Origin and present status of the - O

Origin
ethnic
China.
and present status of the tea-eating customs of the
groups in the mountainous regions in southwestern
Qinjin Liu' ,Ron~bo XU2, Jiashun Gong'
Insti1ute ofSouthwest Agricultural University,Beibe~Chongqing,400716,p.RChina
I:TeaScience Institute
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 of tea in the world
Utilization
B.C.) in China's history. Starting fiom
Utili2ation of tea dates back to 3<XX> years ago, Le. to the West Zhou Dynasty (1066 B.c.)
"eating raw as medicine", it 11,mdually
11,mduaIly developed to "eating cooked as vegetable", to "eating cooked as a beverage" ard to 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 adiacent
adjacent mountainous regionc; in Ymnan, Sichuan,
Hube~ HWlaIl and Guangxi,
W~ and DdOO Mountains, Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau
Chongqing. Guizhou, Hube~
G
. especially in the WuIin
and in the Hengduan Molllltain'i,
MoUl1lain<i, the local inhabitanls
~itants of Hans and the edmic groups of Mia>, fuw..
fuw., Yao, QU, Gero and
T4iia have up to now kept the folk customs ofoffering tea to guests for "eating". The authors of die paper spent 3 years
making a tour ofover 5000 Ion, collected a lot ofphysical and written materials for expounding the popularity and regionality
fo1k1ore. Applying
App\ying the nrincinles in edmic culture science and economic geography, this paper discusses the
of the tea-eating folklore.
rationalitY, ofits survival ThiS work is also intended to
evolution ofthe folk custom of' 'tea ~-,-~ the inevitability and rationalitY.
supply a new theoreticall:xNs
theoretical txNs for the development of functiooal
functiooaI foods made with tea as its main raw material.
Introduction
Southwestern China refers gmmilly to the vast area covering the provinces ofSichuan,
of Sichuan, Yunnan. Guizhou, Xi1a1g (Tibet)
and GIJlIIlgXi
GUlIIlgXi and ~
~ing Municipality with a territory of2.3 million square kilometers. The annual average temperature
of 5OOO·C. In its tea-c~ regions, the extreme
in this area is above 15 C, with an accumulated
accwnulated temperalLD"e (> I0 ·C) of5OOO·C.
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 of in China") and represents the
native place of tea in the whole world Up to now, some wild tea popuIatiom
the area.
populatiom still survive in the border regioffi of
ofthe
cultivating giant tea trees (not bushes!) and ofhaving You Cha soup.
The local edmic groups follow the age-old 1rndition of
ofcultivating
They fPmmi
fPm>frl tea as a god, and .
it into 1heir 10caI
local 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
(paste-\ike drink), which is known as
custom of"gengyin" (paste-like
tea~2')
oftheplpef
TeaResemCh
The aUlhOrs of
the paper and 1heircolleagues in Tea
ResemCh Imtitute, SoulhwestAgricultural University made m-~
spot investigations and documentation research, in 1999-2001, of the past and ~ of the fea.eaIing customs of the edmic
COIllpD"ed the results of this Work with the related reports in d<mestic and foreign
~ in sOu1hwestern
sOulhwestern China, and COIllpD'ed
Jownals.[5,6) The preliminary results are presented in the following text. Any comments from the experts in this field are
J0wna\s.[s,6)
welcome.
~~
~
"eatini
Contents of investigation and its routes and methods
In 1999, the coostIUction of the 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
.C·'"
around the area was s1arted. The cttine;e government invested hmdreds ofmillions of
()IJ:!.3flized a contingent consisting of thousands of archaeologists for the
RMB and ()IJ!.3flized
excavation ofrelic
o{relic sites of Neolithic and Paleolithic Ages, of the cultural relics of
of numerous ancient tombs. As a result, a great variety
Shang and Zhou Dynasties and ofnumerous
ofantique relics were unear1hed, including pottery pieces ofthe Warring States Period,
green porcelain and black glazed ~lain tea sets of the Tang and Song Dynasties
and the rernaim of ancient kiln sites.(15) Owing to the fid that our institute has been
engaged in the research of the history and culture of tea for quite a nwnber of years,
the numerous archaeo~ca1 ~ made us re-examine the tea custOms and tea
Fig.l On-lhe-.ot
On-lhe--.ot ora " - "_ _ _
culture of"BasIm X,uan" mentioned in Lu YiJ's Tea Clmsics
ClaYsics and its adjacent
regions. Supported by the ''Tea Innovators" Funds and co-opernting with Hua Xia
mlbe"l1lneGqi5A1!1!m* AmI
Center ofTea Culture in S~ the autfiors carried out
Intemational Research Cmter
investigation ofthe ''tea-eating'' culture ofthe edmic groups inhabiting southwestern China.
an extensive investigalion
I. Main cootents ofthe investigation
Sichwm and \W.Stem
the original place of China's teaEastern SichI.m
~ Hubei
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 1Iace
trace the evolution of tea-drinking customs there;[I3,14]
\ocal folk culture in
Study was made of the relationship between Han culture and the local
their development Emphasis was placed on the edmic ~ who have kept the "tea
eating" customs and the development of their tea-drinking culture. A comparison was
made between the Sa Shu tea customs of the Tang and Song Dynasties when tea
nnnI.l,.,. and the cwrent tea-eating customs. A
A discussion is offered to
drinking was most nnnI,l,.,.
illustrate the ~and rationality of retaining
~ the tea eating customs in tln;e
I
tlnle ,
regKe, slarting from the perspectives offolk culture scien:e and ecoronic geogt'8Iily.
geogr8Iily.
Arell or distributioB or old tell
FJ&.2 Am
2. Routes and methods ofthe investigation
2.1 Investigation routes (Fig 3)
~!1~
d1e . . . .~~~
2.1.1
On land
~
trees.
-53-
Session I
A. Chongqing -- Miao Zu tea-producing reWon in \Vcm<iheng -- Miao Zu cni Geloo
Geioo tea prodtring region in
Nanchuan -- Fuling -- Tujia Zu tea-producing ~ in Gongtan, Youyan
-- Longtm (an ment town) 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 of the 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 of You Cha's laW
taW materials and finished products; sorting out and making ofvideo-tapes aOO written
materials.
Results and Discussion
1. DWibutioo oftbe tea eating customs 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 'Ieachings ftvm 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 of its own... Ifother I1er'OO or fiuit are ackied to it when it is brewed, Its tmique attraction will be reducOO." On the 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 1ake the clean spring water with", suggesting that it was 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 of 00d' oil, salt., . am other
grains or foods to their tea, aOO ]6 etlmic group wOO swallow down the residue
of tea 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 of these 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 of the Sichuan Basin east of the Hengduan Monutains (Fig.4).
TherefOre, the people who keep tea-ea1ing custom almost always use h0memade tea as the laW
taw material in making their tea drinks. They seldom consume
commercial tea products. That reflects the chara:tet istics of a self-emtained and
self-sufficient agricultural culture.
rJg.4 Ami of diItribIItioII ofClll: ~
2. 1yPes and f()l'Jm of''tea-elting'' tOIldore
nationalities in tbe!lOlltllwestern Cb_
Theoretically, "fulklore" refers
rekrs to 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 <Xher words, folklore ~ it relatively solidified
cultural phenomenon.[7]
"A guest is trealOO with tea in stead ofli9001' on a cold nighf'-----soch a line in a poem suggests that offering tea to a
guest as a gesture of respoct for him is an anctent folldore Jmsed down fium ~eneration to generation in thousands of ~
On the other hand, this custom has undergone many changes in the long penod ofhistory with the development of society
and in the course of podoctive activity and ulterpersom1 ex~ Ul the mankind. As recorded in a cbfisic work, ''Shen
Nong tNed hurxJreds ofherbs. One day, he sampled 72 toxic plants and got poisoBrl Fortunately, he ~ to find tea,
took it arxl the toxicity wa'i thus relieved" Originally tea wa'i used as a medicire arxl it was eaten raw. I...aler people cookfd it
and had it as a vegetable. In Tan~ and ~ Dynasties, tea wa'i made into a paste as a food aOO now it is generally drunk
directly by infusion, and othervaneties oftea-OOsed beverages such as ''ictXl tea" and "fiuit-flavored tea" are widely available.
However, the rite and custom of"treating guests with tea and cooking tea and making it a plSte" remain inta:::t in the ettmic
groups ofthe mountainous ~ in southwestern China. Such a custom is being developed by edmic groups, though their
livelihood is keeping improvmg. Statistics show that there are cbzms of names, types and prqealion rriethods of ''teaeating", ofwhich some are listed in the following table I:
3. Origin of the tea-eating custom - a preliminary exploration
Cultural ewlogy holds that ht.unan cultural morphology is, first of all, the outrome of adaptation ofthe human race to
the ecological environment. It is true that the changes in human histoty aOO the formation ofnational culture are created by
Session I
-54-
human ~ thetmelves, but it is natural and geographical environments that provide the material fourKiation for the
creation of hwnan 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
argwnent that ''the people ofany region are nourished by the water and land ofthat region"
region."
argument
edmic groups on
Table 1.
L Namt'S, types, main ingredients and preparation medlock of "tea-etting"
"tea-eating" of the ethnic
soutbwt'Stem China
Name
ethnic group
Nanchuan You Cha
soup(Ganjin soup)
Han & Tujia
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
soup)
Dong, Yao &
raw tea leaves, half-cooked rice, tea oil,
oi I, peanut, onion, ginger, Tang
(Sansheng
popped rice, com, egg, salt .
Liangban
tea(colddressed teal sour tea)
Blang,
Hani,
Bebglong & Jino
tea, bamboo cylinder, salt & chilly powder
Yongsheng Oil & salt
tea
Naxi,
HlII1
Sandaotea
Bai & Naxi
Butter tea
Tibetan & Naxi
butter, brick tea, salt, zanba, sanzi
"Long Hu Dou"
Naxi
Yunnan tuocha, sunshine-dried green tea,
(Chewed
salt,
+
+
Xia Gong, fish egg, Swine liver, swine intestine, rice
Tujia
tea, bamboo cylinder pottery jar
tea
+
locally made green tea, tea oil, lard, cured meat, peanut, soybean,
Dai)ino
Benglong
Pickled
tea)
ndnI
main ingredients
Y~
Lisu&
Yunnan green tea, Tuocha, cured oil, salt
Yunnan tuocha, Yunnan green tea, brown sugar, Walnut kernel, sesame, prickly
honey, Cassia bark, ginger
-
chum
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 of the Tujia people, PrirK:ess y.re, the goddess in
charge ofbirth,
ofbit1h, wac;; the moCher ofthe Babu King;). One day, while she was pickingtea on a mountain slope on asummer day,
she was so thirst that she casually swallowed down a handful of tea leaves. Though a virgin, she got pregnant as a result
Three and a half years ~ 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 moun1ains
tl1OUf11ainc; to submit them to the will ofHeaven. Unexpectedly, the brothers were adopted by a white tigress.
Wtth
miIitaJy exploits, they were
Wrth her care, they all grew up healthy and strong and became skillful waniors. Owing to their militaJy
granted by the emperor the noble title ofBa bu ~1101 Ofcourse, a legend is a legend, and there is no histOrical evidence to
support
that the
s~ it
it But
But from
from itit one
~ can
can get
~ aa comprehension
~prehension that
the clans
clans of
of ancient
~ient T4iia
T4iia ~....
. . '...~
onginated
the .,
..'. "i;.
';:i;. "';;:
originated from a matnarehal
matriarchal SOCIety,
society, whic~ shares the same characteristics ~f the:'
i.i
I~ends ofthe
of the Hans about Shen N~ and FUXl,
. . . ;\.,
;\
I~ends
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
and Hubei.l ll •12])
CaUSt'S for the sulVivai oftea-eating
ofb.'a-elting customs - a preliminary analysfi
4. Causes
Wtth
Wrth the development of the investig;ltion, the authors found out that in
Changyang COlD'\1y
COlD11y ofYtehang, Hubei, whicn is believed to be the original place of
FIg.5 You <"lIa!lOUp of tile "fuiia'i in Youyaag
Tujia edmic group, the tea-eating custom has disappeared. It has been replarel
replared by
. . of Cbongqing
.
and Gongtan districts
tea-drinking, though the
and Gongtan districts of Cbongqmg
the local people have kept many of the other folk customs of
fmd any traces of
Tujia Nationality. Even in 1he Annals of1he county, we failed to fro
the custom of tea eating. By contrast, in y~ county of Yunnan and Jinfushan ofNanchuan (Fig.6), Choogqing, the
tre
custom ofeating Youchaor Dayoucharemain5 very ~.(9ile Fi~.7-8) An interpretation offered bytheaudus is that the
ancient custom of tea eating, like the Chinese agricultural culture, fulls into the category of"river valley culture", which is
wlified feudal state has
characterized by great cohesive fm:e and assimilating capacity. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties. a Wlified
always existed, which was ba<;ed
ba'led 00 a river valley cUlture. In the long histoty of its slow and ~ development, the Han
nowished by and merged with the cultures of other regions. As a result, in the regtons along rivers banks, where
culture was nowisIm
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 of the Hans. Starting from the Song, Ming and Yuan Dynasties.
Dynasties, in
paI1icuIar,
paI1icular, large nwnbers of ~ migrated from the Central Plaim to the southwesrem
southweslml 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
gratually replaced by tea-drinking. A different picture
various cultures took ploce and the ancient tea-eating custom wac;; gndually
information
appeared in those remote moun1ainous regions. Tl'lIffiJlOI13lion
T~on and communication were not convenient, little infotrnation
was available, the climate was cold, the conditions for production and daily life of the people were tough. Vegetables and
-55-
Session II
Fig.7 Dayou Cba orlbe Hans ill
y~
Fig.6 An oJd lea tree or NaudiwuI 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 your daughter 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 of the 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 of tea-eatipg customs is closely related to the geowaPhical condition and the development of 1rarnJx>r1ation
and communication, and ofeconomy, and is profoundly influeri:edby the 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 ~ fir TeaRegi<mliztxl PIooning, &sear:h en Tea ReginmJized PIaming, TeaRt=m11rNibJte, CMS
3. Rlm HG. et~ I<m.,A COfTI{M!hensive CdIedion ifCJUm s AJrient Tea, lhjlIlg ~ Prel;s
4. OJen,DS ax! Wei, HI<., 1997,]he RoaJjrrthe RiseiftheF.cooomyinthe West, ~ fiI" E<sPrel;s
5. f~'H\', 1999, AmIIsofTeaIUiooalities, t1IllJPrel;s
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, 1S1lI, SeJectkn ifJfistaia:JJ Materials ifOUm s Tea, ~ Pl'effi
10. Ch:n, H ax! Lu G.L,:!ro, Tra:e th: Origin ofOJirrre Tea Culture, Olina City Pre$
II. I.iu, QJ., YooG.K. et~:!XX), Scian:offea CuIturt; Olina~ Pre$
12 Liu, Qj., 1994(4), ~ oftheOr~l(JfBa
~ Cullm;.kumI ofLu \1:iSludy
13. I.iu, QJ.,I<)lM, Refoonth: lIlcieJI ~ regioo of~ Olina- In memory ofth:9l1' lDJiver.ayofPro1e.<Hr'sUi Yunfu's brirlIy,
I'ubINmg [kpIbmtofSWAU
14. Zlal, FD. d.aI., :ml, A re.ort invesig;iirn ofgiln tea1rees in ~ 0Jm, a~tOOiis
15. Goog, J.S., Xu, RH. et al., :ml, The aigin ax! evoIuIirn ofth: 1m aNoms ofth: tmt3ing rHionaIilies in BlNm XB.hm ngm of~
0Jim, ~of2001 Jntcmi.inII OCH S}'l11Xl'iium
Session I
-56-