When did the historical route of Chinese tea spread abroad?

 China's tea production and tea culture have also had a huge impact on foreign countries. The continuous trade exchanges between Chinese and foreign tea industries have promoted the consumption of tea by people all over the world and strengthened the lasting influence of tea.

The spread of tea in Asia

Chinese tea and tea culture have the most profound impact on Japan. It played a very important role in the production and development of Japanese tea ceremony.

The introduction of Chinese tea and tea culture into Japan was mainly through Zhejiang and Buddhism as the channel of transmission. Zhejiang is located on the southeast coast and is an important import and export port for the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties. 

The famous temples in the territory include Tiantai Mountain Guoqing Temple, Tianmu Mountain Jingshan Temple, Ningbo Ashoka Temple, Tiantong Temple and so on. Among them, Tiantaishan Guoqing Temple is the birthplace of Tiantai Sect, and Jingshan Temple is the birthplace of Linji Sect. From the Tang Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, Japanese envoys and scholarly monks came to various Buddhist resorts in Zhejiang to practice and study. 

When they returned to China, they not only brought along the tea planting knowledge and brewing skills, but also the traditional Chinese tea ceremony spirit, which made the tea ceremony flourish in Japan and formed the artistic form and spiritual connotation with Japanese national characteristics.

Among these envoys and scholarly monks, the one that has a direct relationship with the spread of tea culture is the clearest. Before the end, the Tiantai Mountain and Tiantai Sect monks also had many missionaries to Japan, such as Jianzhen in the 13th year of Tianbao (754). They brought not only the teachings of the Tiantai Sect, but also science and technology and life customs. Including the way of drinking tea. In the twenty-first year of Zhenyuan (804), the most acquainted with the edict sent to the Tang Dynasty to seek Dharma. After coming to Zhejiang, he went to the Tiantai Mountain Guoqing Temple to study Tiantai Buddhism, and then to Longxing Temple in Yuezhou to study Tantric Buddhism. In August of the following year, he returned from Mingzhou.

When he returned to China, Zuicheng brought back tea from Tiantai Mountain in Zhejiang Province to Japan, and at the same time introduced tea to the court. Later, tea gradually became a court item, loved by the royal family, and gradually popularized among the people.

Entering the Southern Song Dynasty, an important period for the spread of Chinese tea ceremony, Japanese scholar Rongxi visited China twice. When Rongxi returned to China, he brought back more than 30 new chapters and 60 volumes, and also brought back tea seeds. After returning to China, he planted them in temples and vigorously promoted Zen and tea.

In addition, Rongxi also studied the "Tea Sutra" written by Lu Yu in the Tang Dynasty and wrote the first monograph on tea drinking in Japan-"Eating Tea for Health". He believes that "drinking tea can cleanse the heart, refine the vulgarity, improve eyesight, live longer, and make people noble." He presented this book to the Kamakura shogunate. Since then, the upper class began to love tea, and the trend of tea drinking quickly became popular. Therefore, Eisi was revered as the "tea ancestor" of Japan.

While Chinese culture spread widely in Japan, China's fine tea sets-celadon tea bowls and Tianmu tea bowls were also passed down from Zhejiang to Japan at this time. Tenmokuchawan has a far-reaching influence on the Japanese tea ceremony. From the beginning of tea drinking in Japan to the Higashiyama era, when ritual tea was created, all the tea sets used were Tenmokuchawan. Later, due to the development of the tea ceremony, ordinary tea bowls were imitations of Japan and North Korea, making Tianmu tea bowls more precious. They were only used on important occasions such as "Tai Tianmu ordering tea", visiting guests, and offering tea to gods and Buddhas.

In the 15th century, Murata Zhuguang, a disciple of the famous Japanese Zen master Ikyu Zonggui, and who was later honored as the originator of the Japanese tea ceremony, pioneered the "Sipu Bancaoan Tea". He advocated the "caoan tea style" that conforms to nature and complements the true quality. Murata Zhuguang believes that the origin of the tea ceremony should lie in the purity of the heart, and the transformation of the "enjoyment" of the tea ceremony into the "abstinence", which embodies the core of Zen Tao that cultivates the body and mind and cultivates virtue.

As one of the founders of Japanese tea ceremony, Takeno Shōou played a role in linking the past and the next to the development of Japanese tea ceremony. He inherited the theory of Murata Pearl, and combined his own knowledge to expand it, creating the "Takeno Style".

He applied the "cold and dry high" aesthetic style of Japanese waka to the tea ceremony, tea set and tea room, inherited and carried forward the pearly and pure "caoan tea" style, and created a more simple, dull and practical "tuo" style. Tea" (also known as "Hemei Tea"). "Tuo" originally means "loneliness", "coldness" and "depression". Through Shao Ou's transformation, "Tuo" has been given new concepts: "Integrity", "Prudence", "Self-discipline" and "Don't Be Arrogant" Shao Ou applies this concept to the tea ceremony. This concept specifically refers to: inviting three or five friends, sitting in the simple and bright tea room, treating each other with sincerity, and forgetting the worldly things in the mellow tea, so as to achieve the detached state of forgetting things.

In the 16th century, Shao Ou’s disciple, Qian Rikyu, known as the "tea ceremony genius", developed the Tuocha tea ceremony centered on Zen Tao into the Rikyu tea ceremony centered on the concept of "equality and mutual benefit", which became a popular new tea ceremony. He summarized the tenets of Japanese tea ceremony as "harmony, respect, purity, and solitude". "Harmony" is used for action; "respect" is used for quality; "qing" is used for living; At this point, the Japanese tea ceremony began to take shape. At the same time, the Japanese tea ceremony also deepened and developed the cultural connotations of "tea feast" and "fighting tea" in the Tang and Song dynasties, and formed the Yamato national tea culture with Japanese local characteristics.

The spiritual essence of Japanese tea ceremony is to advocate equality and mutual love between people and harmony and unity between people and nature. It requires people to abide by a quiet and peaceful life and respect etiquette. The Japanese people regard it as an effective method for self-cultivation and self-improvement.

During the Southern and Northern Dynasties in the 5th century AD, while the Chinese tea culture flourished in Japan, it also began to spread to neighboring countries in Southeast Asia.

Vietnam borders our country. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Buddhism was introduced to Vietnam and was revered as the state religion in the 10th century. The introduction of Chinese tea into Vietnam is no later than this period. Vietnam has a long history of tea cultivation, and large-scale tea cultivation began in the 19th century. Subsequently, Vietnam introduced tea species and tea-making technology and equipment from South Asia, which led to the rapid development of tea production and trade.

In 1684, Indonesia in Southeast Asia took tea seeds from my country for trial planting, and subsequently introduced them to Japan and Assam (India) for trial planting. India in South Asia tried to plant tea seeds in my country through the British East India Company in 1780, and then introduced and expanded them on a large scale, established tea farms, dispatched tea makers to my country to learn tea planting and tea making skills, and recruited Chinese technical personnel. India teaches in person. Through the efforts of all parties, the development of Indian tea culture in the late 19th century has reached the level of "the name of Indian tea, which is full of the world".

Sri Lanka introduced tea seeds from our country in the 17th century and tried planting them in 1780. After 1824, they introduced a large number of tea seeds from my country and India for expansion, and hired professional and technical personnel to give guidance.

In the Tang Dynasty, Chinese tea spread to the Arab regions of West Asia, and from then on formally entered the Arab countries. According to the "Xin Tang Shu · Lu Yu Biography": "Yu is addicted to tea, written three classics, the source of tea, the method, and the equipment are especially prepared, the world benefits the knowledge and drinking tea... Later, tea became a trend, and the time was back to He The dynasty began to drive Mashi tea." The Uyghur people exchanged horses for tea, and while drinking, they sold part of the tea to Turkey and other Arab countries for huge profits.

Turkey in West Asia began tea planting in 1888, first introducing tea seed trial planting from Japan, and then introducing tea seed planting from Georgia in 1937. After development and planting in batches, the scale of its tea industry gradually took shape and developed steadily.

The spread of tea in Europe

The earliest record of tea in the West is "The Relationship between China and India" written by an Arab businessman in 851 AD. Later, some Western travellers also described tea, which made Westerners have a keen interest in tea. But it was not until the 17th century that tea was brought back to Europe by missionaries.

In 1606, the Dutch East India Company shipped the first batch of tea purchased from China to Amsterdam. Since then, the company has monopolized the tea trade between China and Europe until the mid-17th century. In addition, the East India Company also exported tea to Italy, France, Germany and Portugal. Although the French and Germans showed a keen interest in tea when it first entered Europe, except for some upper-class people in East Frisia and France, tea has not really been included in daily drinks. For nearly two hundred years, tea has been popular among the nobles as a luxury drink.

Tea first arrived in Russia in 1618, and it was shipped from China to Sa Alexis as a gift. The trade agreement signed in 1689 marked the beginning of long-term Sino-Russian trade. Due to the long distance and slow itinerary, it takes 16 to 18 months for the tea to be transported from China to Russia, so the price is very expensive and only the nobles can drink it.

In the middle of the 17th century, tea drinking became popular in England. Tea first met with the world in a coffee shop. In 1652, these coffee houses provided people with tea beverages, along with snacks and desserts, but these teas were only enjoyed by men. The first person to promote tea drinks was Thomas Garaway. He stated in the London weekly newspaper "The Courier" from September 23 to 30, 1658: "This delicious Chinese drink is called'Tcha' in China, and is called'Tay' in other countries. Known as'Tee', this drink is sold at the Santenis Hyde Coffee House near the Royal Exchange in London."

In 1706, leisure places offering tea beverages appeared in the streets of London: Thomas Twining opened the first tea house in London, which specializes in tea beverages, especially for excluded female customers. So far, the tea-drinking style prevailed throughout the UK. In the 18th century, tea became the most popular beverage in British society, replacing beer at breakfast and dinner, and gin at the rest of the time. The consumption of tea increased from 30.3 tons in 1701 to 2229.6 tons in 1781. The sharp drop in tea tax in 1784 (from 119% to 12.5%) led to a surge in consumption, reaching 6847.8 tons in 1791. .

The spread of tea in America, Oceania and Africa

In the 16th century, after tea spread throughout Europe, it entered the North American continent. At that time, the American continent was a colony divided by European powers. In 1626, the Dutch first shipped and sold Chinese tea to their jurisdiction, and then the British also sold tea imported from China to their jurisdiction.

Later, the United States became independent and set its sights on the Asian continent. On Christmas Eve in 1783, the sloop "Harriet", which is said to have a displacement of 55 tons, was loaded with American ginseng and sailed from Boston Harbor to China. Due to the difficult journey, the "Harriet" only exchanged a ship of tea with British merchants at the Cape of Good Hope before returning. On February 22, 1784, President Washington’s birthday, the well-prepared Philadelphia businessmen Robert Morris, Daniel Parker and the New York company, led by Captain Green, took the 360-ton ocean-going sailing ship "Queen of China" from New York. Departing from Hong Kong, more than 40 tons of American ginseng were loaded and sailed to China via the Cape of Good Hope.

On August 23, the "Queen of China" arrived in Macau occupied by the Portuguese after more than half a year of voyage. A week later, the "Queen of China" finally arrived at their destination-Guangzhou Port. Since then, the United States and China have started a formal tea trade. In order to safeguard trade with China, the US Congress passed the Maritime Law in 1789, stipulating that American merchants import goods from Asia, except for tea, are granted 12.5% ​​tariff protection, and they are exempted from the taxation of American merchants selling Chinese tea to Europe.

Since then, tea has become popular in American countries. In 1812, Brazil introduced Chinese tea. In 1824, Argentina purchased Chinese tea seeds for domestic cultivation.

At the beginning of the 19th century, with the increasing degree of economic trade and cultural exchanges between countries, tea was brought to New Zealand and other places through missionaries and merchant ships. Subsequently, it gradually thrived in Oceania. Tea trees have also been planted in Australia, Fiji and other countries, and the planting in Fiji has been successful.

In the Ming Dynasty, tea was introduced to Africa. Zheng He made seven voyages to the West, through Vietnam, Java, India, Sri Lanka, the Arabian Peninsula, and finally reached the east coast of Africa. He carried tea on every voyage. Obviously, tea has been introduced to Africa very early. According to records, Moroccans have a history of drinking tea for more than 300 years.

In 1903, Kenya in East Africa introduced tea seeds from India for the first time, and commercial development and planting were carried out in 1920. After independence in 1963, large-scale operations were carried out. Relying on scientific and technological management, Kenyans find other shortcuts to drive the development of tea production and become a rookie in the world tea industry. Kenya's tea industry has attracted the attention of the world for its rapid development, high quality, and high export ratio.

Connected reading or pls here link.

The top HD 4K dash cam sellers in the North American Market, link:

More international web browsing accelerators VPN，link:

Surfshark VPN, Link: