Did the Chinese invent tea?
Historical records show that the earliest export of tea in China can be traced back to the Western Han Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, envoys were sent to the Indochina Peninsula, and among the goods they brought were tea, in addition to gold and brocade.
In the fifth century during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, tea from China began to be exported as a commodity to neighboring Southeast Asian countries and other parts of Asia.
In 805 or 806, the Japanese monks Saicho and
the monk Haikong, came to China to study, and when they returned home, they brought back tea seeds to try growing; later, the Song Dynasty monk Rongxi introduced tea seed cultivation from China. Japanese tea, which is made using the ancient Chinese principle of steaming the leaves, has a unique flavor.
Is tea made from China?
Tea is indeed produced in China.
As one of the world’s oldest drinks, the origins and cultivation of tea can be traced back to China. In China, the history of tea cultivation and consumption is very long, dating back to the Shennong era, that is, about 4,700 years ago. At the Tianluoshan site in Yuyao, Zhejiang, artificially cultivated tea tree roots dating back about 6,000 years were discovered, which shows that China is not only the birthplace of the tea plant, but also the country where tea cultivation and use began the earliest. In addition, China is not only the country where the largest number of wild tea trees were discovered the earliest, but also a country where tea culture has been integrated into political, economic and cultural exchanges, and has become an important part of Chinese culture.
Chinese tea culture is not only long-standing, but also unique, incorporating ideas from Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, among others, to form unique cultural characteristics such as the tea ceremony, tea ethics and the tea spirit. Lu Yu of the Tang Dynasty’s “The Classic of Tea” is an important milestone in Chinese tea studies, systematically summarising and standardising the cultivation, picking, preparation and drinking of tea, and further promoting the development and spread of Chinese tea culture5.
In summary, tea is indeed produced in China, and China’s tea culture and tea industry have had a profound impact on the world.