History of Tea in China - Periods in The History of Tea

Periods in The History of Tea

• From prehistoric time to Spring and Autumn Period (221 BCE) Tu was used as sacrifice for ceremony
• According to Chinese historical record, ca 1000 BCE, there were already tea farms in Sichuan and Yunnan
• From end of Spring and Autumn Period to early Western Han dynasty, Tu was used as vegetable food on table
• From the historical annal "Yianzhi Chunchiu": the prime minister of Chi (547 BCE-490 BCE) had egg and tea food on his table.
• Xia Zhong's Treatise on Food : "Since Jin dynasty, the people of Wu (now Suzhou city) cooked tea leaves as food, and called it tea broth".
• From the beginning of Western Han to middle Western Han, Tu was used as medicine
• From the late Western Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms Period, tea was imperial beverage
• From the Western Jin dynasty to Sui dynasty, the use of tea as beverage spread in the Chinese population
• From the Tang period onward, tea became one of the seven essentials of daily life
• During the Southern Song Dynasty a Japanese monk 明菴栄西 Eisai (Yosai): came to Tiantai mountain of Zhejiang to study Chan (Zen) Buddhism (1168 CE); when he returned home in 1193 CE, he brought tea from China to Japan, planted it and wrote the first Japanese book on Tea:喫茶養生記, Treatise on Drinking Tea for Health. This was the beginning of tea cultivation and tea culture in Japan
• In the Song Dynasty, tea was a major export good, through the Silk Road on land and Silk Road on the sea, tea spread to Arab countries and Africa.
• In the mid-9th century, traveller Suleiman mentioned that people in China drink "Sakh", sold in cities of Empire.
• Some historians believe Marco Polo encountered tea in his travel. Other historians point out that his writings fail to mention tea at all.
• In 1559, Giovanni ta Ramusio mentioned "chai" in "Delle Navigatione et Viaggi," Vol 6.
• 1579, Two Russian travellers introduced Cha to Russia