Lu Yu, from the first to the Tang Dynasty in Cha Sheng, China, wrote the world's earliest tea monograph "Tea Classic" around 758 AD, systematically and comprehensively discussing the methods and experiences of tea planting, tea making, tea drinking and tea tasting. According to Lu Yu's Tea Classic, tea trees have been discovered and used in China for more than 4,700 years.
During the Western Zhou Dynasty in China, tea was used as a sacrifice. In the Spring and Autumn Period, fresh tea leaves were used as food, and in the Warring States Period, tea was used as a medicine to treat diseases. In the Western Han Dynasty, tea had become one of the main commodities. During more than 300 years from the Three Kingdoms to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, especially in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Buddhism prevailed, and Buddhists used tea to relieve their drowsiness, so tea was widely planted in the valley next to the temple. Drinking tea promoted Buddhism, and Buddhism promoted the development of tea stoves, which is the source of the famous so-called "tea Buddha blindly" in history. It was not until the Tang Dynasty that tea was officially popularized to the people as a popular drink.
Since ancient times, tea has been the bond of friendship between the Chinese and Japanese people. During the Tang Dynasty, Japanese monks first came to the Congress Temple in Tiantai Mountain, Zhejiang Province to study Buddhism. When they returned to China, they brought back tea seeds and planted them in He Zi County (now Chishang Tea Garden) in Japan. The tea spread to the central and southern parts of Japan. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Japanese Buddhist monk Rong Xi visited Tiantai, Siming and Tiantong twice. Song Xiaozong gave him the title of "Thousand Light Magician". Master Rongshan not only has profound Buddhist attainments, but also has a good knowledge of China tea. He has a book "Drinking Tea for Health", which is regarded as the ancestor of tea by the Japanese people. In the opening year of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Japanese Buddhist monk Zen Master came to Jingshan Temple in Zhejiang to study Buddhism. After returning home, he brought tea props and tea tables from Jingshan Temple, and spread the tea banquet and matcha method of Jingshan Temple to Japan, which inspired and promoted the rise of Japanese tea ceremony.
In the Song Dynasty, Arab merchants settled in Quanzhou, Fujian to sell tea. When Zheng He went to the Western Ocean in the Ming Dynasty, tea was also sold to Southeast Asia and southern African countries. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Dutch merchant ships transported tea from Macau to Europe for the first time in 16 10, which opened the door for China tea to be sold to both sides.
The earliest record of teahouses in China is Feng Ji, which was performed during the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty. Among them, "from Zou, Qi, Cang and Li, gradually to Jingyi, the city opened more shops, cooked tea and sold it, and did not ask the vulgar, but invested money and drank it". After the Tang and Song Dynasties, teahouses selling tea were set up in many places. In the Qing Dynasty, folk quyi entered the teahouse and became a place for cultural entertainment and rest.
According to legend, the largest teahouse in China was the "Flower Tea Hall" in Sichuan, with three halls and four courtyards. Chengdu Teahouse has a big armchair, which is very comfortable for drinking tea, chatting or taking a nap.
Our people have always had the habit of "inviting guests to offer tea", which fully embodies the civility and courtesy of the Chinese nation. In ancient times, Qi Shizu, Lu Na and others advocated replacing wine with tea. In the Tang Dynasty, Liu praised "tea" as ten virtues, and thought that drinking tea can not only strengthen the body, but also "respect people with tea", "make tea more attractive" and "make tea feasible". During the Tang and Song Dynasties, many literati, such as Bai Juyi, Li Bai, Liu Zongyuan, Liu Yuxi, Pi Rixiu, Wei, Wen, Lu You, Ouyang Xiu and Su Dongpo, not only loved tea, but also praised and described it in their masterpieces.