How did tribute tea come from?

China tribute tea is a kind of tea specially presented to the royal family in ancient China for emperors and princes to enjoy. At the beginning of tea tribute, local officials collected various famous teas and presented them to the court in the name of local tribute. Later, when the local tribute could not meet the requirements, the government set up a tea farm to directly manage and supervise the production of imperial tea, and refined various famous teas into tributes to the court, which became a system. Tea tribute system is a disguised "tax system", which is undoubtedly the exploitation and oppression of tea farmers, and it is a negative side. However, due to the demanding quality of tribute tea and the extravagant demand for novelty, tribute tea has been forced to innovate and develop continuously. Almost all the famous teas in China are classified as tribute teas. Therefore, the tribute tea system has promoted the development of famous tea to some extent, including the cultivation of tea trees, the improvement of tea-making technology and the progress of packaging and storage technology. In a sense, the development of tribute tea laid the foundation for the emergence and development of famous tea in China. Tribute tea is also the product of the material and cultural needs of the upper class in feudal society, so the appearance of tribute tea is not only a specific phenomenon in the history of tea industry development in China, but also a part of social etiquette in the history of China civilization, which is closely related to social development. There are three main producing areas of tribute tea in history: Guzhushan tribute tea garden in Tang Dynasty; Formal baking of Beiyuan, the hometown of Longfeng tribute tea in Song Dynasty; Wuyishan in the Yuan Dynasty was the imperial tea garden of the Four Song Dynasties, followed by central Fujian and northern Fujian. Beiyuan tribute tea in Song Dynasty was praised by tea scholars as the birthplace of ancient refined tea in China. Gongcha originated in the early Western Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 365,438+000 years. After Zhou Wuwang's crusade against destroying enterprises, he sealed one of his people in Pakistan. Pakistan is a vast country. According to "Eight Records of Huayang National Records", it is recorded that "five grains are planted in the soil to sacrifice six livestock, and silkworm, hemp, bamboo, fish, salt, copper, iron, red lacquer, tea honey, giant rhinoceros, pheasant and white tender are all accepted."

This is the earliest record of China famous tea paying tribute to the Emperor. But this is only the bud of tribute tea, that is, it has not formed a system and has not been inherited from generation to generation. In the Western Han Dynasty, the deeds of tribute tea were indirectly reflected and gradually became clear. For example, there are sentences such as "Five Sheep Buy Tea" and "Make Tea to Do Everything" in Wang's Tongyue, which reflects the situation of tea drinking and commercialization in the upper class; The barnyard grass unearthed from the tomb of the Western Han Dynasty in Mawangdui, Changsha, reflects the status of tea in aristocratic life. Later, there were literary works reflecting the use of tea by the royal family in the Western Han Dynasty, such as The Legend of Flying Swallows. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, there have been not only tribute teas, but also imperial garden teas. In the Jin Dynasty, the consumption of court tea was quite large, including royal tea for ministers besides the royal family. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, tribute tea and imperial tea were widely enjoyed by the monarchs and ministers of the dynasty, and at the same time they became ghost products offering sacrifices to ghosts and gods inside and outside the ruling and opposition parties. From then on, from the emperor to the common people and even the "three talents" (heaven, earth and man), ghosts and gods can all enjoy tea together. ? Tea was favored by the imperial court and gradually increased the number of tributes, even set up official baking and eventually became an economic system with a fixed quota every year, which was formally established in the Tang Dynasty. ? The origin of tribute tea, on the one hand, is of course the agreement of feudal politics, on the other hand, it also has local positive contributions. Tribute is generally high-quality tea; Tribute is undoubtedly the best shortcut for ancient high-quality tea to become famous in the world, which has contributed to the emergence of high-quality tea. After tribute tea entered the upper class from the folk, it formed an important opportunity for the economic regime to intervene in the tea industry. Especially since the establishment of official baking in the Tang Dynasty, tribute tea has exerted more and more influence on the production and culture of tea industry in China.