A Study on aesthetic consciousness of tea drinking culture in song dynasty

Abstract

　This paper aims to explore the aesthetic consciousness of tea drinking culture in Song Dynasty in China. However, given the fact that the scope of tea culture is becoming more and more extensive, this paper firstly defines and sorts out the sub-categories under the concept of tea culture. On the basis of fully analyzing the evolution of tea culture sub-categories since ancient times, the author divides the content of tea culture into six categories, and analyzes the research status of these six categories so far. Then the author found several “blind spots” in tea science that the ancients were keen on but we did not study and dabble in, that is, (1) the preparation of tea drinking in advance; (2) the action and flow of tea cooking, and (3) the color, aroma and taste of tea. It is not difficult to see that these three items, which have not been paid attention to by the academic community and have hardly been studied, are the most important part of tea culture.

　This paper takes these three items as the core to discuss the aesthetic consciousness of tea drinking culture in Song Dynasty, and draws the following three conclusions:

　　1．Tea drinkers in Song Dynasty attached importance to “preparation for tea drinking” but ignored “tea brewing”, which is the embody of paying attention to the atmosphere and artistic conception of tea drinking but ignoring the standardized action setting, this is also the reason why Chinese tea culture has not formed the formalized, standardized and unified action norms as Japanese tea ceremony does.

　　2．While the tea culture in Song Dynasty ignored the action of “tea brewing”, it attached great importance to the result of “tea brewing”. Of the “color, aroma, taste and shape” of the tea soup as a result of “tea brewing”, it paid special attention to the “shape”, that is, the appearance of foam. It can be said that the four key words of tea culture in Song Dynasty, namely, “tea brewing”, “Cha Bai Xi”, “tea competition” and “tea dividing” were all the result of the aesthetic consciousness of pursuing foam appearance.

　　3．The description of the “shape” of tea soup - foam appearance by tea drinkers in Song Dynasty can be delicate and detailed, accurate and ingenious in words, with appropriate metaphors, forming a sharp contrast to the description of “tea brewing” action which is short and ambiguous. More importantly, the description of foam appearance in Song Dynasty is highly reproducible, which provides valuable information and basis for us to reproduce the tea brewing culture in Song Dynasty.