唐代의 飮茶文化

Tang Dynasty's Culture of drinking tea

The Tang Dynasty is the era that had built a milestone for the development of Chinese tea culture. The prosperity of science and culture of tea during this era is noteworthy compared to its previous dynasty. This study aims to examine the customs of drinking tea prevailed during the Tang Dynasty, by looking into the spread and popularization of customs of drinking tea and the various methods of drinking tea widely popular during this era. Tea originated from the southern part of China, and was spread and popularized throughout China even to remote regions. The spread of Tang Dynasty's tea culture to remote regions owes to the estabilishment of tea-horse trade. In general, the genuine tea-horse trade began around the time of Jeongwon, during the throne of Emperor De Zong, when the ancient Uighur became a part of China. Back then, tea was one of the living necessaries like salt and rice. The customs of drinking tea was a popular mass culture fonded not only by royal families, gentry and temples but also by common people. *Corresponding author (E-mail: teaworld3@hanmail.net, Tel: 010-8960-6592) There were four different kinds of tea during the Tang Dynasty and they were Chu-cha (觕茶), San-cha (散茶), Mal-cha (末茶) and Byong-cha (餠茶). Each has its own processing and boiling method: Jak (斫) is a method for Chu-cha, Oh (熬) is for San-cha, Yang (煬) is for Mal-Cha and Yong (舂) is for Byong-cha. The popular tea drinking methods during the Tang Dynasty included tea-gruel, Yan-cha, tea-brewing method, mixing tea and tea-pointing method. Tea played an important role in the society and gave a huge influence to the various aspects of the society as well. In the end, the tea culture was a popular mass culture shared by every citizens of the natio that included both royal families and common people.