The spread of tea

徐聰楠（中國計量大學人文與外語學院，浙江 杭州 310018）

When we are fed up with the tasteless and dull water, we always elect to put some leaves in it and mix it until its odor call your mind to taste it , and one thing , be careful with the water temperature and the amount of water,for it is tremendously bond to the one and only fragrance, the unique beverage called “tea”, a conventional Chinese drink.

One old saying as “the first brewing yields only a mouthful of fragrance, the second brewing a strong flavor, the third brewing mellowness, and the fourth brewing no flavor”, tea is both a material drink and spiritual enjoyment , for it embodies the art of Chinese tea-drinking.In terms of its merits, tea is increasingly favored by a host of Chinese and foreigners.

Dates back to 2700 years ago , Shen Nong discovered the tea and used it to cure disease,gradually as the dynastic changes,it was preserved in the Pre-Qin period.And with the confines of its planting region in Si Chuan province,it is merely for the Imperial government at that time. On account of the union of the Qin dynasty,the economic and the political transform by Emperor Qin Shihuang broadened the the communication between Si Chuan and the rest of the areas in China ,then tea began a sort of popularity.

Seldomly does tea stay as it used to be ,with the extending of the planting region,tea as Dahongpao from Fu jian,Tieguanyin from An xi and etcetera came out. Especially the externalization of trade harbour in Song and the policy opening up to the outside world in the in Ming dynasty both reveals the significance of commerce.

Tea, in a way as a venture of production to the connected outsider.Trade,definitely can update the original tea to become as black tea,flower tea and so on,which profoundly emphasizes the rise and fall of dynasty is a way of preservation and innovation of tea.

Also, during each dynasty the distinct policy is a core factor to determine the spread of tea.Basically, dynasties with open policy had clergies and envoys to carried tea to the surrounding counties and permitted tea as production to export in sea route and the Silk Road.

Furthermore, the influence of celebrities is also the pilot of spread, in particular in the royal family.As Portuguese princess was fond of drinking tea, afterwards she was married to British king Charlie II , with her glamour calling upon the royalty to drink tea,ultimately the popularity of drinking tea stretched to the whole country.The word by mouth is a an essential way to inter-communicate when it comes to a proper understanding and and appreciation of differences among cultures in cognitive processing between intimate cross-gender spouse, no doubt does it become a successful intercultural communication.

In another words, it is mentioned by Linda Beamer in her book that the succeed of a commercial company is because it offers what local people want ,that means being sensitive to the cultural needs of the immediate society. Basically,during the time of spread of tea, was the time of The Opening of New Sea-route, with the heated commercial revolution,intercultural business trade became tighter and tighter and the demand of production on the European continent is on the rise so that the occurrence of the tea can easily penetrated into Europe.

Briefly speaking, domestic spread can put ourselves in a good perspective when look around the world outside while the increasing spread of tea overseas mostly accommodate the demand of the other countries to exchange a brand new product for economy’s sake as well as getting to relate to the rest of the world so that it is the significant core value of intercultural communication whether home or abroad.

Tea , is the outcome of the development when we are approaching the world,it is the symbol of transport to seize the meaning all about communication and it on behalf of our culture. The more we know about our culture, the more we will know about the rest of the world.Culture is not a static entity,it can be seen as shared knowledge .

Have a sip of your own tea, then look through what has ever happened on it ,for it’s all-inclusive.