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 UtilizationUtili2ation oftea dates back to 3 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, 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. Introduction Southwestern China refers gmmilly to the vast area covering the provinces ofSichuan, Yunnan. Guizhou, Xi1a1g (Tibet) and GIJlIIlgXiGUlIIlgXi and ~ing~ Municipality with a territory of2.3 million square kilometers. The annual average temperature in this area is above 15 C, with an accumulatedaccwnulated temperalLD"e (>I0 ·C) of5OOO·C. In its tea-c~ regions, the extreme low temperature is >-5 ·C. Its annual precipitation is more than 1000 mm, and its relative hwnidity IS over 80%. Soil pH ranges fiom 4.5 to 6.0. This area is the place where tea was first discovered and made use ofin China") and represents the native place oftea in the whole world Up to now, some wild tea popuIatiompopulatiom still survive in the border regioffi ofthe area. The local edmic groups follow the age-old 1rndition ofcultivating giant tea trees (not bushes!) and ofhaving You Cha soup. They fPmmifPm>frl tea as a god, and . it into 1heir 10caIlocal customs~ and daily life. Whenever there are festivals, sacrifice ~~ or funerals,~ or treating kindred or fiiends. tea will be an essential gift. They have also kept the custom of"gengyin" (paste-like(paste-\ike drink), which is known as "eatinitea~2') The aUlhOrs ofoftheplpefthe paper and 1heircolleagues in TeaTeaResemChResemCh Imtitute, SoulhwestAgricultural University made m-~ spot investigations and documentation research, in 1999-2001, ofthe past and ~ ofthe fea.eaIing customs ofthe edmic ~ in sOu1hwesternsOulhwestern China, and COIllpD'edCOIllpD"ed the results of this Work with the related reports in dtea culture of"BasIm X,uan" mentioned in Lu YiJ's Tea ClmsicsClaYsics and its adjacent Fig.l On-lhe-.otOn-lhe--.ot ora"-"___ regions. Supported by the ''Tea Innovators" Funds and co-opernting with Hua Xia mlbe"l1lneGqi5A1!1!m*AmI Intemational Research CmterCenter ofTea Culture in S~ the autfiors carried out an extensive investigalioninvestigation ofthe ''tea-eating'' culture ofthe edmic groups inhabiting southwestern China. I. Main cootents ofthe investigation Eastern SichI.mSichwm and \W.Stem~ Hubei the original place of China's tea- drinking culture, and this investigation took ~ as its center. The first step was to investigate the distnbution ofancient tea trees in the Three-GOres ReseJVoir Area and its adjacent regions (Fig.2) and to 1Iacetrace the evolution oftea-drinking customs there;[I3,14] Study was made ofthe relationship between Han culture and the local\ocal folk culture in their development Emphasis was placed on the edmic ~ who have kept the "tea eating" customs and the development oftheir tea-drinking culture. A comparison was made between the Sa Shu tea customs of the Tang and Song Dynasties when tea drinking was most nnnI,l,.,.nnnI.l,.,. and the cwrent tea-eating customs. A discussion is offered to illustrate the ~and rationality of retaining~ the tea eating customs in tln;etlnle , I regKe, slarting from the perspectives offolk culture scien:e and ecoronicgeogt'8Iily.geogr8Iily. 2. Routes and methods ofthe investigation FJ&.2 AmArell ordistributioB orold tell 2.1 Investigation routes (Fig 3) 2.1 Investigation routes (Fig 3) d1e ....~~~~!1~ 2.1.1 On land trees.

-53- Session I A. Chongqing -- Miao Zu tea-producing reWon in \VcmChinese tea custom passed down from ancient China. As is recorded on Lu Yu's 1ea Classics, Fu Xian says in his 'Ieachingsftvm a Sili, "'I wa'i told that an old Sichuan woman wa'i selling tea porridge on the marlret. A petty official smashed her utensils so that she could not do her business. Why wa'i it he should forbid tea porridge and 1roub1~ the old woman?,,(3) That might be the earliest written record about taking tea as a food. (Fu Xim or Fu Changyu, 239-294, wa'i born in West Jin [)ynasty. When Huidi wa'i on the throne, he wa'i granted the title of ''Sill Gereral"). As a resuh of textual research, it was already very popular in the Tang arxJ Song Dynasties to add ~ cinnamon 00tK. citrus peel, musk to tea to enrich its flavor. But soch a practice was not advocated in royal courts and Buddhist temples, and some scholars and men of letters opposed it Cai Xiang ~ in his Records o/Tea, ''Tea has an authentic flavor ofits own... Ifother I1er'OO or fiuit are ackied to it when it is brewed, Its tmique attraction will be reducOO." Onthe other hand, Su Shi in the Song Dynasty recorded in his poem, "It happenOO that one day I was making tea porridge with an old monk, and I brought my own container along to 1akethe clean spring water with", suggesting that itwas very JXlPl!!ar among the common people to add some ingredients to the tea fur tnalgrains or foods to their tea, aOO ]6 etlmic group wOO swallow down the residue oftea leaves together with the ponidge. Such ettmic groups are living mostly in ~~ Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Chongqing, XizBng arxl Guangxi. They are Han, I Miao, Yt, Doog, Yao, Dai, Vazu, Jino, Naxi, Lisu, Lahu, Benglong, Ham. Tt9ia, Gelao arxl Blang. The distribution ofthese ettmic groups is well overlapped .with that of the ancient tea tees in China, i.e. in the mountains of DaOOshan, Daloushan. Wulingshan, Ailaoshan. Gaolig~ and in the plateau aOO the border regions ofthe Sichuan Basin east ofthe Hengduan Monutains (Fig.4). TherefOre, the people who keep tea-ea1ing custom almost always use h0me­ made tea as the laWtaw material in making their tea drinks. They seldom consume commercial tea products. That reflects the chara:tet istics ofa self-emtained and self-sufficient agricultural culture. rJg.4 AmiofdiItribIItioIIofClll: ~ 2. 1yPes and f()l'Jm of''tea-elting'' tOIldore nationalities in tbe!lOlltllwestern Cb_ Theoretically, "fulklore" refersrekrsto variol.5 ~vities and ~choIogicaI states of most members of a nation that has a long history of culture, expressed in their behavior aOO language. They are characterized by their com~ inheritance and regionaIity. In

Session I -54- human ~ thetmelves, but it is natural and geographical environments that provide the material fourKiation for the creation ofhwnan culture,cul1ure, especially the folklore culture, and influeI¥:e the orientation of its development. The origin and development of the ttaeating customs of the mountainous people in southwestern China give a strong support to the argumentargwnent that ''the people ofany region are nourished by the water and land ofthat region"region." Table 1.L Namt'S, types, main ingredients and preparation medlock of "tea-etting""tea-eating" of the ethnicedmic groups on soutbwt'Stem China Name ethnic group main ingredients ndnI

Nanchuan You Cha Han & Tujia locally made green tea, tea oil, lard, cured meat, peanut, soybean, + soup(Ganjin soup) popped rice, com, egg, salt . Western Hunan You Cha DonG & Gelao locally made green tea, tea oil, cured meat,peanut, soybean, ginger, onion, salt + Wujiang Dayou Cha Miao & Tujla locally made green tea, tea oil, lard, peanut, soybean Lei Cha (Sansheng Dong, Yao & raw tea leaves, half-cooked rice, tea oil,oi I, peanut, onion, ginger, Tang salt, + soup) Tujia Xia Gong, fish egg, Swine liver, swine intestine, rice

Pickled tea (Chewed Dai)ino tea, bamboo cylinder pottery jar tea) Benglong

Liangban tea(cold- Blang, Hani, tea, bamboo cylinder, salt & chilly powder dressed teal sour tea) Bebglong & Jino Yongsheng Oil & salt Naxi, Y~ Lisu& Yunnan green tea, Tuocha, cured oil, salt tea HlII1 Sandaotea Bai & Naxi Yunnan tuocha, Yunnan green tea, brown sugar, Walnut kernel, sesame, prickly - honey, Cassia bark, ginger Butter tea Tibetan & Naxi butter, brick tea, salt, zanba, sanzi chum

"Long Hu Dou" Naxi Yunnan tuocha, sunshine-dried green tea, liquor (Note: +-~; ---withoutcmshing)-without cmshing) In most lyrics and legends ofthe edmic groups in southwestern China, there are folklores about taking tea ac;; a totem. The most-worshiped mtiona1 chieftains ofthe T4iias, Babu KirIg;, are said to have been the emlxxliment oftea. According to a holy ~ chanted at ceremonies ofoffering sacrifices to the aocestors ofthe Tujia people, PrirK:ess y.re, the goddess in charge ofbirth,ofbit1h, wac;; the moCher ofthe Babu King;). One day, while she was picking tea on amountain slope on asummer day, she was so thirst that she casually swallowed down a handful oftea leaves. Though a virgin, she got pregnant as a result Three and a halfyears ~ she ~ve birth to 8 children, all boys. She was not in a position to bring them !JP and so left them outdoors in the moun1ainstl1OUf11ainc; to submit them to the will ofHeaven. Unexpectedly, the brothers were adopted by a white tigress. WtthWrth her care, they all grew up healthy and strong and became skillful waniors. Owing to their militaJymiIitaJy exploits, they were granted by the emperor the noble title ofBa bu ~ 1101 Ofcourse, a legend is a legend, and there is no histOrical evidence to supports~ it But from it one~ can get~ a comprehension~prehension that the clans of ancient~ient T4iia ~...... '...~ onginatedoriginated from a matnarehalmatriarchal SOCIety,society, whic~ shares the same characteristics ~f the:'the ., i.i ..'. "i;.';:i;. "';;: I~endsofthe Hans about Shen N~ and FUXl,FUXJ, that they all had the custom ofeatmg tea .... L.' . ... ;\.,;\ (Fig.S), eating it with other foods which could relieve their hunger and that tea was eaten raw at fi& Thus we believe we have discovered the origin ofthe Sarnheng soup (soup made from three raw materials), a Dayou Cha, in the border regions between Sichuan ll 12 and Hubei.l ll•12]) 4. CausesCaUSt'S for the sulVivai oftea-eatingofb.'a-eltingcustoms - a preliminary analysfi WtthWrth the development of the investig;ltion, the authors found out that in Changyang COlD'\1yCOlD11y ofYtehang, Hubei, whicn is believed to be the original place of FIg.5 You <"lIa!lOUp oftile "fuiia'i in Youyaag Tujia edmic group, the tea-eating custom has disappeared. It has been replarelreplared by and Gongtan districts...ofCbongqing tea-drinking, though the local people have kept many ofthe other folk customs of and Gongtan districts ofCbongqmg Tujia Nationality. Even in 1he Annals of1he county, we failed to frofmd any traces of the custom oftea eating. By contrast, in y~ county ofYunnan and Jinfushan ofNanchuan (Fig.6), Choogqing, the custom ofeating Youchaor Dayoucharemain5 very ~.(9ile Fi~.7-8) An interpretation offered bytheaudus is that thetre ancient custom oftea eating, like the Chinese agricultural culture, fulls into the category of"river valley culture", which is characterized by great cohesive fm:e and assimilating capacity. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties. a Wlifiedwlified feudal state has always existed, which was ba<;edba'led 00 a river valley cUlture. In the long histoty ofits slow and ~ development, the Han culture was nowisImnowished by and merged with the cultures ofother regions. As a result, in the regtons along rivers banks, where transpoI1alion and communication were relalively convenient, the original tea-eating culture of the edmic groups was absorbed by and merged into the tea-drinking culture ofthe Hans. Starting from the Song, Ming and Yuan Dynasties.Dynasties, in paI1icuIar,paI1icular, large nwnbers of~ migrated from the Central Plaim to the southwesremsouthweslml part of the country and land reclamation along the rivers m the minority nationality regions wac;; practiced. More wide-spread exchange and fu>ion of various cultures took ploce and the ancient tea-eating custom wac;; gnduallygratually replaced by tea-drinking. A different picture appeared in those remote moun1ainous regions. Tl'lIffiJlOI13lionT~on and communication were not convenient, little infotrnationinformation was available, the climate was cold, the conditions for production and daily life ofthe people were tough. Vegetables and

-55- Session I Fig.7 Dayou Cba orlbeHansill y~ Fig.6 An oJd lea tree orNaudiwuI ill CIwugqiDg hospitable. Not only do they use tea as a gift at funerals or weddings., they also use tea fuod to treat their guests. They integrate tea with their diet and cannot do without it at any meal. A folk rhyme in Dayou Township, Naochuan, says, "Ifyou don't have YOl£ha soup for a single day, you will feel weak in your I~ and arms and mx:omfortable at heart." The local Mioo people call Dayou Crn"garyin soup", meaning that the soup will gtve one ~ Another folk rhyme in y~ County, Ymnan says, "At night, people sit on the ground arourxI the Youcha Jar, They chat rambling without feeling tired" at the border region between Sichuan, Hubei and Hunan, a tea-picking song is very popular-_ On the top ofthe mountain, A tea bush is Ooumhing. Every year you harvest its tips, Next year it will grow new shoots. Buy yourdaughter a pair ofscissors, Let her pick tea with her husband's family. Such a song shows how closely tea is connected with the daily economic life ofthe local people. Conclusion I.The tea eating customs ofthe edmic grc>upi in southwestern China are the oldest tea customs in China 2. The g~ distribution oftea eating is closely associated with that ofthe aocient tea trees, and the raw materials for "eaten tea" come mostly from the giant tea trees. The focal people picked the tea leaves and make tea all by themselves. 3. The evolution oftea-eatipg customs is closely related to the geowaPhical condition and the development of1rarnJx>r1ation and communication, and ofeconomy, and is profoundly influeri:edbythe Central Plain Cuhure. 4. VIeWed from the cultural a:ological points, ~ customs kept by the etlmic ~ in southwestern mountainous regiOl'l'i have an irevitability and rafionality oftheir own. References I. ~Nromll~ ed)978, GenemlNOhIm1~.Peqje'fdt~~ 2 NaionaI 0>-qJemive ~ firTeaRegi

6.ZHOU,o.S.ICMJ,CJUmsFoodCulJure., ~JJE Prel;s

7.l1olg, FL I~Irtrcxiu:Jial to 07in!se NatiaIaJ GJJJwe,Zlrjialg PoopIe's ~ 8. Z1uIg. J. W., I9%, Scitnx: ofEtmical 0JIIi.I"e, Z1u1ghua ~ Pre$ 9. Ch:n, LG.,axi ZhJ, ZL, 1S1l I, SeJectkn ifJfistaia:JJ Materials ifOUms Tea, ~ Pl'effi 10. Ch:n, H ax! Lu G.L,:!ro,Tra:e th:Origin ofOJirrreTea Culture, OlinaCity Pre$ II. I.iu, QJ., YooG.K. et~:!XX), Scian:offeaCuIturt; Olina~ Pre$ 12 Liu, Qj., 1994(4), ~ oftheOr~l(JfBa ~ Cullm;.kumIofLu \1:iSludy 13. I.iu, QJ.,I<)lM, Refoonth: lIlcieJI ~ regioo of~ Olina-In memory ofth:9l1' lDJiver.ayofPro1e.

15. Goog, J.S., Xu, RH. et al., :ml,The aigin ax!evoIuIirn ofth:1m aNomsofth:tmt3ing rHionaIilies in BlNm XB.hm ngm of~ 0Jim,~of2001Jntcmi.inII OCHS}'l11Xl'iium

Session I -56-