Chinese Tea Culture

中國茶文化

China is the original producer of tea, and tea-drinking is an indispensible part of Chinese culture. The custom has spread over to Europe and many other regions through cultural exchange via the ancient "Silk Road" and other channels of trade.

With distinct regional features, various kinds of tea trees, and different tea processing methods, China has developed many types of teas, such as Black Tea, Green Tea, Scented Tea, Oolong Tea, White Tea, Lump Tea, and so forth.

First appearing as early as 5,000 years ago, Green Tea is the oldest category of Chinese Tea. The original processing of the tea was quite simple, either boiling the fresh tea leaves, or sun-drying them for future use. While the procedures and equipment of processing have changed a lot over time, the taste of the unfermented and slightly oxidized Green Tea still remain the same as that created by our ancient ancestors.

Tea Ceremony, including a whole set of etiquette, like preparing tea, appreciating tea, smelling tea, and drinking tea, is a Chinese life style, which contains the wisdom of oriental philosophy, and reflects the central ideas of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism. Through the ceremony, Chinese people have cultivated their moral virtues of sincerity, aesthetics, harmoniousness and respectfulness, which are the core of Chinese Tea Culture.

Tea Ceremony originates in China but has been more popular in Japan since it was introduced during South Song Dynasty. Since Yuan dynasty, Tea Ceremony has not been that favored anymore in China. Tea Ceremony today, however, is better represented by Japan indeed.

In 2022，Chinese Tea was added to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO. The best protection is inheritance. It is the sacred duty for us Chinese to protect Chinese Tea Culture and let the Tea Ceremony go home.

中國，是茶葉的原產(chǎn)地。飲茶，是中國文化不可或缺的部分。古代“絲綢之路”和其他貿(mào)易渠道的文化交流，讓中國人的飲茶習(xí)俗傳播到歐洲和許多其他地區(qū)。

中國豐富的地域特色、眾多的茶樹種類，以及各異的加工方法，成就了各種各樣的茶葉，如紅茶、綠茶、花茶、烏龍茶、白茶、磚茶等。

早在5000年前，中國就出現(xiàn)了綠茶，它是最古老的茶葉種類。綠茶最初的加工非常簡單，要么直接用新鮮的茶樹葉泡茶，要么曬干備用。雖然加工程序和設(shè)備隨著時間的推移發(fā)生了很大變化，但未經(jīng)發(fā)酵只是輕微氧化的綠茶，其味道和我們祖先加工的綠茶如出一轍。

茶道，是一套完整的沏茶、賞茶、聞茶、飲茶禮儀，它是中國人的一種生活方式，蘊含著東方的哲學(xué)智慧，體現(xiàn)了儒釋道三家的核心思想。通過茶道，中國人形成了誠、美、和、敬的道德品質(zhì)，這就是茶文化的核心。

茶道，雖然起源于中國，但自南宋傳入日本以后，在日本備受歡迎。到了元代，中國人已不像往日那樣熱衷茶道，而日本茶道反而成了正統(tǒng)。

2022年，中國茶被聯(lián)合國教科文組織列入《人類非物質(zhì)文化遺產(chǎn)代表作名錄》。最好的保護(hù)就是傳承，保護(hù)中國茶文化，讓茶道回家，是當(dāng)代中國人的神圣職責(zé)。