Origin and Present Status of the Tea-Eating Customs of the Ethnic Groups in the Mountainous Regions in Southwestern China. Origi
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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. 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 populatiompopuIatiom 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 d<mestic and foreign J0wna\s.[s,6)Jownals.[5,6) The preliminary results are presented in the following text. Any comments from the experts in this field are welcome. Contents ofinvestigation and its routes and methods In 1999, the coostIUction ofthe waler cooservation project in the Three-Gorges Reservoir Area was speeded up and a ''rescue'' excavation of the relic sites of the ancient (Fig. I) Sa YiJ Culture in and around the area was s1arted. The cttine;egovernment invested hmdreds ofmillions of .C·'" RMB and ()IJ!.3flized()IJ:!.3flized a contingent consisting ofthousands ofarchaeologists for the excavation ofo{relicrelic sites ofNeolithic and Paleolithic Ages, of the cultural relics of Shang and Zhou Dynasties and ofnumerous ancient tombs. As a result, a great variety ofantique relics were unear1hed, including pottery pieces ofthe Warring States Period, green porcelain and black glazed ~lain tea sets ofthe Tang and Song Dynasties and the rernaim ofancient kiln sites.(15) Owing to the fid that our institute has been engaged in the research ofthe history and culture oftea for quite a nwnber ofyears, the numerous archaeo~ca1 ~ made us re-examine the tea custOms and tea 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 ofChina'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 ecoronicgeogr8Iily.geogt'8Iily. 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 \Vcm<iheng -- Miao Zu cni GeiooGeloo tea prodtring region in Nanchuan -- Fuling -- Tujia Zu tea-producing ~ in Gongtan, Youyan -- Longtm (an menttown) in Youyang inhabited by Tujia Zu -- Tt9ia Zu tea producing region in Xian~ Hubei -- Tujia Zu tea-producing region in ,- , Laifeng, Hubei --Enshi, Hubel (Hubei Nationalities College) -- Baiong, Hubei (Guanguan Chaofthe Tujias) B. Chongqing -- Yibin -- Yong;heng. )Urman (You Cha) -- wild tea growing region in Simao -- LiangOOn Cha aOO Zhutong Cha (bamboo cylinder tea) in Xishuang Banna. C. Chongqing -- Northern Guangxi -- Li~g (Dongzu) -- Miao tea producing area . L- ----l 2.1.2 by watetChongqing -- Fuling Wamhou -- Fengjie -- Wushan -- Ww.:i --Ytehang -Chanyang Fig.J Rootes ofinvtstiption on 2.2 methods ofinvestigation Real historical doclD11el1ts so as to decide the contents and focus of the tbet~tingcustomsorCbioa investigfltion; cany out field surveys and visits, with the support and help fum the local authorities; invite the ettmic cultural experts and the heads ofthe ethnic groups for discussion aOO exchange, or for individual interviews; on-the-spot demonstration and operation of tea ea1in~ customs; laboratory analysis of the nutritionaJ arxl functional components ofYou Cha's laWtaW materials and finished products; sorting out and making ofvideo-tapes aOO written materials. Results and Discussion 1. DWibutioo oftbetea eatingcustoms oftile edmic groups in China "Gengyin" (paste-like drink) represents a Chinese 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 tnal<itw: tea ponidge as something special for guesls.[9] Stmislics show that there are 23 ettmic groups in souIhwestem China wOO have kept tre custom of00d' oil, salt., . am other grains 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).