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Tea in China: A Religious and Cultural History
Tea in China explores the contours of religious and cultural transformation in traditional China from the point of view of an everyday commodity and popular beverage. The work traces the development of tea drinking from its mythical origins to the nineteenth century and examines the changes in aesthetics, ritual, science, health, and knowledge that tea brought with it.
The shift in drinking habits that occurred in late medieval China cannot be understood without an appreciation of the fact that Buddhist monks were responsible for not only changing people's attitudes toward the intoxicating substance, but also the proliferation of tea drinking. Monks had enjoyed a long association with tea in South China, but it was not until Lu Yu's compilation of the Chajing (The Classic of Tea) and the spread of tea drinking by itinerant Chan monastics that tea culture became popular throughout the empire and beyond.
Tea was important for maintaining long periods of meditation; it also provided inspiration for poets and profoundly affected the ways in which ideas were exchanged. Prior to the eighth century, the aristocratic drinking party had excluded monks from participating in elite culture. Over cups of tea, however, monks and literati could meet on equal footing and share in the same aesthetic values. Monks and scholars thus found common ground in the popular stimulant—one with few side effects that was easily obtainable and provided inspiration and energy for composing poetry and meditating. In addition, rituals associated with tea drinking were developed in Chan monasteries, aiding in the transformation of China's sacred landscape at the popular and elite level. Pilgrimages to monasteries that grew their own tea were essential in the spread of tea culture, and some monasteries owned vast tea plantations. By the end of the ninth century, tea was a vital component in the Chinese economy and in everyday life.
Tea in China transcends the boundaries of religious studies and cultural history as it draws on a broad range of materials—poetry, histories, liturgical texts, monastic regulations—many translated or analyzed for the first time. The book will be of interest to scholars of East Asia and all those concerned with the religious dimensions of commodity culture in the premodern world.
courtesy of http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/p-9322-...
The shift in drinking habits that occurred in late medieval China cannot be understood without an appreciation of the fact that Buddhist monks were responsible for not only changing people's attitudes toward the intoxicating substance, but also the proliferation of tea drinking. Monks had enjoyed a long association with tea in South China, but it was not until Lu Yu's compilation of the Chajing (The Classic of Tea) and the spread of tea drinking by itinerant Chan monastics that tea culture became popular throughout the empire and beyond.
Tea was important for maintaining long periods of meditation; it also provided inspiration for poets and profoundly affected the ways in which ideas were exchanged. Prior to the eighth century, the aristocratic drinking party had excluded monks from participating in elite culture. Over cups of tea, however, monks and literati could meet on equal footing and share in the same aesthetic values. Monks and scholars thus found common ground in the popular stimulant—one with few side effects that was easily obtainable and provided inspiration and energy for composing poetry and meditating. In addition, rituals associated with tea drinking were developed in Chan monasteries, aiding in the transformation of China's sacred landscape at the popular and elite level. Pilgrimages to monasteries that grew their own tea were essential in the spread of tea culture, and some monasteries owned vast tea plantations. By the end of the ninth century, tea was a vital component in the Chinese economy and in everyday life.
Tea in China transcends the boundaries of religious studies and cultural history as it draws on a broad range of materials—poetry, histories, liturgical texts, monastic regulations—many translated or analyzed for the first time. The book will be of interest to scholars of East Asia and all those concerned with the religious dimensions of commodity culture in the premodern world.
courtesy of http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/p-9322-...
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2015
11 people are currently reading
213 people want to read
About the author
James A. Benn
9 books7 followersProfessor James Alexander Benn is Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at McMaster University, where he teaches Buddhism and East Asian Religions while focusing his research on medieval Chinese religions.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 1, 2018
This was one of the books that I bought for my birthday! I’ve been meaning to read up about tea in China, but the library doesn’t have many books about it. I found this book after some googling and it sounded good, so I got it from Book Depository.
Subtitled “a religious and cultural history”, this book looks at the rise of tea in China mainly through the aforementioned two dimensions. While it looks at tea in the pre-Tang dynasty and even out of Japan, the main focus of this book is on the Tang and Song dynasty (with a bit more page-time given to the Tang dynasty). Divided into nine chapters, the book looks at:
1. The Early History of Tea: Myth and Reality
This looks at tea before the Tang dynasty and examines the motives of Lu Yu and other writers for establishing tea as an ancient beverage. I have to admit, I was extremely shocked to find out that the myth of Shen Nong discovering tea was a claim first advanced by Lu Yu – given its prevalence, I thought it was a lot better supported (in terms of textual support by earlier text).
There’s also an interesting discussion about the words used to describe tea before the word 茶 (cha) came about, and several interesting accounts of the relationship between ghosts and tea.
Overall, though, the author argues that “it is most sensible to understand tea as a Tang-dynasty invention and to accept that the prehistory of tea is a tale that is impossible to recover.” Given the interesting tales in this chapter, I would think that even if a complete picture of tea Pre-Tang is impossible, we still have enough to be able to sketch out a rough picture of tea before that.
2. Buddhism and Tea during the Tang Dynasty
This chapter looks at how tea “moved into the place previously occupied solely by alcohol.” The big reason for this was that Buddhism had precepts against alcohol. But alcohol played an important role in social situations and an alternative had to be found: tea. This helped it move from a Southern drink to one that was drunk all over the country.
A big part of this chapter looks at the 茶酒论 (cha jiu lun), a hypothetical discourse between both tea and alcohol. Each beverage tries to claim superiority, with tea claiming an exalted status amoung plants, his status as a luxury product, and his positive relationship to Buddhism (such as the effect of being able to “clear away their [monk’s] dullness and weariness”). In his responses, alcohol argues that he has a long history and a valuable role in helping to lubricate the wheels of government, allowing people to speak freely and listen to advice. That point reminded me of how nomikais in Japan allow people to speak freely to one another, even in this modern day and age. Alcohol also points out that certain types of liquor are famous as well.
Each beverage also tries to disparage the other, with alcohol warning about the dangers of drinking too much tea:
“To drink tea is only to get backache. [If one] drinks too much, one will be sick in the stomach.”
As someone who’s tea drinking is currently restricted by my doctor, this definitely hit close to heart (not that I’ll be replacing alcohol with tea anytime soon). Of course, tea hits back by pointing out the intoxicating effects of alcohol.
The 茶酒论 (cha jiu lun) was actually briefly mentioned in Chinese Tea, a book I read earlier this year. So it was pretty interesting for me to read more about the work and to see how tea was regarded, especially in comparison to alcohol.
3. Tea Poetry in Tang China
The next chapter takes a closer look at tea in Tang poetry. I recently went for a class on Chinese literature, and while I didn’t understand a lot, I did grasp the fact that poetry was a very big thing. So now, I understand why there’s a whole chapter dedicated towards it. It was rather interesting to see all the different verses, and I even learnt about a type of tea called ‘Transcendent’s Palm’:
“Unlike the highly processed cakes of tea that were commonly consumed by Tang tea connoisseurs, the long leaves from the Yuquan monastery were naturally sun-dried, curling up to take the form of a hand. These naturally dried leaves would have produced a tea that was quite different from that made from cakes of tea in which the leaves had previously been rinsed, steamed, pounded, and baked.”
This tea sounds quite like the tea we drink today!
Transcendent’s Palm tea shows up because the tea was given some ‘advertising’ push through a poem by Li Bai. Looks like celebrity endorsements have a much longer history than I imagined!
There is also a discussion of Lu Tong’s Seven Cups of Tea and I learnt that the proper name of the poem is “Written in haste to thank Imperial Censor Meng for his gift of freshly picked tea.” It’s actually part of a longer poem and it was interesting to read the whole thing – I wanted to read more analysis about it!
4. The Patron Saint of Tea: Religious Aspects of the Life and Work of Lu Yu
Given the pivotal role of Lu Yu’s Classic of Tea in Chinese tea culture, it’s no wonder that the book dedicates an entire chapter to him. Half the chapter is a look at his life and influences, and while I have read a little about him, most of the information here was new to me. I appreciated that the book put the Classic of Tea in context with its period – I certainly did not know that Lu Yu’s “method of making tea […] was superseded relatively soon by other ways of preparing the beverage.”
There was also a discussion of imitators and later works inspired by the Classic of Tea, which goes to show that for a relatively short work, it has a huge influence.
5. Tea: Invigorating the Body, Mind, and Society in the Song Dynasty
Finally, we move on to the Song dynasty, which also had a “particular enthusiasm at all levels of society for beverages that had medicinal qualities – what we might today called ‘health drinks’ – made of aromatic herbal ingredients.” Sounds like the superfood trends in society today!
While tea had more competition, it was also being produced and consumed in bigger quantities. There’s an extensive discussion of tea in the monasteries, and I learnt that drinking tea was associated with the bathing in monasteries (which was not an everyday occurrence). But apart from its use in bathing, tea “was a vital social lubricant for monastic communities and essential to the regular functioning of their administration and their calendar.”
6. Eisai’s Kissa Yojoki
This chapter is titled “Tea Comes to Japan”, but it’s really a discussion of only one work – the Kissa Yojoki (drinking tea for nourishing life) by Eisai, the monk generally credited for being the guy who made tea popular in Japan. The Kissa Yojoki not only talks about what tea is and its uses, but also has about different diseases and how they can be cured (with mulberry).
7. Religion and Culture in the Tea Economy of Late Imperial China
This chapter looks at tea in the Ming dynasty, including famous Ming teas (like Longjing, which is still famous today) and how tea related to aesthetics. I learnt that Ming tea connoisseurs “preferred to enjoy their tea in quiet, secluded, elegantly simple surroundings where they met with two or three friends.”
I left out the introductory and concluding chapters, which is why there are only seven points. The introductory chapter has some basic information about tea and gives an overview of the book, while the last chapter is a summary of the earlier chapters.
Since I’m not a tea scholar, nor am I a history student, I was wondering how accurate the translations and citations in this book are. I found a review from the Journal of Chinese Studies which says that the translations and citations are generally reliable, although the reviewer doesn’t agree with the emphasis on the religious dimensions of tea.
The review also elaborated on what wax tea, something mentioned but not explained in the book, was:
“This was a famous tribute tea produced in Fujian during the Tang and Song periods. It was referred to as “wax tea” because of its white, milky appearance that looked like melted wax. Hence, it was also called làmiàn chá 臘面茶 (wax surface tea) or just làmiàn 臘面 (wax surface).”
The review also positively referenced a book called The Rise of Tea Culture in China, which I managed to find in the library and will be reading soon.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and learnt a lot from it. I can’t say that I’ve memorised/understood the contents of the entire book, but that’s why I bought it – so that I can reference and re-read as many times as I want.
Reference:
Review of Tea in China by Victor H. Mair, University of Pennsylvania – I would highly recommend reading the whole review here; the author goes into detail about the strengths and weaknesses of the book and adds a lot of new information too.
This review was first posted to my blog. Links to the review by Victor H. Mair can be found at my blog.
Subtitled “a religious and cultural history”, this book looks at the rise of tea in China mainly through the aforementioned two dimensions. While it looks at tea in the pre-Tang dynasty and even out of Japan, the main focus of this book is on the Tang and Song dynasty (with a bit more page-time given to the Tang dynasty). Divided into nine chapters, the book looks at:
1. The Early History of Tea: Myth and Reality
This looks at tea before the Tang dynasty and examines the motives of Lu Yu and other writers for establishing tea as an ancient beverage. I have to admit, I was extremely shocked to find out that the myth of Shen Nong discovering tea was a claim first advanced by Lu Yu – given its prevalence, I thought it was a lot better supported (in terms of textual support by earlier text).
There’s also an interesting discussion about the words used to describe tea before the word 茶 (cha) came about, and several interesting accounts of the relationship between ghosts and tea.
Overall, though, the author argues that “it is most sensible to understand tea as a Tang-dynasty invention and to accept that the prehistory of tea is a tale that is impossible to recover.” Given the interesting tales in this chapter, I would think that even if a complete picture of tea Pre-Tang is impossible, we still have enough to be able to sketch out a rough picture of tea before that.
2. Buddhism and Tea during the Tang Dynasty
This chapter looks at how tea “moved into the place previously occupied solely by alcohol.” The big reason for this was that Buddhism had precepts against alcohol. But alcohol played an important role in social situations and an alternative had to be found: tea. This helped it move from a Southern drink to one that was drunk all over the country.
A big part of this chapter looks at the 茶酒论 (cha jiu lun), a hypothetical discourse between both tea and alcohol. Each beverage tries to claim superiority, with tea claiming an exalted status amoung plants, his status as a luxury product, and his positive relationship to Buddhism (such as the effect of being able to “clear away their [monk’s] dullness and weariness”). In his responses, alcohol argues that he has a long history and a valuable role in helping to lubricate the wheels of government, allowing people to speak freely and listen to advice. That point reminded me of how nomikais in Japan allow people to speak freely to one another, even in this modern day and age. Alcohol also points out that certain types of liquor are famous as well.
Each beverage also tries to disparage the other, with alcohol warning about the dangers of drinking too much tea:
“To drink tea is only to get backache. [If one] drinks too much, one will be sick in the stomach.”
As someone who’s tea drinking is currently restricted by my doctor, this definitely hit close to heart (not that I’ll be replacing alcohol with tea anytime soon). Of course, tea hits back by pointing out the intoxicating effects of alcohol.
The 茶酒论 (cha jiu lun) was actually briefly mentioned in Chinese Tea, a book I read earlier this year. So it was pretty interesting for me to read more about the work and to see how tea was regarded, especially in comparison to alcohol.
3. Tea Poetry in Tang China
The next chapter takes a closer look at tea in Tang poetry. I recently went for a class on Chinese literature, and while I didn’t understand a lot, I did grasp the fact that poetry was a very big thing. So now, I understand why there’s a whole chapter dedicated towards it. It was rather interesting to see all the different verses, and I even learnt about a type of tea called ‘Transcendent’s Palm’:
“Unlike the highly processed cakes of tea that were commonly consumed by Tang tea connoisseurs, the long leaves from the Yuquan monastery were naturally sun-dried, curling up to take the form of a hand. These naturally dried leaves would have produced a tea that was quite different from that made from cakes of tea in which the leaves had previously been rinsed, steamed, pounded, and baked.”
This tea sounds quite like the tea we drink today!
Transcendent’s Palm tea shows up because the tea was given some ‘advertising’ push through a poem by Li Bai. Looks like celebrity endorsements have a much longer history than I imagined!
There is also a discussion of Lu Tong’s Seven Cups of Tea and I learnt that the proper name of the poem is “Written in haste to thank Imperial Censor Meng for his gift of freshly picked tea.” It’s actually part of a longer poem and it was interesting to read the whole thing – I wanted to read more analysis about it!
4. The Patron Saint of Tea: Religious Aspects of the Life and Work of Lu Yu
Given the pivotal role of Lu Yu’s Classic of Tea in Chinese tea culture, it’s no wonder that the book dedicates an entire chapter to him. Half the chapter is a look at his life and influences, and while I have read a little about him, most of the information here was new to me. I appreciated that the book put the Classic of Tea in context with its period – I certainly did not know that Lu Yu’s “method of making tea […] was superseded relatively soon by other ways of preparing the beverage.”
There was also a discussion of imitators and later works inspired by the Classic of Tea, which goes to show that for a relatively short work, it has a huge influence.
5. Tea: Invigorating the Body, Mind, and Society in the Song Dynasty
Finally, we move on to the Song dynasty, which also had a “particular enthusiasm at all levels of society for beverages that had medicinal qualities – what we might today called ‘health drinks’ – made of aromatic herbal ingredients.” Sounds like the superfood trends in society today!
While tea had more competition, it was also being produced and consumed in bigger quantities. There’s an extensive discussion of tea in the monasteries, and I learnt that drinking tea was associated with the bathing in monasteries (which was not an everyday occurrence). But apart from its use in bathing, tea “was a vital social lubricant for monastic communities and essential to the regular functioning of their administration and their calendar.”
6. Eisai’s Kissa Yojoki
This chapter is titled “Tea Comes to Japan”, but it’s really a discussion of only one work – the Kissa Yojoki (drinking tea for nourishing life) by Eisai, the monk generally credited for being the guy who made tea popular in Japan. The Kissa Yojoki not only talks about what tea is and its uses, but also has about different diseases and how they can be cured (with mulberry).
7. Religion and Culture in the Tea Economy of Late Imperial China
This chapter looks at tea in the Ming dynasty, including famous Ming teas (like Longjing, which is still famous today) and how tea related to aesthetics. I learnt that Ming tea connoisseurs “preferred to enjoy their tea in quiet, secluded, elegantly simple surroundings where they met with two or three friends.”
I left out the introductory and concluding chapters, which is why there are only seven points. The introductory chapter has some basic information about tea and gives an overview of the book, while the last chapter is a summary of the earlier chapters.
Since I’m not a tea scholar, nor am I a history student, I was wondering how accurate the translations and citations in this book are. I found a review from the Journal of Chinese Studies which says that the translations and citations are generally reliable, although the reviewer doesn’t agree with the emphasis on the religious dimensions of tea.
The review also elaborated on what wax tea, something mentioned but not explained in the book, was:
“This was a famous tribute tea produced in Fujian during the Tang and Song periods. It was referred to as “wax tea” because of its white, milky appearance that looked like melted wax. Hence, it was also called làmiàn chá 臘面茶 (wax surface tea) or just làmiàn 臘面 (wax surface).”
The review also positively referenced a book called The Rise of Tea Culture in China, which I managed to find in the library and will be reading soon.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and learnt a lot from it. I can’t say that I’ve memorised/understood the contents of the entire book, but that’s why I bought it – so that I can reference and re-read as many times as I want.
Reference:
Review of Tea in China by Victor H. Mair, University of Pennsylvania – I would highly recommend reading the whole review here; the author goes into detail about the strengths and weaknesses of the book and adds a lot of new information too.
This review was first posted to my blog. Links to the review by Victor H. Mair can be found at my blog.
August 11, 2018
As drinkers of Chinese tea in the English-language sphere, our greatest lack is information. Tea in China, A Religious and Cultural History, brings a wealth of new information and analysis to the English-speaking tea-loving world.
If you want to go deeper than tea 101--and you don't read Chinese--I recommend James A. Benn's Tea in China. Benn begins by defining his terms and the scope of his work as a primarily religious and cultural analysis of tea. He then analyzes, rather than merely repeats, claims about the origins of tea found in popular belief and, specifically, in Lu Yu's Cha jing. He gives detail about the characters used and what scholars believe they affirmatively know about those terms. The work allows for ambiguity to stand where there is no clarity in available sources. It makes few assumptions. And it exhaustively cites its sources, comments on them when appropriate, and refers the reader to additional information on sometimes even highly niche topics.
Much of the book discusses tea in the Tang and Song dynasties, with a chapter on the Ming. In these he explores the invention of tea as a religious, cultural and medical phenomenon, exploring its connection to Buddhist and Taoist literature and practice, and more extensively, its appearance in poetry and painting.
Perhaps this was the most exciting part about this book for me, the translation into English of Chinese texts. It's difficult to find translations of tea works aside from the Cha jing, which isn't surprising. What's more surprising is how difficult it can be to find translations from some of China's most famous poets and historical personalities; that many thousands of years of literature means a huge backlog of works that we may never see in English (all the more reason to study Chinese, young tea drinkers!). Making this available, in one place, with analysis--the book is worth its price for this alone. If you're interested in Chinese tea poetry, I suggest you look up Steven Owyoung, who I found through this book.
What this book does not set out to do--and thus, doesn't--is research tea economy and trade, the use of tea in court and among the common folk, or anything not related to religion or art. He's left that for another author. Also, noticeably absent is information about tea in the Yuan dynasty. Many authors, in my experience, treat "conquest dynasties" like the Liao, Yuan and Qing as less "authentically" Chinese. I would have liked more information about Yuan dynasty tea and tea during the 5 dynasties/10 kingdoms period, assuming there are surviving relevant texts from that turbulent time.
I'm most appreciative of learning new things about tea in China, about its religious and cultural connections, and even some small facts, like that not all tea was compressed into cakes during the Tang and Song--one of those historical oversimplifications found in many tea books--that leaf tea was consumed, although it was also ground and prepared more or less like cake tea. Also, a little detail about Ming brewing: that tea leaves were rinsed with hot water in a strainer, then transferred to a pot, not rinsed in the pot like the gongfu popular today. The book filled in some finer details for me.
If you want to go deeper than tea 101--and you don't read Chinese--I recommend James A. Benn's Tea in China. Benn begins by defining his terms and the scope of his work as a primarily religious and cultural analysis of tea. He then analyzes, rather than merely repeats, claims about the origins of tea found in popular belief and, specifically, in Lu Yu's Cha jing. He gives detail about the characters used and what scholars believe they affirmatively know about those terms. The work allows for ambiguity to stand where there is no clarity in available sources. It makes few assumptions. And it exhaustively cites its sources, comments on them when appropriate, and refers the reader to additional information on sometimes even highly niche topics.
Much of the book discusses tea in the Tang and Song dynasties, with a chapter on the Ming. In these he explores the invention of tea as a religious, cultural and medical phenomenon, exploring its connection to Buddhist and Taoist literature and practice, and more extensively, its appearance in poetry and painting.
Perhaps this was the most exciting part about this book for me, the translation into English of Chinese texts. It's difficult to find translations of tea works aside from the Cha jing, which isn't surprising. What's more surprising is how difficult it can be to find translations from some of China's most famous poets and historical personalities; that many thousands of years of literature means a huge backlog of works that we may never see in English (all the more reason to study Chinese, young tea drinkers!). Making this available, in one place, with analysis--the book is worth its price for this alone. If you're interested in Chinese tea poetry, I suggest you look up Steven Owyoung, who I found through this book.
What this book does not set out to do--and thus, doesn't--is research tea economy and trade, the use of tea in court and among the common folk, or anything not related to religion or art. He's left that for another author. Also, noticeably absent is information about tea in the Yuan dynasty. Many authors, in my experience, treat "conquest dynasties" like the Liao, Yuan and Qing as less "authentically" Chinese. I would have liked more information about Yuan dynasty tea and tea during the 5 dynasties/10 kingdoms period, assuming there are surviving relevant texts from that turbulent time.
I'm most appreciative of learning new things about tea in China, about its religious and cultural connections, and even some small facts, like that not all tea was compressed into cakes during the Tang and Song--one of those historical oversimplifications found in many tea books--that leaf tea was consumed, although it was also ground and prepared more or less like cake tea. Also, a little detail about Ming brewing: that tea leaves were rinsed with hot water in a strainer, then transferred to a pot, not rinsed in the pot like the gongfu popular today. The book filled in some finer details for me.
January 31, 2022
Probably one of the most complete and well-researched books on Chinese tea I've ever read. The breadth and depth of it are pretty marvelous. It's not a book for beginners and it requires certain knowledge about China's history and culture. However, it's one of the best resources in English I've found for those trying to get deeper into tea. Not only does it adds many new translations from classic Chinese sources but also provides an extensive and rich bibliography to keep digging.
Must read for those looking for a well-researched book on tea culture in China beyond the obvious themes.
Must read for those looking for a well-researched book on tea culture in China beyond the obvious themes.
October 20, 2020
Since immemorial times the culture of tea has been inextricably associated to China. It is a drink that has influenced its society across all layers of class, be the Emperor or an ascetic Buddhist monk.
Tea in China, writer by McMaster University professor James Benn, takes a deep look into the origins of this relationship between the drink and the culture. Going back as far back as the Tang dynasty times (VIII century), Benn resorts to a myriad of primary sources from the time to explain that the origin of the drink itself may not be as glamorous as ancient texts pretend.
Benn presents us with evidence that shows that originally tea was drunk in the southern regions of the Chinese empire (present day Sichuan), and never as the refined drink as we know it today but as an ingredient to use in gruels or congees. A trip to China today can confirm that, since the all pervasive bubble tea with its tapioca or pearl barley may just be an evolution, rather than an innovation, of ways of drinking tea.
Over time the use of tea spread further north, thanks to wandering Buddhist monks who took on drinking tea as a way to substitute alcohol. A very influential book, the Classic of tea by Lu Yu did the rest by bestowing tea with a historic grandeur and myth far from its humble origins, but going a long way to influence the literati of the time to engage in tea drinking and connoisseurship.
So the culture of tea then became intertwined with the monastic and intellectual life of the time, continuously evolving, until becoming the refined and complex tissue that is part of Chinese societal fabric of today.
Benn has done an outstanding job at perusing the primary sources for his thesis. There's definitely a serious cultural speleology work done in this book. However, I would call the text heavy at times, with multiple references to poets, literati and famous works of which the novice reader (like myself) probably will know nothing about.
Hence, this makes Tea in China not an introductory book in this subject. But Benn already warns us at the beginning that he was not after giving a comprehensive, all encompassing view of tea in China in general but to look deep into a narrow window of time when the culture of tea fermented in Chinese society. And I think he succeeded in that.
Tea in China, writer by McMaster University professor James Benn, takes a deep look into the origins of this relationship between the drink and the culture. Going back as far back as the Tang dynasty times (VIII century), Benn resorts to a myriad of primary sources from the time to explain that the origin of the drink itself may not be as glamorous as ancient texts pretend.
Benn presents us with evidence that shows that originally tea was drunk in the southern regions of the Chinese empire (present day Sichuan), and never as the refined drink as we know it today but as an ingredient to use in gruels or congees. A trip to China today can confirm that, since the all pervasive bubble tea with its tapioca or pearl barley may just be an evolution, rather than an innovation, of ways of drinking tea.
Over time the use of tea spread further north, thanks to wandering Buddhist monks who took on drinking tea as a way to substitute alcohol. A very influential book, the Classic of tea by Lu Yu did the rest by bestowing tea with a historic grandeur and myth far from its humble origins, but going a long way to influence the literati of the time to engage in tea drinking and connoisseurship.
So the culture of tea then became intertwined with the monastic and intellectual life of the time, continuously evolving, until becoming the refined and complex tissue that is part of Chinese societal fabric of today.
Benn has done an outstanding job at perusing the primary sources for his thesis. There's definitely a serious cultural speleology work done in this book. However, I would call the text heavy at times, with multiple references to poets, literati and famous works of which the novice reader (like myself) probably will know nothing about.
Hence, this makes Tea in China not an introductory book in this subject. But Benn already warns us at the beginning that he was not after giving a comprehensive, all encompassing view of tea in China in general but to look deep into a narrow window of time when the culture of tea fermented in Chinese society. And I think he succeeded in that.
March 7, 2019
Pretty good. Good place to start if one is interested in how tea became so important in Chinese culture. Interesting point about people & institutions inventing and affecting adoption of cultural practices.
October 17, 2018
Interesting, but it's more of an academic research text than a popular history book.
May 10, 2020
Fantastic and beautifully written resource!
February 28, 2025
Great overview of the material
April 8, 2017
Interesting read and enjoyable narrative. Lots of info but doesn't seem densely packed. Somewhat confused by strong conclusions at end. Narrative tended to downplay drawing conclusions from sources cited and advised being cautious in interpreting literary sources. 3.75 / 5.0
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews