits to thirty-two states, Lu Yu finally lived in seclude in Tiaoxi (today's Huzhou, Zhejiang Province) and began to study and write tea. It took him five years to write the first draft of The Classic of Tea. Five years later, it was revised and supplemented before it was finalized. Lu Yu was already 47 years old at that time, and it took him 26 years to complete the book of Tea, the world's first study of tea.

Lu Yu was so famous that the imperial court intended to retain him as an official in Beijing. However, he did not quit his post and still traveled around to promote the tea art. Before the Tang Dynasty, tea was mostly used for medicinal purposes, and only a few areas used tea as a beverage. Since the Luyu dynasty, tea has become the main beverage of Chinese people. Tea flourished in the Tang Dynasty, and the popularity of drinking tea spread across the Whole Country. Drinking tea and drinking tea has become an important part of Chinese culture.

Lu Yu was called the saint of tea in China by later generations.

"The saint" is the tea in the tea area observe the rule of the growth of the tea, the tea farmers to tea processing, further analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the quality of the tea, and the good way to learn the folk tea cooking is summarized on the basis of a set of rules, the tea also pay attention to the folk of tea sets and tea production, and create their own unique set of tea sets. Lu Yu studied tea with his whole life, and his steps throughout the country.

After Lu Yu wrote the Book of Tea, tea monographs were published one after another, which further promoted the development of tea in China. The representative works include "Tea Record" by CAI Xiang in the Song Dynasty, "Grand Chinese Teapot View on Tea" by Zhao Ji in the Song Dynasty, "Tea Record" by Qian Chunnian and Gu Yuanqing in the Ming Dynasty, and "Tea Record" by Zhang Yuan, and "History of Tea" by Liu Yuanchang in the Qing Dynasty.

The Chinese Tea Classic has been inextricably linked with Buddhism from the very beginning. Initially, tea provided the monks with an irreplaceable raw material, and the monks and monasteries promoted the development of tea production and the advancement of tea making techniques. Lu Yu, the tea saint who founded the Chinese tea ceremony, has many records of extol Buddhism and love of tea to monks in his Book of Tea. In the practice of tea, tea ceremony and Buddhism find more and more similarities in ideological connotation; Zen tea is produced on such a basis.

Lu Yu, styled Hongjian, a ji, styled Ji Ci, was born in Jingling, Fuzhou. I do not know where I was born, or say that some monk got all the water, livestock. After that, he used yi to divinate himself and was divined by jian's Jian jian, which said, "Hung - chien was on the land, and his feather could be used as an instrument." Is to Lu shi, the name and the word. When the ancient child was young, his teacher taught by the side of the script, said: "the end of fresh brothers, and no heirs, for filial piety?" Division angry, take dung to engase 塓 to bitter, and make cattle thirty, yu qian to bamboo cattle back for word. Zhang Heng "Nan Du Fu", can't read, if a group of children mingzhi into reciting form, division arrest, make shave mang. When its remember the text, meng Meng if there is a legacy, do not make, the Lord whip bitter, because sigh said: "years to, but I do not know the book!" They weep not for themselves, but go away, and make a thousand wisecracks. Tian Bao zhong, the people of The k, the official office yu ling division, the prefessor Li Qi wu saw, different, awarded the book, then huomen Mountain. Appearance 侻 ugly, stuttering and arguing. Wen people good, if in his own, see have, rules cut to mawu people. Friend Yan place, meaning to do at every turn, people suspect its more Chen. With the human period, rain and snow tiger also avoid.

At the beginning of the Upper Yuan Dynasty, she was more recluse and called herself Sang Zhu Weng. Or alone in the wild, recite poems hit wood, pei Hui not satisfied, or wailing and return, so that this time jieyu also. For a long time, worship plume prince literature, migration too often temple too wish, do not take office. Zhen Yuan end, pawn. Yu is fond of tea, and has written three sutras about the origin, method and special preparation of tea. The world has learned to drink tea. Yang Tong was sold for tea and worshiped as tea god. There are chang Bo bear, due to feather theory complex wide tea. Li Jiqing, the imperial historian, comforted the South of the Yangtze River and visited the Huai River. He knew that Bo Xiong was good at making tea. Before Bo Xiong held the vessel, Ji Qing raised a glass to him again. To the south of the Yangtze River, there is a recommendation yu, called, feather clothes wild clothes, the rise of tools and into, Ji Qing is not a gift, Yu kui, more on the Destruction of tea. Then still tea wind, when huihe into the dynasty, only drive horse city tea.