China has always been known as a land of propriety and righteousness. Modern people often mistake the rite system for the social estate system. Confucian rites not only restrained people’s behavior and established social order, but they also implied mutual respect and care and the virtues of showing respect for the aged and love for the young, the comity between brothers, respect for teachers and love for students. People become sober and sensible through drinking tea, and as a result, they can carry out the spirit of the rites easily.

Tea was first served during rites in the Song Dynasty. At that time, the tea ceremony was used on the grand feasts held by the court in spring and autumn. The details were recorded in the History Of The Song Dynasty. Tea would be ‘granted’ when imperial competitive examinations were held, when the emperor interviewed officials and received foreign envoys, and on the memorial ceremonies of various holidays. Ethnic minorities were also affected by the system. As first, the State of and Song imperial court confronted each other, and fought many battles. According to the treaty concluded after they became sworn brothers at Tanyuan Pool, they sent envoys to each other. A tea ceremony was held when the Song imperial court received the envoy from the State of Liao, and also at a send-off party. Though the state of Liao was founded by Qidan, the nomadic people, they appreciated the rite system of the Song dynasty. Many details about the ceremonies held on the birthdays of the emperor and queen mother, when offering a sacrifice to mountains, worshipping the sun, or on other important occasions were recorded in History of the State of Liao.

According to Volume 115 of the History of the Song Dynasty, when a prince took an imperial concubine, he had to offer 100 jin of tea and other presents. Later, it became customary to hold tea ceremonies at weddings. The rites of tea-drinking originated from Buddhism, which later affected families and society. The Family Rites written by Qiu Jun in the Ming Dynasty provided the details of tea ceremony, which greatly affected the common people, and spread to has paid attention to tea ceremony even to today.

The social influence of Chinese tea culture is mainly reflected in Confucian thought, while its aesthetic viewpoint, skills and practical spirit are mainly influenced by Taoist thought.

The Taoist school of Taoism are entirely different. The Taoist appeared much earlier than Confucian thought. The spirit of Confucian thought focused on administering the society, while the Taoist thought stressed the relationship between man and nature. Lao Zi, the founder of Taoist thought, was born in the State of Chu more than 2700 years ago. No one knew how many years he had lived – some people say 200 years, while some even say 600 years. Lao Zi advocated looking at things dialectically, and stressed that people should see the reverse as well as the obverse side of things. For example, when others said firmness was better than softness, he would retort that one’s teeth were firm, but they would drop out before he died; while the tongue was soft, it would stick with him throughout his life. when others said substantialness was good, he would retort that only empty rooms could hold things, and one had to empty old thoughts out of one’s mind before acquiring new knowledge. Zhuang Zi, another Taoist thinker, liked to illustrate truths through vivid fables, using humorous language. Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi both believed that it was the common law of the universe that kept nature and society operating. Therefore, spirit and material, and human and nature could not be separated. Chinese tea culture, integrated with tea’s natural and material functions and human spirit, absorbed the Taoist spirit. Therefore, while tea culture is mainly applied in a Confucian spirit, the formation of tea culture actually should mainly be attributed to the contribution made by the Taoist school.

According to the Taoist school, human and nature are unified. A person is a small world, and a cup of tea reflects the sea. Tea ceremony has assimilated this thought. Although tea is only a drink offered by nature, it contains natural law, and people should learn the law through drinking tea. Tea is the cream of nature, and people can learn about natural changes through brewing and drinking tea. Lu Yu regarded the process of making, brewing and drinking tea as an art reflecting natural beauty. When the ancients brewed tea, they ground tea cakes, or the newly picked and baked tea first, then sifted it through a fire sieve, and put the most even and tender powder into a boiler. It would change wonderfully when the water boiled, and the water and tea blended with each other. People could appreciate natural beauty through observing the change. Lu Yu vividly described the tea dust which was just put into the boiler “as floating date flowers in an annular pond”, or “as the newly-grown green duckweed on a winding pond or islet.” Lu Yu also described the foam, the cream of tea, vividly: they were “as white as snow cover”. Tea connoisseurs regarded tea as the cleanest and most beautiful thing in nature, so people could integrate themselves with nature while drinking it. Lu Quan, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, known as the Tea Submaster, felt as if misty rain and cool breezes were spraying on him, and the whole world was incomparably bright and clear when he drank tea. When he drank seven cups of tea, he felt as graceful as a fairy. Su Shi, a great writer of the Song Dynasty, liked to row a small boat, draw water from the river, and brew tea in the rural outskirts of a town, or by a river bank. He believed that by doing so, he invited the bright moon and its silver flame into his jar. Chinese tea connoisseurs believed that people should not only demand from nature, they should also care for and understand it, and treat it kindly so that they could live quietly and happily. There is much profound Taoist philosophy in a cup of tea.

This article is excerpted from the book Chinese Tea Culture - The Origin of Tea Drinking by Wang Ling. You can purchase the book from Feng Shui Times Bookshop.