Chinese Social Sciences Today Review & Analysis THURSDAY APRIL 11 2019 5

However, most extant referen- Translation and research of classic tially valuable books and records about tea culture are aged. Some information is outdated and im- promoted to world practical in developed society. Thus when translating tea culture documents, including The Classic of Tea, Chinese and foreign trans- CULTURAL COMMUNICATION lators alike have depended largely By YUAN MENGYAO on foreignization and occasional and DONG XIAOBO domestication in their translation methodologies, in a bid to dissem- Tea is one of the main symbols of inate tea culture more efficiently. the Chinese culture. As early as in the Western Han Dynasty (202 Cultural blending BCE–8 CE), tea and tea culture The Classic of Tea and Chinese had been spread overseas. The tea culture have been influential Classic of Tea, also translated into overseas not only because they in- Cha Ching based on the Wade- tensified other countries’ interest Giles romanization system, not in studying Chinese tea and were only advanced the development of fused into their daily customs, tea culture in , but also gen- but also because they profoundly erated extensive influence abroad. impacted the literature, art and Authored by tea aesthetic communities of other expert (733–804), who has nations. been honored as the Sage of Tea, After the introduction of The the masterpiece is the first known Classic of Tea to the West, a great monograph on tea in the world. number of tea culture mono- Studying the outbound transmis- Tang Dynasty tea expert Lu Yu (733–804) and part of his magnum opus The Classic of Tea Photo: FILE graphs that were modeled after sion of tea culture in ancient times the Chinese classic emerged, and along with the history of the trans- troduced into Japan in the South- leaves via land routes has had a liam Ukers compiled and pub- many countries tailored the tea lation of The Classic of Tea will ern Song Dynasty (1127–1279). In long history. In the Han Dynasty lished the book All About Tea. “It ceremony to their cultural conven- provide reference for the telling of the mid-12th century, Japanese (202 BCE–220 CE), silk and tea remained for Lu Yu, a Chinese tions. The tailoring attempts are Chinese stories and the dissemi- monk Myoan Eisai came to China leaves were valuables carried west scholar, to compile, about 780 CE, interesting instances of integration nation of Chinese culture in the twice and took tea seeds and many through the Silk Road. In the Tang the Cha Ching, the first book to in cross-cultural communication contemporary era. documents related to tea culture Dynasty, tea drinking was trendy be devoted in its entirety to tea,” that reflect how other countries back to Japan, including a hand- in the Central Plains. Arabs from Ukers stated at the beginning of see Chinese culture. Overseas influences written copy of the tea classic. West Asia, who came to China for his tea monograph. “To Lu Yu, In the 17th and 18th centuries, China was the first country in The tea ceremony prevailed trade purposes, were important the early Chinese agriculturists for example, British and French the world to grow tea on a large in modern Japan, when grow- carriers for the westward trans- were heavily indebted. And if their people preferred to use Chinese scale and foster a tea-drinking ing numbers of scholars began mission of Chinese tea culture. debt was heavy, how much more pottery as tea ware, and using tin custom. The tea culture and its to explore tea culture. During the While buying great quantities of so is the debt which all the world pots, iron kettles or stainless-steel comprehensive system were Edo period (1603–1867), Japan silk and porcelain, they also took owes,” he added. Much content of tea kettles was viewed as poor brought into being in the Tang started to reprint The Classic of tea leaves back to their homeland. Ukers’s book came directly from taste. The ambience echoed the Dynasty (618–907), the heyday Tea, particularly the version edited Tea customs hence caught on in the tea classic, and the full text “China craze” in Britain at that of economic, political and cul- by scholar Zheng Si from the Ming some regions of West Asia rapidly. was included. time. As China was seen as an tural development in ancient Dynasty (1368–1644). In 1774, The wave swept not only Northern Due to his limited knowledge ideal country in European culture China, and The Classic of Tea Daiten Zenji made detailed anno- and Western Europe, but even as of Chinese culture, Ukers simply then, the Chinese way of tea, as a came out during this period. The tations to the book using katakana far as Africa. introduced the main idea of each token for elegance, was blended monumental book consists of and Chinese characters, composing The Classic of Tea was imported chapter of Lu Yu’s magnum opus into the gentlemanly spirit in Eu- three volumes and 10 chapters. The Detailed Classic of Tea. to Europe later. Not until after the and didn’t elaborate on related rope. Rich in content and graceful in The most notable scholar on 17th century did it have an impact. historical origins and cultural con- The extensive translation, writing, it laid the groundwork The Classic of Tea in modern Ja- Successively it was translated into notations, so he failed to convey spread and research of The Classic for the shaping of the Chinese tea pan was Morooka Tamotsu. His Western languages, such as Eng- the essence of The Classic of Tea. of Tea promoted the shaping of science and tea ceremony. After representative research outcomes lish, German, French and Italian. On the other hand, a series the overseas clout of Chinese tea its debut, the book was widely include A Biography of Lu Yu: Italy was among the first coun- of articles written by American culture. Chinese tea appeared in circulated abroad. The Sage of Tea, Lu Yu and The tries in Europe to study Chinese author James Norwood Pratt in many foreign literary and artistic Japan received the earliest and Classic of Tea, Comments and tea. In 1559, three important the early 21st century not only works, mirroring the degrees to most profound influence from The Explanations of The Classic of works of renowned Venetian became crucial to informing which countries around the world Classic of Tea. It was formally in- Tea, and Additions to Comments writer Giovanni Battista Ramusio English speakers of The Classic accepted traditional Chinese cul- and Explanations of The Classic were published, namely Notes on of Tea in the contemporary age, ture in different times. of Tea. Tea, Notes on Chinese Tea and but also lifted the translation of In the 17th and 18th centu- Nunome Chofu is one of the Travel Notes, which also record documents concerning Chinese ries, with the prevalence of tea representative contemporary The Classic of Tea. tea culture to a higher intellectual drinking in the British court Japanese researchers in the field. Contemporary Venetian level. and society, many tea-related He collated The Classic of Tea in scholar Marco Ceresa published At the same time, English poems sprung up, which were detail and published eight ver- the Italian translation of the tea translations of The Classic of Tea dubbed “tea poems.” Many ro- sions of the book in his Complete classic in 1991, which is the most by domestic scholars also paid mantic poets from the 19th cen- Chinese Tea Works, including a complete translation in the West high attention to translating Chi- tury lauded Chinese tea in their few rare copies of the classic. so far. The first edition was sold nese cultural symbols, retaining works, such as Percy Shelley, In Korea, the propagation of out soon after it came onto the the essence of the original to the George Byron, John Keats and The Classic of Tea started in re- market, reflecting European soci- greatest extent to deepen non- Samuel Coleridge. Moreover, cent decades. Choi Beom-sul’s ety’s strong interest in The Clas- Chinese speakers’ understanding Irish portrait-painter Nathaniel The Korean Way of Tea (Hangu- sic of Tea. of Chinese culture. Hone drew a charming picture of kui Chado) incorporates several The focus of debates over strate- a tea drinker in 1771, and English chapters of the masterwork. Later From material to cultural gies to translate documents con- painter Edward Edwards created Kim Un-hak translated the whole The aims for translating The cerning Chinese tea culture also the work Tea at the Pantheon, book into Korean and placed the Classic of Tea varied in differ- shifted toward a consciousness of showcasing that tea drinking was Pictured above are the two volumes Zheng Si edition at the beginning ent historical stages, from simply equal cultural dialogue. The pur- in vogue during the period. of American writer William Ukers’s of the appendix to his Korean Tea transmitting material information pose of translating tea documents monograph All About Tea (1935). Yuan Mengyao and Dong Xiaobo Much content of the book came Culture, which enhanced Korean concerning tea ware, tea leaves has been regarded as to engage directly from Lu Yu’s The Classic of people’s understanding of the his- and tea making to spreading tra- in equal cultural exchange and to are from the School of Foreign Tea , and the full text was included. tory of Chinese tea culture. ditional Chinese culture. better spread traditional Chinese Languages and Cultures at Nan- Photo: FILE The westward spread of tea In 1935, American writer Wil- culture. jing Normal University.