As a worldwide beverage, tea is becoming more and more popular. In recent years, the consumption of tea is increasing in both developed and developing countries. This is related to the function of tea itself. According to the research of scientists and the long-term practice of tea drinkers, tea contains protein, vitamins, fat, sugar and minerals, among which tea polyphenols and tea pigments have various pharmacological effects, so tea is a multi-dimensional, low-sugar and multi-functional health drink with moderate price.
The legend of Shennong tasting a hundred herbs and the discovery of tea
Shennong, Emperor Yan, one of the ancient Huang San, is said to have lived in the Shennong era more than 2700 BC. In order to treat people, Shennong often goes to deep forests to collect herbs. Not only did he have to walk a lot, but he also personally tried the collected herbs to understand and identify their functions.
One day, Shennong took a bite of poisonous weeds while collecting herbs, and suddenly became thirsty and dizzy. He quickly found a big tree, sat down, closed his eyes and rested. At this time, a gust of wind blew, and several fragrant green leaves fell on the tree. Shennong picked two leaves and chewed them in his mouth. Unexpectedly, a fragrance came to his face, and he suddenly felt the saliva flowing from the bottom of his tongue, which refreshed him and swept away the discomfort just now. He felt very strange, so he picked up a few more leaves and observed them carefully. He found that the leaf shape, veins and edges of this kind of leaves are different from those of ordinary trees. Shennong collected some and took them back to study them carefully. Later, it was named "tea".
Characteristics, Evolution and Spread of Tea
The origin of (1) tea word
In ancient historical materials, there are many names of tea, but "tea" is the correct name, and the word "tea" was generally written as "tea" before the middle Tang Dynasty. The word "tea" has the nature of polysemy, which means tea, and it is one of them. Due to the development of tea production, the popularity of drinking tea is getting higher and higher, and the frequency of using tea characters is getting higher and higher. Therefore, in order to express the meaning of tea more clearly and intuitively, folk writers subtract a dash from the word "tea" and it becomes the word "tea" we see now. The germination of the word "tea" simplified from "tea" originated in the Han Dynasty. In ancient printing in China, some words of "tea" have been subtracted and changed into the shape of "tea".
(2) Various appellations, forms and circulation of tea.
China has a vast territory, rich resources and many nationalities, so there are many different forms of language and writing. The same thing has many names, and there are many ways to write the same name.
In ancient historical materials, there are many names about tea, such as: Guacha, Gualu, Gualu, Gaolu, Bacha, Tea, Tea and Tea. By the middle Tang Dynasty, the sound, shape and meaning of tea had been unified. Later, due to the wide spread of Lu Yu's Tea Classic, "tea" was "tea".