Origin and Present Status of the Tea-Eating Customs of the Ethnic Groups in the Mountainous Regions in Southwestern China. Origi
Origin and present status of the tea-eating customs of the ethnic groups in the mountainous regions in southwestern China. 2 Qinjin Liu' ,Ron~bo XU , Jiashun Gong' I:Tea Science InstituteInsti1ute ofSouthwest Agricultural University,Beibe~Chongqing,400716,p.RChina 2: Wha sha teas Trading,646B Upper Serangoon Road, Singapore Abstract It is universally ac~ that southwes1em China is the center of all the native places oftea in the world Utili2ationUtilization oftea dates back to 3<XX> years ago, Le. to the West Zhou Dynasty (1066 B.c.)B.C.) in China's history. Starting fiom "eating raw as medicine", it11,mdually11,mduaIly developed to "eating cooked as vegetable", to"eating cooked as a beverage" ardto the present day's "direct drinkirig by infusion". Tea has now become a vet)' popular drink, which is thought to be COIldtrive to building up health in the world. In the native place of tea and its adjacentadiacent mountainous regionc; in Ymnan, Sichuan, Chongqing. Guizhou, Hube~ HWlaIl and Guangxi,G. especially in the WuIinW~ and DdOO Mountains, Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and in the Hengduan Molllltain'i,MoUl1lain<i, the local inhabitanls~itants ofHans and the edmic groups ofMia>, fuw..fuw., Yao, QU, Gero and T4iia have up to now kept the folk customs ofoffering tea to guests for "eating". The authors ofdie paper spent 3 years making atour ofover 5000 Ion, collected a lot ofphysical and written materials for expounding the popularity and regionality ofthe tea-eating folklore.fo1k1ore. ApplyingApp\ying the nrincinles in edmic culture science and economic geography, this paper discusses the evolution ofthe folk custom of''tea ~-,-~ the inevitability and rationalitY.rationalitY, ofits survival ThiS work is also intended to supply a new theoreticall:xNstheoretical txNs for the development offunctiooalfunctiooaI foods made with tea as its main raw material.
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