Tea in China explores the contours of religious and cultural
transformation in traditional China from the point of view of an
everyday commodity and popularbeverage. Th e work traces the
development of tea drinking from its mythical origins to the
nineteenth century and examines the changes in aesthetics, ritual,
science, health, and knowledge that tea brought with it. Th e shift
in drinking habits that occurred in late medieval China cannot be
understood without an appreciation of the fact that Buddhist monks
were responsible for not only changing people’s attitudes toward
the intoxicating substance, but also the proliferation of tea
drinking. Monks had enjoyed a long association with tea in South
China, but it was not until Lu Yu’s compilation of the Chajing
(The Classic of Tea) and the spread of tea drinking by itinerant
Chan monastics that tea culture became popular throughout the
empire and beyond. Tea was important for maintaining long periods
of meditation; it also provided inspiration for poets and
profoundly aff ected the ways in which ideas were exchanged. Prior
to the eighth century, the aristocratic drinking party had excluded
monks from participating in elite culture. Over cups of tea,
however, monks and literati could meet on equal footing and share
in the same aesthetic values.Monks and scholars thus found common
ground in the popular stimulant - one with few side eff ects that
was easily obtainable and provided inspiration and energy for
composing poetry and meditating. In addition, rituals associated
with tea drinking were developed in Chan monasteries, aiding in the
transformation of China’s sacred landscape at the popular and
elite level. Pilgrimages to monasteries that grew their own tea
were essential in the spread of tea culture, and some monasteries
owned vast tea plantations. By the end of the ninth century, tea
was a vital component in the Chinese economy and in everyday life.
Tea in China transcends the boundaries of religious studies and
cultural history as it draws on a broad range of materials -
poetry, histories, liturgical texts, monastic regulations - many
translated or analyzed for the fi rst time. Th e book will be of
interest to scholars of East Asia and all those concerned with the
religious dimensions of commodity culture in the premodern world.
General
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