The Transformation of the Characters "Tu" and "Cha"
The character "cha" (茶) is not found in the "Nine Classics" (九经). Some may doubt that tea existed in ancient times, not realizing that the character "deng" (灯), meaning lamp, is also absent from the "Nine Classics." In antiquity, candles were used for light. Similarly, the absence of the character "cha" does not mean tea did not exist; rather, the character "tu" (荼) was used to represent it. It is not only the "Nine Classics" that lack the character "cha"; it is also entirely absent from the "Character Classes of Ban and Ma" (班马字类). It was not until the Tang Dynasty that the character "tu" was arbitrarily reduced by one stroke to form the character "cha," and the pronunciation of "tu" also changed. "Tu" was initially pronounced "du qie," sounding like "tu," as in the line from the *Book of Odes*: "Who said that tu was bitter?" After the Eastern Han, it was pronounced "zhai jia qie," sounding like "cuo." From the Liang Dynasty in the Six Dynasties period, its pronunciation began to change. Although Lu Yu used the character "cha" in his *Classic of Tea* (茶经), the inscription on the Wang Yuan monument at Daiyue Temple in the Tang Dynasty still contains the character "tu" twice, which is sufficient to show that the people of the Tang had not completely adopted the character "cha." (From Volume 1 of Xi Shichang's "Notes on Reading the Shuowen Jiezi"). It can only be said that the pronunciation of "tu" began to change in the Liang Dynasty, and the form of "cha" was first altered in the Tang Dynasty. (Excerpted from Huang Xianfan's "Preliminary Exploration of Ancient Text Interpretation," Guangxi Normal University Press, July 2004, 1st edition)
The萌芽 of the simplification of the character "cha" from "tu" began in the Han Dynasty. In ancient Han dynasty seals, some "tu" characters had already lost a stroke, taking the form of "cha." Not only the character form, but the pronunciation of "cha" was also established in the Western Han. For example, the modern-day Chaling County in Hunan Province was the territory of Liu Xin in the Western Han, commonly known as "Tu" King City, and was one of the 13 subordinate counties of the Changsha State, called the "Tu"ling County. In the "Treatise on Geography" of the *Book of Han*, the "tu" in "Tu"ling is annotated by Yan Shigu as: pronounced "yi she fan," and also pronounced "zhang jia fan." This fanqie annotation is precisely the modern pronunciation of the character "cha." From this phenomenon, it is clear that the establishment of the pronunciation of "cha" predates the establishment of its written form.
China is vast and rich in resources, with numerous ethnic groups, leading to a diverse array of languages and written forms. For the same object, there are many names, and for the same name, many different writings. The character "ming" (茗) is another character that represents tea.
In ancient historical materials, there were many names for tea. By the mid-Tang Dynasty, the pronunciation, form, and meaning of "cha" had become largely unified. Later, due to the widespread circulation of Lu Yu's *Classic of Tea*, the written form of "cha" was further solidified, a status it holds to this day.
In ancient Chinese literature, there are early records of tea consumption, and it had different names depending on its place of origin. Chinese tea was introduced abroad as early as the Western Han Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, envoys were sent to the Indochina Peninsula, and among the items they brought were gold, brocade, and silk, as well as tea. During the Yongming era of Emperor Wu of the Southern Qi Dynasty in the Northern and Southern Dynasties period, Chinese tea was brought to Turkey along with exported silk and porcelain. In the first year of the Yongzhen era of Emperor Shunzong of the Tang Dynasty, the Japanese monk Saichō returned to his country with Chinese tea seeds. Subsequently, tea was continuously transmitted from China to all parts of the world, causing many countries to begin growing tea and developing the custom of drinking it.
The widespread popularization of tea can also be verified. However, it was roughly after the publication of Lu Yu's *Classic of Tea* in the Tang Dynasty that tea was widely consumed by all social strata. Thus, a poem from the Song Dynasty says: "Since Lu Yu was born in the world, people have learned to serve tea in spring." This means that after the discovery of tea, it was not known to the general public for more than a thousand years.
The Formation of the Tea-Drinking Habit
Now we can demonstrate that tea was known and utilized in China very early, and that the cultivation of tea trees and the processing of tea leaves also began early. But why did humans first start drinking tea? How did the habit of drinking tea form?
1. The Sacrificial Offering Theory:
This theory posits that tea, along with other plants, was first used as a sacrificial offering. Later, someone tasted it and found it harmless, leading to its evolution "from a sacrificial offering, to a vegetable, to a medicine," and ultimately becoming a beverage.
2. The Medicinal Theory:
This theory suggests that tea "first entered human society as a medicine." The *Shennong Ben Cao Jing* (Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica) states: "Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs and encountered seventy-two poisons in a single day, and was detoxified by tea."
3. The Food Theory:
"In ancient times, people ate grasses and drank water." "Food is the first necessity of the people." The primacy of food aligns with the evolutionary pattern of human society.
4. The Synchronous Theory:
The initial ways of utilizing tea may have been as a chewed food, as a roasted or boiled food, and it gradually also came to be used as a medicinal drink.
5. The Social Interaction Theory:
The "Collection of Jaijingtang" states: "Tea, belonging to either the fine grasses or the fine trees, is a treasured plant among flora. Anciently, it was named jia, she, ming, and chuan. The *Erya, Explanation of Trees* says: 'Jia is bitter tea.' She is a fragrant herb, and as tea contains fragrance, it is called she. Ming and chuan are both late-picked varieties of tea, with ming also being a general term for tea. The use of tea is not only for medicinal or food purposes but is also a superior necessity for entertaining guests." A poem titled "Guests Arrive" says: "Guests arrive on the ninth day of the first month, / The courtyard bursts with yellow willow sprouts. / We sit facing each other, discussing literature fine, / The brewed tea's fragrance surpasses wine." (Excerpted from "Collection of Jaijingtang - Poems of Jiangnan Jingshi"). This theory theoretically incorporates tea into the realm of social etiquette, highlighting a refined hobby in social settings, and marks the beginning of the "Social Interaction Theory" regarding the origin of tea drinking.