Tea is a beverage made from the buds and leaves of the tea tree. However, many people do not necessarily know that it was not originally made as a drink, and its name was not called or written as "tea" at the earliest. Those who may know the characteristics, evolution and origin of the tea tree, etc. less. Therefore, in order to deepen everyone's comprehensive understanding of the history and culture of tea, it is necessary to give a brief introduction at the beginning of this book about the tea tree, its origin, the discovery and utilization of tea, etc.
(1) Tea tree and tea leaves
Tea tree is a perennial evergreen woody plant. In our country, as Lu Yu said in "The Book of Tea": "Tea is the best tree in the south." It was originally a tree species growing in the south.
The scientific name of tea tree is Camelliasinensis (L.) O. Kurtze, in the plant classification system, belongs to Angiospermae, Dicotyledoneae, Archichlamydeae, Theales, Theaceae, Camellia . In the existing literature, the scientific name of tea was first seen in "Planta Species" by Linnaeus, an outstanding Swedish botanist, in 1753. In the book, the scientific name of tea is given as "Theasinensis L."
The indicative "sinensis" here means "China" in Latin.
So, what does this tea tree, which was originally only grown in China, look like? Before the emergence of modern science, Lu Yu's description had been used in ancient Chinese books for more than a thousand years: "The trees are like melons and reeds, the leaves are like daffodils, the flowers are like white roses, and the stems are like tangerines." Like cloves, roots like walnuts. "These comparisons about tea trees are also common methods used to describe the external forms of plants in ancient my country. According to the current introduction of botany and tea science, due to the influence of external environmental conditions and different branching habits, the external shape of the plant can be divided into trees, semi-trees and shrubs; the crown can be upright, spread or semi-tree. There are many types such as spread sheets. Before the tea buds germinate, they are cone-shaped and protected by 2-3 scales. The leaves are mostly oval or oval, single and alternate, with serrated leaf margins, leathery leaves, the main veins are obviously connected to the ends of the lateral veins, and the young leaves have hairs. The flowers are in short-axis racemes, white and a few are pink, and the flowers are bisexual. The fruit is a capsule with green skin that turns dark brown when mature. The size of the seeds varies depending on the variety. The root system consists of main roots, branch roots and fine roots. The main root is thick and grows vertically, while the branch roots and fine roots are distributed horizontally in the tillage layer. ?
Tea trees, like other cultivated plants, evolved from wild plants into crops through domestication. It is very obvious that the direct reason for the transformation of tea tree from wild to cultivated is its drinking value as a beverage. Lu Tong, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote in a poem praising tea: "One bowl moistens the throat with kisses; two bowls break the loneliness; three bowls search the withered intestines, but only five thousand volumes of writing; four bowls make people sweat lightly, and their lives are uneventful." Things are scattered to the pores; five bowls are used to clear the muscles and bones; six bowls are used to communicate with spirits; seven bowls cannot be eaten, but the cool breeze is felt in the armpits. "
In the Tang Dynasty, tea was drunk from a bowl, and tea was exaggerated in the lyrics. Drink seven bowls and you will transform into an immortal.
There has never been any fairy in the world, and tea is certainly not a magic medicine; however, because tea contains a large number of ingredients with high nutritional and medicinal value, it is a kind of medicine that is beneficial to the human body. A good drink for health. According to analysis, tea contains more than 300 chemical components, including proteins, fats, amino acids, carbohydrates, vitamins, tea polyphenols, tea elements, aromatic oils, lipopolysaccharides, etc., all of which are indispensable to the human body and have different effects. of important nutrients and medicinal substances. Some of these ingredients are actually a large category, such as tea polyphenols, which include more than 30 phenolic substances; vitamins can be specifically divided into vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, C, More than 10 ingredients including D, E, K, H, P and myo-inositol. As for the role of tea in preventing and curing diseases, there are not only many records in ancient Chinese books, but also unanimously recognized by the medical community at home and abroad.
For example, tea has varying degrees of efficacy in preventing and treating dysentery, gastroenteritis, nephritis, hepatitis, diabetes, hypertension, arteriosclerosis, coronary heart disease, cancer, leukopenia, radiation damage, etc. For example, tea, especially green tea, has anti-cancer effects. According to a survey in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, it was found that the incidence and mortality of cancer in tea areas, especially green tea production areas, are significantly lower than in other places. This investigation is consistent with the results of the anti-cancer test of tea tannins (tea polyphenols) by Professor Takuo Okuda of the Department of Pharmacy, Okayama University, Japan. Okuda Takuo's research pointed out that tea tannins have a significant inhibitory effect on mutators that cause sudden mutations. It is now basically clear that the anti-cancer component in tea is mainly catechin; this component contains about 15%-20% in green tea. In addition, the vitamins C and E contained in tea also have certain anti-cancer auxiliary effects. Perhaps it is because of this that tea is praised as a "safe drink", "health drink", "healthy and longevity drink" abroad. Among thousands of wild plants, the discovery and selection of tea buds and leaves as beverages is undoubtedly a great contribution to mankind and world culture. And this major discovery is nothing more than the great achievements and achievements of our China and the Chinese nation. For a long time in ancient times, our country was the only country in the world that drank tea and knew how to grow and make tea. Later, probably in the Tang Dynasty, Korea and Japan, our neighbors to the east, were the first to learn to drink and grow tea from our country and gradually It has become a unique culture in the East and even the world.
(2) The origin and original distribution center of tea trees
my country is the first country in the world to drink tea and develop tea. Of course, it is also the place where tea trees originate. The author believes that the "origin" we are talking about here should actually refer to the original distribution area before artificial cultivation. Historical facts tell us that any kind of crops and cultivated plants, especially under ancient conditions, have a domestication process. In other words, they are all collected from the wild and then developed into artificial cultivation. Therefore, we can say with certainty that at least in ancient times, the country or region where a certain plant was first used and cultivated was the area where the plant originated; this is a rule and truth.
If this is the case, then why are we still talking about the origin of the tea tree? This is because in the past one or two decades, tea experts in my country have set off a heated discussion on the origin of the tea tree. It can be said that a hundred schools of thought contend and a hundred flowers bloom. Not only have a variety of opinions been discussed, but even prejudices have been debated, so we will also take the opportunity to discuss it here. Tell us what we think.
As for the previous discussion on the origin of tea trees in my country, we must first affirm that there are achievements. Because the essence of this discussion, the motivation and purpose of most participants is to prove that tea is originated from China. This point can be seen in the works of Mr. Chen Rong or the masterpieces of Mr. Chen Binfan and Mr. Wu Juenong. They used relevant results from all disciplines from various angles, including the evolution of tea trees, changes in the natural environment, and wild tea trees. The distribution of tea and the etymology of tea, etc., have been extensively cited, and a lot of materials have been accumulated and a large number of arguments have been provided for research in this area. This is undoubtedly an improvement and in-depth study. However, repeating a proposition and listing these issues in every book seems repetitive and redundant. Therefore, while the author emphasizes that the discussion should be innovative, we are not going to repeat what everyone has already proposed and agreed upon here.
Some people described this discussion as a polemic and academic debate with certain foreign bourgeois scholars. In fact, we didn’t find many opposites abroad. We came up with our own questions and did our own work; we discussed but didn’t fight, and we didn’t argue much. Therefore, what we criticize, except for a few people who are still alive, are all old friends and old words. For example, the initiators of the "theory of tea tree origin in India" - the British colonial officials in India, the Burki brothers, were in the 1920s and 1930s of the last century. Later books mentioned that in 1877, Belden stated in "Assam Tea Tree" that tea trees in China and Japan were "imported from India". This is not so much that they "deliberately distorted the facts and slandered China." The image of the origin of the tea tree"; rather they are trying to gain support for the development of tea cultivation in India or South Asia and are ignorant of the history of tea in China.
Because, in the 1820s, as the main British ruling institution in India, the British East India Company was more interested in maintaining the tea trade with China than developing tea cultivation in India and South Asian colonies. interest. The British East India Company monopolized China's tea export trade for two centuries starting in the 17th century. In the process of this Sino-British tea trade, if in the previous period due to the continuous growth of London tea trade and re-export, Britain was in a disadvantageous situation of long-term deficit, then, starting from the late 18th century, the British East India Company invented the method of smuggling opium. After offsetting the trade deficit, their trade with China quickly changed from balance to surplus. Some people estimate that by the early 1900s, the ships of the British East India Company unloaded the opium they carried in Guangzhou, and they could load back a ship full of tea and a huge amount of silver without spending a yuan. Therefore, for the British East India Company, it not only had to figure out whether tea could be grown in India, but also whether it was more cost-effective to grow tea or opium.
This is also true. The obstacles to growing tea in the British colonies in South Asia at that time were not the long history of the Chinese tea industry and the monopoly of the world tea trade, but mainly the British East India Company. lack of attention and support. Because not to mention the 1820s, but also in the mid-19th century, the British in India at that time promoted that "India is the origin of the tea tree" and called for the development of tea cultivation in India. During the entire process, they did not and did not need to deny anything to China. To coincide with each other, they organized time and again to inspect China, purchase tea seeds and tea seedlings, and recruit Chinese tea growing and tea making technicians, turning their publicity and development of the tea industry into a high-profile activity to imitate China. For example, as early as 1788, a British scientist named Pencks compiled a pamphlet on the introduction of tea trees and the development of the tea industry in India. In 1815, a Gothic doctor revised and supplemented Pencks' pamphlet, and urged relevant parties to vigorously develop tea cultivation in northwest Bengal. In addition, during this period, a scientific investigation group was specially organized to conduct in-depth inspections and collect tea species in China's tea areas. However, all the above-mentioned efforts were due to the East India Company's attitude towards canceling the pole, so the requirements and plans for developing the tea industry in India remained on paper. By the 1920s and 1930s, due to the expiration of the East India Company's 1833 contract to monopolize China's tea trade and the Qing government's refusal to renew it, a group of colonialists in the UK and in India became more active in advocating Tea cultivation developed in India and South Asia. For example, in 1825, the British Technical Association established a public award to reward the owners who grew the most tea and had the best tea quality in India or other British colonies. In January 1934, the British Governor-General in India officially approved the establishment of the "Indian Tea Committee", which was responsible for the study of the introduction of Chinese tea trees in India. Soon after its establishment, the Indian Tea Board carried out two tasks: First, it widely distributed notices to publicize the climate, soil and other environmental conditions suitable for growing tea trees; second, it sent Secretary Gordon to China to study the cultivation and manufacturing methods of tea. , purchasing tea seeds and hiring tea workers, etc. Since then, there have been continuous records of the introduction of tea trees to China in British and Indian documents, among which the introduction in 1850-1851 was the most ideal. The tea seeds purchased from China this time were still very bright in color when they were shipped to Kolkata. Later, 12,000 plants were planted in the northeastern mountains and their quality was as good as that of the Assamese varieties. It once became the first successful introduction of Chinese tea trees. example.
So, from the above historical facts, the British colonists claimed that "India is the origin of tea tree", and on the other hand, they continued to introduce a large number of tea trees from China. At that time, they proposed that "India is the origin of tea tree". This view is not to deny China, but mainly to create more public opinion for them to develop the tea industry in India. Therefore, if saying that "tea trees originate from India" means denying that China is the origin of tea trees, then at best this is just an obvious lie in exchange for social permission and support for the development of the Indian tea industry. Of course, when we say this, we do not include some pseudo-scholars in the late last century and this century who deliberately confused the facts and belittled the achievements of China's tea industry by borrowing the "Tea tree originated in India" theory.
However, looking back, such people are individual and individual after all. Is it worth spending so much time and energy to criticize them? May be reconsidered. On this point, the reflections of foreign academic circles are of great reference. Their tea experts do not blindly follow what the British said in the past, "India is the origin of the tea tree," nor do they show much special interest in my country's defense of the origin of the tea tree in recent years.
Because, as mentioned above, if we understand the origin of tea trees as the original distribution, then China, as the country where tea drinking and the tea industry first originated, regardless of whether India is also the origin of tea trees, its The historical fact itself is the unshakable and natural origin without any other proof. The reason is very simple. Whether it is cultivated plants or domesticated animals, their introduction, especially in ancient times, can only be the introduction of those objects whose value has already been demonstrated or have been domesticated and utilized by humans. Of course, the distribution of wild animals or plants will also change or expand geographically under the influence of certain external factors, but these all fall into the category of natural spread. The difference between natural propagation and artificial introduction is that the latter is a conscious action. This means that when no one in India or the world knew what the tea tree was and how it was used, our ancestors would never have brought the tea tree from India to China for cultivation in ancient times. Therefore, the earliest tea discovered and utilized in China would only be tea trees that originally grew in our country. By the way, it may be precisely because of the simple truth mentioned above that tea experts from various countries have no or few responses to the "theory of tea tree origin in India" proposed by the British; discussion, and there were no opponents. This means that after the issue of "Indian tea tree origin" emerged in the last century, even if some people wanted to use it to deny the status of China's tea tree origin, there was no great chaos in the international tea academic community, and it was not actually affected much by this. On the issue of the origin of tea trees, there is not much confusion abroad, but in the previous discussion in our country, it seemed a bit extreme and confusing.
To be extreme is to regard the individual as the general, to criticize and treat the intentions of individual British scholars on the origin of tea tree as a formal point of view or tendency, to take the problem seriously, and even Some articles have changed from academic discussions to academic criticism. In Chaos, everyone has different bases and angles of discussion, and everyone has his or her own opinion. Our point of view is relatively clear. The origin of tea trees refers to the areas where tea trees were originally distributed before artificial cultivation of tea trees. However, some scholars understand the place of origin as the "original origin of the tea tree", that is, the area where the tea tree originated. For example, some articles insist that "Yunnan and Xishuangbanna are the origin and center of origin of tea trees" in my country; obviously, this opinion regards the origin as the "birthplace" of tea trees and the distribution center before artificial cultivation. , regarded as the original center of the tea tree (also known as the origin center). There is only one word difference between these two understandings of origin, "original" and "original", but in terms of time, the content of the two is tens of millions of years apart. When did the tea tree originate? According to the method of botanical classification, some people infer that the tea tree "occurred from the end of the Mesozoic Era to the early part of the Cenozoic Era". The specific age is "60 to 70 million years old since its origin." As for the distribution before artificial cultivation, it might as well be earlier. Counting from the discovery and utilization of tea, and at the end of the day, starting from the "Shennong Era", it only took a few thousand to tens of thousands of years. The two different understandings of the origin of the tea tree are not only far apart in time, but also have undergone great changes in the environment. For example, at the beginning of the Tertiary Period, mainland China and the Indian subcontinent were still two pieces of land facing each other across the sea. The Himalayas, now known as the "Roof of the World," were not the geosyncline that connected but separated China and India. If the age inference of the origin of the tea tree above is correct, then it seems unlikely that the place of origin is understood as the place of origin. At that time, India was an isolated island in the sea, and the systematic evolution and final formation of the tea tree seems unlikely; in this sense, the origin of the tea tree or The center of origin will generally be mainland China.
Some scholars have verified that "?" is "~--", which refers to tea in "Erya". During the Han Dynasty, the drinking and production of tea had already developed in Bashu and Jingchu. At this time, the tea cooked and drank was no longer fresh leaves but processed tea. No traces of dried and processed tea leaves can be found in sealed and well-preserved tombs like Mawangdui. Where can we find the remains of the first tea drinkers in the vast mountains of southern China? Ruins? How can we discover and identify the tea that was first drunk when we find such a site? ! Second, historical common sense tells us that tea sets or tea sets were produced at a certain stage of development of tea production and drinking. People first used them to cook, serve and drink tea, which were the stoves and tableware that people used daily at that time. . There were no special tea utensils in prehistory, so asking archaeologists to provide tea utensils to prove whether tea was drunk in prehistoric times is not a deliberate attempt to make trouble? Therefore, we think that rather than waiting for an impossible proof to prove it, it is better to accept a proof that is already somewhat provable. After all, we believe that tea drinking in our country "dated its origins in prehistory". zHhub`?4e gt;?S{R?
Our country’s legend about Shennong not only shows us clues to the prehistoric origin of tea drinking, but also provides us with the discovery, utilization and even development of tea as a drink. process, provides such an outline. ?8? 粌N!
蚚祖勖刬
According to Lu Yu's "Tea Classic", we have pointed out earlier that the lower limit of the Shen Nong era was the legendary "Yan Emperor" era. The end of primitive clan society. Here, based on the contents of "Xinyu" and "Huainanzi" quoted above, it is not difficult for us to determine that the upper limit of the Shennong era should be the primitive collection stage of pre-agriculture. In the pre-agricultural collection economic activities, people invented agriculture through different needs, "seeking for edible things and tasting the disasters of hundreds of herbs"; in order to enable everyone to "know where to avoid", "taste the taste of hundreds of herbs, taste the disasters of water springs" "Sweet and bitter" created the original medicine. From the two different uses and development of collection, the discovery and utilization of tea is obviously not related to agriculture (food) but can only be related to primitive medicine. The saying in ancient books that "Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs, encountered seventy poisons in one day, and got tea to relieve them" reflects exactly this background. That is to say, Shennong's legendary materials also show us that the discovery and utilization of tea was not initially introduced to the world as a drink but as a herbal medicine.