Tea and Chinese Studies
Mr. Yu Yue discussed the relationship between Chinese Studies and tea culture from three aspects: interpreting names, distinguishing meanings, and observing people. Sinology refers to the knowledge about traditional Chinese culture, and Chinese tea culture is an important part of traditional culture and has a non-negligible impact on the development of the character of the Chinese nation. Chinese studies should include tea culture, and tea culture is an integral part of Chinese studies. Chinese studies include the study of textual research, the study of poetry, the study of economics, and the study of principles. Tea culture also has these aspects, and the spiritual core of the two is connected. Many Chinese masters are fond of tea and have incisive discussions on tea culture. Qian Mu emphasized that Qin tea has become a cultural event, that is, a matter of human life. "The history of Chinese tea drinking is also an important part of Chinese social history and humanities history." The view of "One Project" is particularly academically enlightening. Another article pointed out that how can we take advantage of the trend? He believes that we are currently facing five problems: first, subject status, second, academic vision, third, data mining, and fourth, International exchanges, and the fifth is talent cultivation.
Regarding tea and Chinese studies, Yu Yue started from Shi Ming and pointed out that “in short, Chinese studies and tea culture are the inheritance of Chinese traditional culture, which are contemporary, national and diverse. sex. "His "Bianyi" talks about the integration of tea and Chinese studies, analyzing it from four aspects: textual research, classics, vocabulary and doctrine, and believes that there are many intersections. The so-called "viewing people" is actually the tea practice of masters of Chinese studies.
In Zhu Xi's ideological system, he knew that tea was a symbol of purity, neutrality and clear ethics. He drank tea and discussed Taoism with tea, which was quite thought-provoking. Although Zhu Xi's theory was not taken seriously by the rulers at that time. After his death, the rulers realized the value of his theory, so the "Four Books Annotations" which he spent more than forty years revising repeatedly became the standard answer for the imperial examination. Because his teachings have influenced China for thousands of years.
If Zhu Xi is an ancient man, then this Chinese master's preference for tea and his unique insight into tea culture have become a popular legacy. There is no dispute that Wang Guowei is a master of Chinese studies in modern times. Since his suicide has become an unsolved historical issue, in the minds of many people he is a moral defender and a conservative, and he is also unsmiling. "Wang Guowei's Academic Essays" contains his writings about tea customs, showing a side of his life that ordinary people don't understand. Besides, Lu Xun is recognized as a thinker and writer, but he is not a master of Chinese studies. , but some people still have doubts. However, he has already been listed as a master of Chinese studies in a monograph published by a publishing house, and he is also among the top in online voting. There is no doubt about it.
Lu Xun also had an inseparable bond with tea, and there were many joyful events in his tea activities, including drinking tea, buying tea, and giving tea as gifts. He tasted life through drinking tea, enjoyed tea, and reached the state of life through drinking tea. It is especially noteworthy that Mr. Lu Xun has many records about tea in his diary and novels. There are also many books about tea, such as "Hometown" and "The True Story of Ah Q". Drinking less alcohol and more tea is of course a scientific way of drinking tea.
Mr. Qian Mu combined tea utensils, tea customs and tea history. He has a very influential saying: "Write a history of Chinese tea drinking, which is an important item in the history of Chinese social history and humanities. "(Qian Mu's "Modern Chinese Academic Essay")) I think with the relevant discussions of these masters of Chinese studies, we can say that Chinese studies and tea culture are connected, and the essence of Chinese studies and tea culture are connected. All masters of Chinese studies The characters are all concerned about the trend of tea culture and hope to invest in the research of tea culture.
What needs to be particularly pointed out here is that tea science is a metaphysical extension and elaboration of the aesthetics of traditional Chinese values. It is not only produced in the context of Confucianism, the backbone of Chinese studies, but also reflects more Confucian ideas. It also has similarities with Buddhism and Taoism in terms of personal cultivation and character cultivation, and also has similarities in its application to the world. For example, the palace tea ceremony in the Tang Dynasty was characterized by the emphasis on complexity and hierarchical etiquette, with the goal of harmonizing all nations. The main purpose is to pursue the highest state of harmony between China and foreign countries, unity of the top and bottom, and the integration of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, starting from using tea to purify the mind and moving towards using tea to govern the country.
What we need to think about now is how to view tea culture now. In the State Council document, calligraphy, music and dance, opera and high art are clearly mentioned, but tea culture is not explicitly mentioned. This shows that from top to bottom, people’s understanding of tea culture is still relatively vague. In any case, this is a serious lack of tea researchers! Some tea people may be lucky enough to think that tea culture is "etc." in the State Council documents. I understand it as a kind of relief or comfort given to us by the young tea people.
From the perspective of content and ideological development, while tea is a people's livelihood industry, people give tea special responsibilities and connotations: in the process of cooking and drinking, create an elegant atmosphere and awe. We should look at the relationship between people, people and nature, and people and society, and use the strong spirit of self-improvement to eliminate injustice and achieve the highest goal of harmony. He Jing Qing Jian, or summarized as He Ya Jing Jian, is the Chinese people’s expression and display of tea science to the profound meaning of Chinese culture.
From the perspective of academic practice, since "Fu" and "The Book of Tea", tea science research includes the expression and improvement of the spiritual world after appreciating tea, making tea and tasting tea, and drinking tea. The discussion of tea’s practical application has been developed and passed down from generation to generation. Huizong of the Song Dynasty wrote "Daguan Tea Theory". Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty visited the tea mountains and wrote poems about tea. He left behind the feeling that a country cannot live without a king for a day, and a king cannot live without tea for a day. At present, tea science research has been going on for more than 30 years, and there is great potential for success.
Tea science in a broad sense includes cultivation, biology, botany, nutrition, etc. that are natural sciences, tea processing that is engineering, and history, literature, aesthetics-philosophy, and literature that are humanities. Science, folklore and anthropology-ethnology, etc. The design of tea utensils has many aspects such as engineering and humanities. Tea science in the narrow sense is the tea ceremony culture with tea art and aesthetics, thought and spiritual culture as its core. The reason why we include tea-related content including natural science content within the scope of broad tea science is that the tea ceremony aesthetics in a certain period determines the standards of tea processing in this period, thereby designing the emergence of new tea products. The research, design and production of tea utensils have been a category closely related to the aesthetics of the tea ceremony since ancient times - there are many components that belong to the craft category.
As far as the tea ceremony culture, which is the core of tea science, is closely related internally and externally with music, chess, calligraphy and painting, flower arrangement, and incense burning. Qin, here is not just a guqin, it represents music and involves dance. Books, not only calligraphy, but also reading. Painting is not only Chinese painting and the creative process of Chinese painting, but also represents art and aesthetic experience.
3. The irreplaceability of tea ceremony culture and its mission of the times
1. It is still impossible for the existing cultural categories and art categories to completely replace tea ceremony culture.
Music and dance, TV and movies, opera and folk art, art theory and art creation, calligraphy theory and calligraphy practice, etc. cannot be completely integrated into the tea ceremony. Not only that, tea and Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in traditional Chinese culture have gained a lot of knowledge in aesthetics and personal practice. These consciousnesses are not about physical behavior and artistic expression, but about certain aspects of values ??and aesthetics that have the greatest common denominator - this is what we call He Jing Qing Jian or He Ya Jing Jian above. Therefore, tea ceremony culture is a comprehensive cultural form that existed in the past and continues to exist. Du Yu, Lu Yu, Zhao Ji, Zhu Quan, Wu Juenong, Chen Wenhua, etc. have tried to systematize it but have not been able to achieve it so far.
2. The combination of discovery, inheritance and innovation of the times.
Today we have sufficient conditions to call for the birth of Chinese tea science with tea ceremony culture as its core. Tea-related tea culture, tea art training manuals, Chinese tea history, etc. have entered the cultural education system as teaching materials and have continued for decades.
At the same time, we see that we have not yet achieved complete theoretical agreement on Chinese tea science and Chinese tea ceremony culture, and we also lack national academic authority. When expressed in social practice, it will appear chaotic. Just the names of the various tea ceremonies are extremely confusing. We advocate that they be collectively called Chinese Tea Ceremony**, Chinese Tea Ceremony Longjing Tea Brewing Method, and Chinese Tea Ceremony Wuzi Tea Brewing Method. They should not be called "Chinese Wuzi Tea Ceremony", "Chinese Longjing Tea Ceremony", and "Daguanyuan Tea Ceremony". It's a bit funny. In recent years, additional singing, dancing or other forms of performances during the tea art process have often become the main content of the success of the tea art performance, while the taste of the tea brewing and tea soup by the tea art staff has been ignored. I think this is putting the cart before the horse and buying the cake for the pearl. It is the result of tea merchants attracting the attention of the audience. Therefore, the integration of tea science theory and the standardization of practice are still needed for the reconstruction of tea science.