茶的屬性與中國文化（漢文化）的形象

Attributes of Tea and the Image of Chinese Culture

10.6641/PICCFC.13.2013.13.12

楊海潮(Hai-Chao Yang)

茶 ； 自然屬性 ； 文化屬性 ； 中國 ； 形象 ； tea ； natural attributes ； cultural attributes ； Chinese ； image

2013 中華飲食文化國際學術研討會論文集

第13屆（2013 / 10 / 20）

269 - 289

繁體中文

茶在唐朝成為以漢文化為代表的中國文化的一個重要的代表和象徵，並因此在唐代中後期逐漸從漢族社會傳向周邊區域（回鶻、朝鮮、日本）。明清時期，茶和飲茶作為文明社會的一種象徵、一種生活方式傳入歐洲。當地社會接受茶這種飲料的過程中有一些波折，表現為爭論茶對人體的影響究竟是好還是不好。這一過程不僅直接涉及茶的自然屬性究竟如何，也與中國的形象在歐洲知識階層中的變遷有關。上述歷史顯示了茶的文化屬性（符號性）與自然屬性（功能性）之間糾纏不清的關係。茶樹作為一種自然草木，人們利用它的葉子來做為食物／藥物／飲料之後，就使它具有某種區別於其他草木的性質。在這過程中，茶葉的自然屬性對於人具有某種功利價值，人們發現並發揮了這種價值，並認為此價值是茶葉的特性，混淆了茶葉的自然屬性與文化屬性。從歷史反觀現實，當代中國茶葉的品質與地位和將來中國茶葉可能具有的影響，都與中國和中國文化的形象息息相關，而未必只是決定于中國茶葉的自然屬性。

Tea became an important symbol of Han-Chinese culture in the mid-late period of Tang dynasty, then it was transmitted to the surrounding areas of the Han-Chinese society like Uighur, Korea, and Japan. During the Ming and the Qing dynasties, tea and tea-drinking entered Europe as a symbol of a civilized society and a kind of life style from China, while there were some ruffles in the process of accepting tea as a daily drink for the local people. Whether the tea is good or bad for human health had been argued for a while. This process involves the natural attributes of tea on earth and how the image of China in the elite class of Europe changed. The history suggests that cultural attributes (symbolic) of tea and its natural attributes (functional), have complex intercourse. Since the leaves of tea tree have been used as materials of food, medicine or drink by people, the tea tree was no longer a natural plant, and obtained some particular feature different from others. In this process, because some natural attributes of tea are of functional values for human being, and these values have been found and made use of by people, these values were then regarded as the attributes of tea. Therefore, the natural attributes of tea and its cultural attributes have been confused. In light of such history, the attributes of tea and its position in current China and the impact of Chinese tea in the future are strongly related to image of China, not only determined by the natural attributes of Chinese tea.