Relationship Between Chinese Herb Tea and Chinese Identity
Needless to say, Chinese herb tea is described as wisdom crystal of China because of its multi-curative functions. It is also viewed as an intangible cultural heritage which is supposed to be preserved and promoted actively.In Chinese traditional culture, harmonious relationship between human being and nature is highly pursued. Integrating human being into nature (tianrenheyi) is deemed as the ultimate goal in traditional philosophy so human being is part of nature indeed. Such concept can be applied to understand how Chinese herb tea refers to Chinese identity.
All the ingredients of Chinese herb tea can be directly found from nature and used without purification or any complex chemical reactions so Chinese herb tea is symbolized as nature. Natural characteristic of Chinese herb tea implies that Chinese people is advocator of nature in the traditional belief. It is believed that they can merge with nature and thus utilize the powerful impact of nature for defense against disease and maintenance of health by intake of Chinese herb tea.This way of thinking demonstrates what Gabaccia (1998) call we are what we eat. Chinese herb tea not only represents Chinese understanding of medical science and nature but also reflects their collective identity which is aspiration for natural integration and oneness.
Besides, traditional Chinese herb tea shops are family-run business and have been passed down from generation to generation. This business model signifies the significant of family in Chinese philosophy. In this regards, family plays an essential role in preservation and accumulation of Chinese herb tea culture before modernization of Chinese herb tea. For these reasons, its contribution towards Chinese herb tea cannot be neglected.
Read more about this topic: Chinese Herb Tea
Famous quotes containing the words relationship between, relationship, herb, tea and/or identity:
“Living in cities is an art, and we need the vocabulary of art, of style, to describe the peculiar relationship between man and material that exists in the continual creative play of urban living. The city as we imagine it, then, soft city of illusion, myth, aspiration, and nightmare, is as real, maybe more real, than the hard city one can locate on maps in statistics, in monographs on urban sociology and demography and architecture.”
—Jonathan Raban (b. 1942)
“We think of religion as the symbolic expression of our highest moral ideals; we think of magic as a crude aggregate of superstitions. Religious belief seems to become mere superstitious credulity if we admit any relationship with magic. On the other hand our anthropological and ethnographical material makes it extremely difficult to separate the two fields.”
—Ernst Cassirer (1874–1945)
“Find out the peaceful hermitage,
The hairy gown and mossy cell,
Where I may sit and rightly spell
Of every star that heaven doth show,
And every herb that sips the dew;
Till old experience do attain
To something like prophetic strain.
These pleasures Melancholy give,
And I with thee will choose to live.”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“An old man drinks tea and reads the newspaper—forgetting age for a moment.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Whether outside work is done by choice or not, whether women seek their identity through work, whether women are searching for pleasure or survival through work, the integration of motherhood and the world of work is a source of ambivalence, struggle, and conflict for the great majority of women.”
—Sara Lawrence Lightfoot (20th century)