The Pride of Chinese You Might Not Know

There are great inventions, great construction, proud achievements in the world, that people feel proud about. I have never thought that the ordinary tea that we drink daily can also be reason of pride for us.

I never thought that in the past, this ordinary drink tea can be exchanged for cloth, silk, etc., as a symbol of wealth status, and can even trigger war and give birth to a powerful kingdom. It’s very interesting to know these amazing facts about tea which are hard to believe. Let us find out together.

Treating tea

Tibetan people in the cold eat more green food 稞糌 [zān] 粑, beef and mutton and cheese, people use tea to digestion, greasy, and supplement the body. For thousands of years, Tibetans have relied on tea so much it’s a saying there that “I would rather have no food for three days, no tea for one day.”,it is also believed that “no tea for one day is stagnation and no tea for three days is disease”, and tea is regarded as main source of life by the Northwest minority. Tibetan tea is as important as air, water and food. It has already been integrated into the bloody night of Tibetan compatriots and is intertwined with life. (cited from Pu'er magazine 2014.5)

Tea-horse market

The Tang Dynasty created a tea-horse market. Before the Tang Dynasty, the Tibetans entered the mainland to exchange tea. All of them were privately-sponsored small-scale free trade of goods. With the increasing demand for tea from various ethnic minorities, the Tang Dynasty found that many ethnic minorities in the northwest and southwestern regions went to the mainland. In the tea area, the Han people are exchanged for tea with horses, furs, herbs and other items.
This enabled the court to quickly raise its vigilance and realize that the tea-selling edge can not only obtain lucrative benefits, but also rule and control the dependence of the ethnic minorities on tea.
Therefore, the "tea-horse mutual market" was a purposeful, organized, and largely representative form of the political attitude of the court, was quickly fixed.

(cited from Pu'er magazine 2014.5)

Why Yunnan tea is popular in Europe

In fact, many countries in Europe have this name, specializing in Eastern trade companies, the most famous are the Dutch East India Company (1560) and the British East India Company (1600).
The merchant ships of the two companies shuttled between Europe and Asia. Apart from the spices of Nanyang Islands, the largest commodities were from China, and they also took all the goods from China.
China's silk, porcelain, lacquerware, and tea were popular in the royal family. The rich are not worthy of the Chinese products, and they are not proud of imitating Chinese customs..
At that time, the bulk trade goods between China and Britain were mainly silk, porcelain and tea. In order to guide and encourage people to accept the novel drink of tea, the British royal family took the lead in giving the lead and taking the lead in drinking. This custom has existed until now, forming an important part of royal life: afternoon tea.

Tea gave birth to a country

The British are good at drinking tea, drink good tea, drink new tea, and left over tea was sold to other countries and to its largest colony: the British North American colony. The evils of the British have not only provoked the buzz of ordinary consumers, but also gave birth to an emerging country, the United States. The direct cause is because: tea

In November 1773, ships from the United Kingdom loaded 342 boxes of Chen Cha into the Boston Harbor. The people who were originally angry with the Relief of the East India Company Ordinance were even more angry. On December 16th, more than 8,000 people gathered to protest, drove the British ship out of Hong Kong, and threw all the tea into the sea. The news was sent back to the UK in early 1774. The British government took three measures: sealing the port, abolishing self-government, and sending more troops. This is the "Boston Tea Party Incident" that is included in the world's major events. It is also the direct trigger for the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. Two years later, on July 4th, the United States officially announced its founding. (cited from Pu'er magazine Humanity Light 1)

The attribution of tea source has been arguing in the world for more than two hundred years. It is hard to imagine the origin of a plant. It is controversial in the world. For example, no one cares about where it comes from. Unless the plant is very different in meaning.

In addition of being a good drink, tea is the first medicine for Chinese people, because tea resists the danger of disease. Tea also have advantage of reunion with friends, take a break and share your life and feeling with over a cup of tea and make time to talk to yourself and think about your over cup of tea . There are many different meanings about tea. For me, it taught me to know how to cherish the moment and know how to let go. Is there any special story about tea for you? Let's talk with us!