tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post5038423942188115106..comments2024-03-16T11:51:28.412-04:00Comments on CHA DAO: Lu T’ung and the “Song of Tea”: The Taoist Origins of the Seven Bowls [Part 2 of 2]coraxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03645573592247798140noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post-61140564514664163402009-05-19T17:11:34.276-04:002009-05-19T17:11:34.276-04:00Correction: The history of the names of Yixing sho...Correction: The history of the names of Yixing should read "In the Sui dynasty 隋代, Yixing 義興 commandary was abolished and created as the Yixing district 義興縣.<br /><br />Steve.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post-33044598795257079062009-05-19T16:50:00.000-04:002009-05-19T16:50:00.000-04:00I am still learning how to blog. That last comment...I am still learning how to blog. That last comment was from AnneAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post-19020480125523460392009-05-19T16:49:00.000-04:002009-05-19T16:49:00.000-04:00Steve, you are the historically most thorough tea ...Steve, you are the historically most thorough tea researcher I have come across. I have been researching all I can get my hands on for two and a half years, as I am writing a book. But you are clearly capable of writing an encyclopedia. <br />I am also setting up a website dedicated to furthering knowledge about tea. I will certainly be placing a link to your blogs with your permission.<br />Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us all.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post-58647226126140287152009-05-19T14:00:00.000-04:002009-05-19T14:00:00.000-04:00Anne,
Thank you for your compliment and interest ...Anne,<br /><br />Thank you for your compliment and interest in my writing. I am very glad you enjoyed the story. As for your questions regarding the names of tea, please find below a bit of information on Yangxian and Hyson.<br /><br />The modern city of Yixing 宜興 is situated just west of the northeastern shore of Lake Tai 太湖 at the southern tip of Jiangsu province 江蘇省. Throughout most of its history, Yixing was known for its production of bamboo, tea, and stoneware pottery.<br /><br />In ancient times, Yixing was comprised of hamlets and villages. As the area grew in population and industry, Yixing acquired different names and administrative designations.<br /><br />During the Qin dynasty 秦代, the Yixing area was established as a district 縣 and named Yangxian 陽羨. In the Jin dynasty 晉代, Yangxian 陽羨 was changed to Yixing 義興 and established as a commandary 郡. In the Sui dynasty 隋代, Yixing 義興 commandary was abolished and created as Yangxian district 義興縣. The Tang dynasty 唐代 divided the land around Yixing 義興 and established the district of Yangxian 陽羨縣. The name Yangxian 陽羨 was abolished at the beginning of the Song dynasty 宋代 and changed to Yixing 宜興, the name that has endured ever since.<br /><br />As the names of the Yixing area changed throughout history, it was quite common to refer to Yixing as Yangxian, especially among the literati who favored old names as a literary devise. So, in poetry, literature, and history, importance is attached to knowing the many names of a place.<br /><br />Yixing is unrelated to the tea known as Hyson. Hyson is a name of tea, the origin of which has a number of stories. In China, Hyson said to be a name that comes from Xichun 熙春, meaning “splendid spring” or “flourishing spring,” a rolled green tea resembling small pearls that was sent as tribute to the Kangxi emperor 康熙帝, second ruler of the Qing dynasty 清代. In Britain, Philip Hyson was said to be an 18th century importer with the East India Company who first brought the green tea to England and sold it in his shop.<br /><br />In history, Hyson tea was said to be related to Singlo tea, a likely corruption of Songluo tea 松蘿茶. Songluo was a green tea from Huizhou 徽州, Anhui province 安徽省 that was popular during the Ming dynasty 明代. Songluo tea was created by itinerant Buddhist monks who used processing techniques borrowed from the monastic tea gardens on Tiger Hill 虎丘 in Suzhou 蘇州, Jiangsu province 江蘇省. In the Ming, the preparation of the tea was painstaking. Before firing, the tip and stem of each leaf was cut off, leaving only the middle part of the leaf. So, the finished tea had a pleasing, uniform size and color but also a very dear price. When prepared, Sungluo was easy to brew and aromatic. Sungluo tea was described as white “like the pear flower, its fragrance like bean flower buds, its drink like swallowing a bit of snow.”<br /><br />Nowadays, Hyson tea is a green tea that is long in leaf and twined; thinly rolled it has the appearance of tightly twisted threads. It is grown and processed in Sri Lanka and China and comes in a number of grades: Young Hyson, Hyson, and Hyson Skin. Young Hyson is made of young, tender leaves picked before the “grain rains,” that is to say, before April 20th. Young Hyson, the finest of the Hyson teas, is divided into three grades commonly known as Chun Mee, Foong Mee, and Sow Mee. Chun Mee or Zhenmei cha 珍眉茶 is the famous "precious eyebrow tea," and its leaves resemble the fine, arched brows of a beautiful woman. The brewed tea is described as golden yellow in color with a smooth but robust, full-bodied, pungent yet delicate flavor inclining towards bitter. Hyson is made from older, coarser leaves. Hyson Skin is made of the largest, oldest, and coarsest leaves. The primary market for Young Hyson is North and West Africa where it is extremely popular.<br /><br />I hope the above comments are of interest and help to you.<br /><br />Steve.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post-17146956292288884542009-05-18T22:36:00.000-04:002009-05-18T22:36:00.000-04:00Dear Steven, your writing is brilliant. Thank you....Dear Steven, your writing is brilliant. Thank you.<br />I am wondering about the word Yang-hsien which Lewis pointed out is yáng xiàn chá 陽羨茶 in pinyin.<br />I am not a Chinese scholar, but do read some Japanese, so my understanding of Chinese is very poor. You mentioned that yáng xiàn is the old place name for Yí xīng 宜興. When did they change the characters for the name?<br />And one more question. Is the tea which one reads about in 19th century English literature "Young Hyson" based on the same name also? Or am I totally off the track?annehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15730113077207761699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post-60415957144895462762008-05-22T09:32:00.000-04:002008-05-22T09:32:00.000-04:00Marshain,Regarding the historical information used...Marshain,<BR/><BR/>Regarding the historical information used to construct the narrative in the essay on the Song of Tea, the sources are many and varied, and include standard Chinese literary anthologies, official and unofficial histories, private writings, compendia on the history of tea, biographical dictionaries, and so on. There are also many studies in English on Chinese history that deal with the emperor and court, the roles of officials and eunuchs, taxation, and the major events of a given period. In historical studies, particularly in sinology, nothing is ever in a single source, so scholarship entails the gleaning of details from wherever they can be found and putting them together and giving them structure.<BR/><BR/>The research and writing of the essay on the Song of Tea involved looking at the poem and Lu T’ung the poet, his biography and literary works in both Chinese and English sources. These sources revealed the historical figures to whom Lu T’ung was related and the events and places with which the poet was involved. This took about six months of investigative work, following the historical clues, and writing preliminary reports on each of the primary figures and events of the narrative: Lu T’ung, the poet; Han Yü, the poet and court official; Meng Chien, the imperial censor; Wang Ya, the imperial minister, and the Sweet Dew Incident as well as mounts Wangwu and Sung. Other details about tea, the Grand Canal, the western and eastern capitals, eunuchs, and Taoism came from similar studies and reports made over several decades.<BR/><BR/>The minister Wang Ya (ca. 760-835 A.D.) serves as an example of just how varied the sources employed in the essay can be: Chung-kuo li-tai jen-ming ta-tzu-tien (Biographical Dictionary of Historical China), Chang Wei-chih et al, eds. (Shanghai: Shanghai ku-chi ch’u-pan-she, 1999), vol. 1, p. 134; Ch’en Tsung-mou, ed., Chung-kuo ch’a-ching (The Tea Classic of China, a compendium of essays on all aspects of tea)(Shanghai: Shanghai wen-hua ch’u-pan she, 1997), p. 630; Chung-kuo ch’a wen-hua ching-tien (Dictionary of Chinese Tea Culture), Ch’en Pin-fan, ed. (Peking: Kuang-ming jih-pao ch’u-pan she, 1999), pp. 33-34, 56-58. In turn, these sources cite the T’ang tsai-tzu ch’uan (Biographies of T’ang Talents), 5; Ch’üan T’ang wen (Complete Literary Works of the T’ang Dynasty), 1/734; and the Chiu T’ang shu (Old Record of the T’ang Dynasty) and Hsin T’ang shu (New Record of the T’ang Dynasty), respectively.<BR/><BR/>The above works were augmented by information in Chung-kuo ch’a-shih ta-tien (The Dictionary of Chinese Tea History) Hsü Hai-jung, ed. (Peking: Hua-hsia ch’u-pan she, 2000), p. 60; Denis C.Twitchett, Financial Administration under the T’ang Dynasty ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963), pp. 64 and 276, n. 126; Paul J. Smith, Taxing Heaven’s Storehouse: Horses, Bureaucrats, and the Destruction of the Sichuan Tea Industry, 1074-1224 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991), pp. 56 and 359, n. 30; Li Chi-fu, Yüan-ho chun-hsien t’u-chih, ch. 25, p. 338 cited in Chung-kuo ch’a wen-hua ching-tien. Ch’en Pin-fan, ed. (Peking: Kuang-ming jih-pao ch’u-pan she, 1999), p. 49; Charles O. Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985), p. 399; Chung-kuo ch’a wen-hua ching-tien, Dictionary of Chinese Tea Culture, Ch’en Pin-fan, ed. (Peking: Kuang-ming jih-pao ch’u-pan she, 1999), pp. 56-57; Denis Twitchett, and John K. Fairbank, The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 2. Part I: Sui and T’ang China, 589-906 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), p. 693; Heng Chye Kiang, Cities of Aristocrats and Bureaucrats: The Development of Medieval Chinese Cityscapes (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1999), pp. 29-33; and James J.Y. Liu, The Poetry of Li Shang-yin: Ninth-Century Baroque Chinese Poet (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1969), pp. 168-170.<BR/><BR/>Each of the figures and events in the essay have similar if not more extensive sources from which to draw. I hope this explanation gives you a better sense of the kinds of material used in the research and writing. If there is a particular figure, poem, issue, or event that you are interested in, please let me know. I will be happy to do what I can to assist.<BR/><BR/>Steve.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post-64179025214143778442008-05-21T21:37:00.000-04:002008-05-21T21:37:00.000-04:00Steve,I'm sorry if I didn't make myself clear -- I...Steve,<BR/><BR/>I'm sorry if I didn't make myself clear -- I was actually referring to the historical narrative that you've written, about the court, imperial gifts, and all. Being a dabbler in history myself, I'm rather curious where this sort of information came from. It's fascinating that you've been able to weave a very detailed narrative.MarshalNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16776398824139018801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post-89063402539111649422008-05-21T20:41:00.000-04:002008-05-21T20:41:00.000-04:00Marshain,The information on tea of the T’ang dynas...Marshain,<BR/><BR/>The information on tea of the T’ang dynasty is based on my reading of the Ch’a-ching, Book of Tea, by the poet Lu Yü (733-804/805 A.D.). Most of the information on tea in the essay comes from “Processing Tea,” part three of the first chuan or scroll of the Ch’a-ching; additional details come from “Brewing Tea,” part five of the third scroll of the Book.<BR/><BR/>I follow the earliest known version of the Book that was included in the the Pai-ch’uan hsüeh-hai (A Sea of Knowledge Formed by Hundreds of Streams, 1273 A.D. ), a collectanea compiled and printed by Tso Kuei (active ca. 1265-1274 A.D.) in the late Southern Sung dynasty (1127-1279 A.D.). Note that the version of the Book in the Sea of Knowledge was corrupt but it has been emended and punctuated by recent scholarship. Working from the Sung dynasty woodblock printed version of the Book allows for a slightly different but often more rewarding reading of the Ch’a-ching, especially when punctuation is critical in interpreting a passage or when a corrupted character or line is at issue.<BR/><BR/>If you are interested, I can provide you with a list of books that I use as references and aids to reading the Ch’a-ching.<BR/> <BR/>Steve.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post-56899399677222701772008-05-21T20:07:00.000-04:002008-05-21T20:07:00.000-04:00Lewis,Regarding T'ang tea and the question of oxid...Lewis,<BR/><BR/>Regarding T'ang tea and the question of oxidation, there was no clear description in the Ch'a-ching on the subject. From my reading of the text, it seems that tea was generally picked and processed in a single day, but there is a reference to leaves processed over night as being "dark in color So it appears from the Book of Tea that tea was processed within a day of harvesting in varying degrees of oxidation. As far as I have learned, Lu Yü did not make any comment that connected oxidation with quality in the Book.<BR/><BR/>I hope the above information is some interest and help to you. I appreciate your careful and thoughtful reading of the essay.<BR/><BR/>Steve.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post-66797566800905443342008-05-21T15:03:00.000-04:002008-05-21T15:03:00.000-04:00Hi there,Very interesting discussion. Would it be...Hi there,<BR/><BR/>Very interesting discussion. Would it be possible for you to reveal some of the sources from which such detailed information came? I'd very much like to re-read some of these texts in a new light, or perhaps find interpretations that I didn't see before.MarshalNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16776398824139018801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post-44805073447251635072008-05-21T14:29:00.000-04:002008-05-21T14:29:00.000-04:00Wow, this is getting more interesting all the time...Wow, this is getting more interesting all the time!<BR/><BR/>For me, the most tantalizing thing in your informative response is this:<BR/><BR/><I>Tea cakes were made by pounding steamed tea leaves into a smooth paste. The paste was put into cast iron moulds of various shapes and sizes and allowed to set.</I><BR/><BR/>Depending on how long the leaves withered before the steaming, as well as how thoroughly the leaves were steamed, the resulting cakes might have been fairly well oxidized and far from the green tea I'd always thought the Tang drank. In fact, the result could be something like oolong, or even CTC.<BR/><BR/>But I suppose we'll never know unless some archeologist actually <I>finds</I> a Tang tea cake!Lew Perinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05843222191460729180noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post-91168948676699067742008-05-21T09:34:00.000-04:002008-05-21T09:34:00.000-04:00Lew, Thanks for your query regarding the "grinding...Lew, <BR/><BR/>Thanks for your query regarding the "grinding" of tea. Please find the following explanation for your good reference.<BR/><BR/>Freshness in tea as an ideal was prized, but that ideal was superseded by centuries of literary and aesthetic traditions as well as connoisseurship and taste.<BR/><BR/>In Neolithic China, tea was harvested whenever the leaf was needed as herbal medicine, vegetable, or beverage. Early on, it was learned that the best tea, that is to say, the most flavorful, tenderest, and potent leaf, was picked in the late winter and early spring during tea's flush, a time when the tea plant sent forth shoots, sprouts, buds, and tender leaves. The season when tea leaves were tenderest was short and lasted only several weeks, traditionally from the second and third lunar months. Afterwards, only older, tougher leaves were available until the next year's spring harvest. Because of the desire and market for the superior flavor of spring tea leaves, there were devised several means by which tea leaves were preserved, including pastes, gels, liquid concentrates, dry leaves loose, dry compressed, and so on. The pre-T’ang and T’ang writers were, however, silent on the reasons for the various processes of preserving tea and contented themselves with just description.<BR/><BR/>By the T'ang dynasty (618-907 A.D.), the finest tea was preserved as caked tea, small wafers, bricks, or cakes formed into rounds, squares, or rectangles about the size of a large coin and about as thick. Tea cakes were made by pounding steamed tea leaves into a smooth paste. The paste was put into cast iron moulds of various shapes and sizes and allowed to set. The semi-dry cakes were then taken from the moulds and pierced with an awl and then skewered on long bamboo splints. The skewered cakes were then dried over long trenches lined with slow-burning coals. When thoroughly dried, the cakes were removed from the skewers and strung on cords. These cords of cakes were made according to weight. Among connoisseurs, every effort was made to keep the cakes dry as a way to further preserve and store fine tea.<BR/><BR/>To make a bowl or cauldron of tea, the tea master selected a tea cake and toasted it at the brazier, a small, portable stove. Using tea tongs, preferably made of fresh, green bamboo, the master heated the cake, bending and unbending the hot pliable wafer until it was toasted and cooked. The cake was then placed in a clean bag of fine, white paper to cool slightly. At the right time, the master than took the cake from the paper bag and placed it in a mill to grind the cake into a very, very fine powder that was then sifted until it was the consistency of "rice flour," extremely fine powder. The cauldron was filled with about a pint of spring water and carefully watched through three boils: “fish eyes,” “strung pearls,” and “mounting and swelling wave.” At the second boil, a dipper of water was taken from the cauldron and held in reserve. At the third boil, a measure of tea powder was placed in the cauldron which on the tea's introduction erupted and roiled until the reserve dipper of water was poured in to stop the boil and temper the brewing tea. The finely powdered tea was suspended in the water as particulate matter and floating as foam and froth - the "floreate essence" of the brew. The tea was ladled into bowls along with as much froth as possible and then drunk.<BR/><BR/>The look of a T'ang powdered tea cake appeared like matcha, Japanese green tea powder. And the look of a T'ang bowl of tea appeared much as a bowl of whisked powdered green tea made by a Japanese tea master. However, the foam of T'ang tea was described by T'ang poets, including Lu Yü in the Ch'a-ching, Book of Tea, as "white on white like drifting snow." It was the height of sophistication to observe and note the residue of fine, light foam “cooling and congealing” against the side of the celadon bowl.<BR/><BR/>Nowadays, caked tea of the T’ang is often confused with compressed tea. The modern age has experienced preserved tea in a few forms: powdered tea (matcha), tea dust (tea bags), dried tea leaves, and compressed dried tea leaves (bricked P'u-erh). Caked tea was a much more complex and labor-intensive process, so time consuming and expensive that in 1391, the first Ming emperor, who considered caked tea a burdensome tax on the tea industry and its peasant workers, forbade the making of caked tea and ushered in the popular use of dried leaf tea and teapots.<BR/><BR/>It is hard to imagine T'ang tea, especially because the tea was so very highly processed and the definition of fine tea and its particular criteria were not explained but were considered secrets to be transmitted from tea master to adept. Lu Yü was himself dismissive of connoisseurship that "ruminated on taste and fragrance" and only acknowledged two kinds of tea: good tea and bad tea. Unfortunately, he quite haughtily neglected to describe just what good tea was.<BR/><BR/>Steve.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post-88685307095863784512008-05-19T11:52:00.000-04:002008-05-19T11:52:00.000-04:00Sorry, but there's something in your article that ...Sorry, but there's something in your article that puzzled me.<BR/><BR/>You write that Tang tea cakes were compressed from leaves that had already been ground up. (Of course, one would grind the cake again later just before whipping up a bowl of tea.)<BR/><BR/>This seems odd to me. Why grind the leaves twice? And, perhaps more importantly, wouldn't this have exacerbated problems with freshness?<BR/><BR/>I wonder if you've seen any text from the Tang in which an author explains why they did it this way.Lew Perinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05843222191460729180noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post-34002906353281751552008-05-13T12:17:00.000-04:002008-05-13T12:17:00.000-04:00Lewis,Thank you very much for your words of apprec...Lewis,<BR/><BR/>Thank you very much for your words of appreciation. The history of tea is filled with such wonderful stories.<BR/><BR/>Yes, Yangxian is indeed the Pinyin for the Wade-Giles romanization of Yang-hsien. And, yes, Yangxian is the ancient place name for Yixing, the production site of the famous tea ceramic.<BR/><BR/>In terms of the history of tea, Yixing was quite quite important as a source of fine tea early on and then later for tea implements in the Ming dynasty. It is a fascinating story, particularly the evolution of the Yixing teapot and the tales of all the great early artists.<BR/><BR/>I hope I can share it with you and other tea lovers in the near future.<BR/><BR/>Steve.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post-13471782907909995072008-05-12T17:32:00.000-04:002008-05-12T17:32:00.000-04:00Thanks so much for this fascinating essay.I believ...Thanks so much for this fascinating essay.<BR/><BR/>I believe the Pinyin for Yang-hsien would be Yangxian, which is to say, the old name for a place that's once again important to tea lovers: Yixing.Lew Perinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05843222191460729180noreply@blogger.com