Tea Drinking and Folk Customs

2 min read

Drinking tea,a long-established custom popular with the Chinese people, is closely related to their life in a myriad of ways. It can not only refresh the mind but also add a poetic quality to life.

Wang Zengqi(1920-1997),a contemporary Chinese writer, once recalled his student yearsin the Southwest Union University in Kunming and remembered one poem on the wall ofa teahouse near the university:

In those good times of old,

To a teahouse my father Ifollowed.

Before the teahouse I played with shells

And at the lane entrance, with sand.

Wang Zengqi believed this was “a truly fine poem.”The author describes the ritual of following his father to a teahouse during his childhood. He played with shells and sand at the entrance to the lane in front of the teahouse. What a happy time it was! The whole poem expresses a soft, touching melancholy permeated with strong poetic flavor.

Many Chinese folk customs are related to tea, such as the wedding ceremony. Tea trees grow out of seeds, and cannot be moved, so newlyweds customarily plant tea seeds to symbolize their devotion to love. The engagement ceremony is called a “tea ceremony”in China, which is still popular in some places.

Many love songs are related to tea drinking, too. According to the records of Lu You(1125-1210),a Song-dynasty poet, in some places, single young men and women often met to sing:”Young girl, as pretty as tea leaves,/Would you please come out for a cup of tea?”The song compares a beautiful girl to refreshing tea leaves, while the wooer expresses his love for the girl by inviting her to tea.

Tea drinking, with the touch of love, can be very romantic, along with its strong aesthetic elements. In the collection of short stories entitled Strange Tales from Make-do Studio(Liaozhai zhiyi), by Qing-dynasty(1616-19 11) writer Pu Songling(1640-1715), there is a story telling of the love of Wang Guilan and Yunniang. When the young man Wang Guilan visits Yunniang’s home in a dream, he witnesses a scene of “a silk tree in full bloom,”as described in the following folksong:

My home is situated by the Pantuo River,

Come have tea some time, my sweetheart.

With earthen walls anda thatched roof

In front,a silk tree in full bloom.

The silk tree and drinking tea both symbolize love and marriage. With these two images, this romantic love song sounds even more vivid and poetic.