China Tea Q&A 100 Questions and Answers

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Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: The emergence of "tea" is generally believed to have occurred during the mid-Tang Dynasty, around the 8th century AD. Before that, tea was referred to as "tu." "Tu" is a character with multiple meanings and pronunciations. The "Dictionary of Chinese" notes three pronunciations for the character "tu": one as "tu" (similar to ""), another as "cha" (similar to ""), and the third as "shn" (similar to ""). When referring to tea, "tu" was also pronounced as "cha" because "tu" is the ancient form of the character for tea. The "Dictionary of Chinese" further explains under the entry for "bitter tea" that the "tu" in "bitter tea" is pronounced as "cha," meaning "bitter tea" is tea.
Ancient people discovered and utilized tea over 5,000 years ago, yet for a long period, there was no character for "tea." By the Han and Wei dynasties, the people in the folk had already referred to this plant or beverage as "cha" () in spoken language, but in writing, they still used the borrowed character "tu." Regarding the pronunciation of "cha," records from the Three Kingdoms period (220 AD) already existed; by the early 6th century during the Liang Dynasty, "tu" was pronounced as "cha." However, in the "Record of Tea in Qiongzhou," it was stated: "Although Yan Shigu had already converted the pronunciation to 'cha,' he dared not change the meaning of the character." This indicates that by the 6th century, although the pronunciation of "tea" existed, the character "tu" had not yet been changed to "cha."
After the character "tea" appeared in the early 8th century, it did not completely replace "tu." Gu Yanwu, in his work "Tang Rhyme Correction," noted: "By examining Tang inscriptions and inscriptions on monuments, I found that in the 14th year of the Dali era (779 AD), the character 'tu' was used for medicine, and in the 14th year of the Zhenyuan era (798 AD), the character 'tu' was used for banquets, both still written as 'tu,' as the script had not yet changed."
Where did the character "tea" originate? "The Tea Sage" Lu Yu, in the "Origin" section of the "The Classic of Tea," stated: "(Tea) should be written with the grass radical, as 'cha,' and its character originates from the 'Kaiyuan Dictionary of Characters and Pronunciations,' published in 75 AD." The "Kaiyuan Dictionary of Characters and Pronunciations," a 30-volume work, was ordered by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, who wrote a preface saying it was similar to the "Shuowen Jiezi" and "Zilin." From this, we know that the character "tu" was simplified by one stroke to become the modern "cha," as decreed by Emperor Xuanzong in an imperial edict.
In the "Record of Tea in Qiongzhou," Wei Liaoong of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote: "Initially, the character for tea was 'tu,' but after Lu Yu's 'The Classic of Tea,' Lu Tong's 'Song of Tea,' and Zhao Zan's 'Tea Prohibition,' the character was changed to 'cha.'" The Qing Dynasty lexicographer Hao Yixing, in the "Explanation of Meanings in the 'Erya,'" also believed: "The ancient form of the character for tea was 'tu,' but it was only after Lu Yu wrote 'The Classic of Tea' in the Tang Dynasty that one stroke was removed to form the character 'cha.'"