Tea And Chinese Medical Culture

On the vast land of China,tea has been inextricably linked with medical culture since its birth.As a prominent representative of the homology of medicine and food,tea's medicinal properties is the foundation and root of its existence,just like the bones to the bodies.And the culture of tea which gradually developed and prospered after the Tang Dynasty promoted the development of tea medicine,just like skin,flesh,essence and blood to the body.In view of the dual attributes of medicine and culture of tea,this article sets the subject of the study as Tea and traditional Chinese medical culture.This paper backtracked the medical culture of tea in Song Dynasty for clarify the connection between tea and traditional Chinese medical culture.This paper discussed four aspects around the dual attributes and relationship of medicine and culture of tea.First of all,this article explored the relationship between tea and medical culture from the perspective of origin and dissemination of tea.While examined whether Shen Nong discovered tea,it is also another way of thinking about whether tea originated for medicinal purposes.And sorted out the title of tea from the perspective of commentariology.This paper also discovered that the medicinal properties of tea which make tea itself is accepted and promoted always accompany it,when discussing the usage of tea,summarizing the evolution,development and propagation of tea varieties,etc.Secondly,this paper analyzed the dual attributes of tea in medical literature of Song Dynasty emphatically.This article divided the medical literature into three categories: herbal medicine,prescriptions,and health preservation.Sorted out the content of nature and flavor,efficacy and indications,regular pattern of prescriptions,and effect of health preservation of tea,from the medical records of tea in different literature.And fully understood the medical definition and application of tea in Song Dynasty which is the peak period of the development of tea culture.In the comparison with previous dynasties and later generations,this paper clarified the important position of tea medicine in Song Dynasty.Meanwhile,this paper also examined the influence of the development of tea culture on tea medicine in Song Dynasty from the perspective of medicine.Thirdly,This article explored the medical embodiment in tea culture based on analysis of tea books,tea poems,traditional thoughts of Confucianism,Taoism and Buddhism,and folk culture.Examining medicine from cultural perspective,on one hand,Made up for the missing records just like the colour,taste in medicine processing in medical literature,and extended the content of tea medicine.On the other hand,Analyzed the developing situation of tea medicine which is promoted by different cultural carriers.And then Thought deeply about the boosting effect to the development of tea medicine in Song Dynasty.Fourthly,this article discussed the relevance of medicine and culture of tea in Song Dynasty.Summarized the relevance of tea medicine and tea culture from the perspective of body healing and psychic healing.Explored the cultural fever that carry the culture with things which took tea as a medium,and the calmly medical thinking of spreading things by culture from the cultural level.Discussed the dual attributes of culture and medicine of tea ceremony just as Dian Cha.It is found that,as a prominent representative of "drug homologous food",tea had stepped out a special development trajectory in the long history.With the gradual promotion of tea consumption,sacrifice and drinking in different regions and ethnic groups in China,The identity of tea has also officially developed from the ambiguous and uncertain discussion of "whether sowthistle is tea" in Tao Hong Jing's Ben Cao Jing Ji Zhu,to one of herbaceous plant in Su Jing's Xin Xiu Ben Cao which recorded the effect of tea and the method of tea drinking,emphasized the medicinal properties of tea,and extended to the records of tea prescription in Sun Si Miao's Bei Ji Qian Jin Yao Fang and the content of tea prohibition in Meng Shen's Shi Liao Ben Cao.However,the presence of tea in the cultural field was earlier and the identity was more clearly defined.Zhang Ji's Guang Ya not only introduces the methods of drinking tea in regions of Jing and Ba,but also clearly points out its efficacy.Later,Lu Yu's Cha Jin was published,that promoted tea culture to a new level,but also provided a new platform for tea medicine.Tea culture which based on tea medicine ushered in a new trend of development.Song dynasty is an important period which developed this situation to a higher degree.After Song Dynasty,the situation that books complies both tea medicine and tea culture had been broken.Various forms of tea culture springed up just like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.It not only shows the acceptance and recognition of the tea culture by the people in the Song Dynasty,but also reflects the rapid development of the tea culture.however it can not be denied that there was a new situation of inheriting and creating in the records of tea medicine in the works of herbal medicine and medical prescriptions.For example,there are more types of tea prescriptions,more prominent wax tea medicine,enrich the main dosage form,expand the scope of application and so on.Although tea medicine has lost its dominant position,but as a material attribute to ensure the continuous development of tea culture,tea medicine has not changed its identity as the root of tea.Since the Song Dynasty,tea culture and tea medicine have been supporting each other and promoting each other.However,the shining of tea culture seems to be more attractive,and its development of the form like a hundred flowers in bloom.Accompanied by tea theory,tea medicine gradually riched.They combine with each other,formed a new discipline in the field of medicine and health--tea therapy,which based on tea theory,guided by the theory of traditional Chinese medicine,aimed on keep in good health.It can be regarded as a new carrier of tea medicine culture.