Why can Chinese tea margin become popular drinks around the world?

China News Agency, Hangzhou, August 28th

China is the hometown of tea. Tea is deeply integrated into the life of Chinese people and has become an important carrier inheriting Chinese culture. From the ancient Silk Road, tea horse roads, and tea boats, to today's Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, tea crosses history, crosses national borders, and is loved by people around the world.

As one of the three largest drinks in the world, why can Chinese tea margin become popular drinks worldwide? How to become an important medium for Eastern and Western trade and cultural exchanges? Wang Yuefei, vice chairman of the China International Tea Culture Research Association and director of the Tea Research Institute of Zhejiang University, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "East and West" to analyze relevant issues.

China News Agency reporter: China is the earliest discovery and cultivation of tea trees in the world, using tea. From "Chai Mi oil and salt sauce vinegar tea" to "Qinqi, calligraphy, calligraphy, poetry and tea", why do Chinese people like tea and tea?

Wang Yuefei: Tea, coffee and cocoa are called the world's three major beverages. Among them, tea has a history of about 60 million to 70 million years on the earth. People discovered and used tea to start in the primitive maternity clan society, and the history of 5,000 to 6000 has so far. Tea has a long history in China. The earliest records about tea are "Shennong tasted hundreds of grass, and seventy -two poisons in the day, and it was solved by getting tulled (tea)."

The Chinese ancestor drinking tea has gone through four processes: raw medicine, cooked food, cooking, drinking, and brewing. Tea contains more than 700 ingredients, which is good for people's health, and thus becoming a necessity for many Chinese people. Especially in Qinghai, Inner Mongolia and other places, herders have previously lacked fresh fruits and vegetables. Drinking tea can supplement vitamins to a certain extent.

Tea is "Chai Mi oil and salt sauce vinegar tea", and it is also "piano, chess, calligraphy, calligraphy, wine and tea". Tea is sought after by many literati and writers. It is not only material needs, but also spiritual needs. In the Tang Dynasty, Lu Yu's "Tea Sutra" came out and was known as "Tea Encyclopedia". This comprehensive theory of tea production history, source flow, current status, production technology and tea drinking skills, and tea ceremony principles have become the earliest, most complete, and most comprehensive monographs in China and the world, making the tea culture develop unprecedentedly. It also marks the formation of Chinese tea culture.

With the emergence of the commodity economy, the improvement of people's living conditions, the improvement of the people's demand for culture, the Chinese tea culture has gradually accumulated, and the utensils and porcelain that matches them are also loved by the people.

Nowadays, tea culture not only integrates into the daily life of the people, but also becomes the link of interpersonal communication, which contains the "beauty of civilization" in the East.

China News Agency: What role does China Tea play in the global tea industry? What is special?

Wang Yuefei: China has self -confidence in tea culture. Chinese tea is the world's unique tea category resources. There are good tea in the tea -producing area in almost counties and counties, good tea in townships, and good tea in villages. Tea has become an important Chinese crop in China Essence 1085 counties and more than 30 million tea farmers are rich in "one leaf", and the tea industry has become a large industry that drives people's livelihood.

Looking at the world, tea is now spread all over the world. There are 64 countries in the world, and 30 countries or regions can stabilize tea. More than 150 countries or regions import tea all year round. More than 160 countries and regions have tea habits.

As for what role in Chinese tea in the global tea industry, the six words "Chinese tea, crown world" can be used to summarize- "crown" is mainly reflected in tea output, tea garden area, total tea consumption, and total tea export amount Wait four aspects.

From the current data, in 2020, the world's tea output is 6.269 million tons, and the output of Chinese tea is 2.986 million tons, ranking first in the world; the total area of ​​tea in the world is 76.47 million mu, and the total area of ​​Chinese tea is 47.475 million mu, which also ranks first in the world. China's tea leaves have a huge impact on the production and consumption of world tea. The output accounts for 47.63%of the world's tea output, consumption accounts for 41.68%of the world's total tea consumption, and exports account for 19.14%of the world's tea exports.

At present, it is the "golden age" of the development of China's tea industry. Nearly half of the world (more than 3 billion people) drink tea every day, and the world drinks more than 3 billion cups of tea a day.

China News Agency reporter: Why can Chinese tea go out smoothly and go to the world?

Wang Yuefei: The earliest Chinese tea leaf towards the world was in the 5th century AD. It was mainly introduced to East Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, and West Asia through the Silk Road.

Tea can go out smoothly, which is largely due to its rich medicinal value. Tea was first used in drugs in China, called "tea medicine". According to records such as "Shen Nong's Materia Medica", "Febrile theory", "Materia Medica Pickling" and "Tea Sutra" and other records, we can see that before the Tang Dynasty, people realized that tea had a lot of effects. It can not only make people sleep, eyesight, strong energy, and happy, but also to lose weight, increase the acuity of ideas, and not even lose to "and nectar.

When the Japanese and Korean monks who came to China returned to China, they brought tea trees back to China in the name of "medicinal" to prevent health care. Japanese tea originator ancestor Rongxi Master West Zen Master said in "Eat Tea Health": "Tea, the immortal medicine of health, and the magic of the age. Long life also. "In the second year of Jianbao (AD 1215), Rongxi presented February Tea and cured the fever of the Junyi General of the Kamakura Shogunate. Since then, the Japanese tea wind has become more popular.

In the 19th to 17th centuries, the distance between countries around the world was reduced by unprecedented distance. In addition, the magical medicinal effects of tea leaves were further spread. Dutch East India Company transported green tea from Macau to Java, Indonesia with its navigation advantages. The wind of drinking tea in Europe. Britain is one of the most loved tea drinking countries in Europe. Driven by the royal family, drinking tea has become a fashion pursuit of nobles, and it is popular among the British class. They found that tea has good effects on refreshing, lacking, hangover, and helping digestion. There is no side effect on drinking for a long time. The tea trade between China and Britain has been developed from scratch, and gradually developed from the 17th to the early 18th century. A considerable profit has made the tea trade more active.

As the most developed country in the world at that time, Britain led the wave of Europe. Beginning at the end of the 17th century, Chinese tea gradually became popular in the world. At that time, Chinese tea exports had exceeded porcelain and silk, accounting for about 90%of the country's export goods.

The study of tea and health again climaxed again in the 1980s. Under the call of "return to nature", many researchers have begun to seek alternatives to synthetic drugs from plants.

Japanese scientist FUJIKI M reported the earliest report of tea polyphenols in 1987 to inhibit human cancer cell activity, which attracted worldwide attention. In 2002, the American "Times" magazine recommended ten major health foods, including green tea.

Related research has driven the growth of global tea consumption, and also allows Chinese tea to cross history, cross the border, and win the love of the world.

Reporter of China News Agency: Behind the "leaf", what is the same difference between the habit of drinking tea in the East and West? What are the blending and mutual learning figures?

Wang Yuefei: China is known as the birthplace of the motherland and tea culture of tea. The higher the cultural integration of Eastern and West, the more Chinese tea is given. From being a luxurious drink for high society when they first went to sea, to the popularity of "afternoon tea" culture in Western society, and now to integrate with milk and alcohol, the collision of culture has made Chinese tea famous overseas.

There are many differences in tea drinking. Chinese tea has six major tea, green tea, yellow tea, black tea, white tea, green tea, and black tea. Chinese people drink tea to pay attention to "quality", which requires all color and fragrance. The form of tea drinking in the West is relatively simple. It pays attention to efficiency and convenience.

When tea, tea also promoted the integration of multiculturalism. Chinese tea culture has become the cradle of tea culture in various countries, and has promoted the formation of tea culture in Britain, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Morocco and other countries.

Taking China -Japan as an example, the two countries have frequent exchanges in history. Chinese tea culture has formed a unique tea ceremony system, genre and etiquette in Japan. In the Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty, and the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was an important historical period for Chinese tea culture to spread to Japan. For example, during the Southern Song Dynasty, "order tea" was introduced into Japan to form a "matcha ceremony". At that time, the literati of the Southern Song Dynasty crushed the tea cakes, poured the water to adjust the paste, and then quickly beat the tea soup with the tea cricket to form a fine foam. With the increasing frequent exchanges of the Southern Song Dynasty, "tea" was introduced into Japan, and it was retained, inherited and carried forward in the local area. "Matcha Ceremony" has now become the national essence of Japan, and it is attracted to the gift of the guests. It is known as the best in Japan.

Tea and the world, sharing together. The United Nations announced that it will be determined as "International Tea Day" on May 21st every year, which is a good trend. It can promote the sustainable and healthy development of the global tea industry, deepen the blending of tea culture, and let more people know tea, love tea, and taste tea together Xiangcha rhyme, share a better life.

Tea originated from China and prevailed in the world. The vast, abundant and inclusive tea has made it a way to communicate with the world since ancient times. In contemporary, it is still very significant to use "tea" as a bridge to promote the communication and communication between the East and West.

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