China News Agency, Lhasa, July 13th: How much history of Sino-Tibetan exchanges does a cup of butter tea contain?
——Interview with Zhao Guodong, associate professor of Tibet University for Nationalities
China News Agency reporter Ran Wenjuan
Tea drinking is one of the core lifestyles of the Tibetan people. Tea was introduced to Tibet from the Han region thousands of years ago, witnessing the exchanges between Tibet and various provinces and cities, as well as the central government's care for Tibet and the great changes in the lives of the Tibetan people.
China News Agency "East-West Question" has an exclusive interview with Dr. Zhao Guodong, associate professor of Tibet University for Nationalities, to explore the history of Sino-Tibetan national exchanges contained in "a cup of butter tea".
The following is a summary of the interview transcript:
China News Service reporter: There is a Tibetan proverb that says, "It is better to have no food for a day than to have no tea for a day." What role does tea play in the dietary life of the Tibetan people? What are the specific manifestations?
Zhao Guodong: The tea that the Tibetan people refer to includes not only tea leaves, but also tea drinks such as butter tea and sweet tea.
Tea is an indispensable part of the daily diet of the Tibetan people, and butter tea is one of the important features of Tibetan food culture.
Butter tea is both drinking and food. Not only should you drink it every day, but you must drink enough, otherwise you will feel "uncomfortable".
Nomad families generally have more formal tea drinking four times a day.
Morning tea should be eaten with fried noodles or tsampa, and the tea will be strong after drinking enough for a day.
Eat some tsampa when you drink tea.
Afternoon tea is generally around 5:00 p.m., which is grazing time, and belongs to snack tea.
The last tea was evening tea, when people after a busy day sat around the fire and drank tea to enjoy family reunion.
In March 2016, in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan, people sit with their families drinking butter tea and chatting.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Ren Dong
Tea is the guardian of good health.
In the Tibetan document "Han-Tibetan History Collection", there is content about the medicinal function of tea, and Tibetan medicine also affirmed the medicinal value of tea earlier.
The famous Tibetan medicine book "Jingzhu Materia Medica" records that tea has the effect of "clearing bone heat, relieving high fever, and curing heat and venereal diseases".
In addition, people on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau can supplement vitamin C by drinking tea.
Now, people in Tibet still drink butter tea every day, and the increasingly rich variety of beverages has not replaced the important position of butter tea.
Teahouses can be found all over Tibet's cities and villages.
China News Service reporter: Tibet did not produce tea in history. When was tea introduced into Tibet from the Han region and accepted by the Tibetan people? What is the cultural significance of the spread of tea to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau?
Zhao Guodong: In recent years, many major achievements in Tibetan archaeology have provided an important basis for us to understand the introduction of tea into Tibet.
In the archaeology of the ancient Rujiamusi site in Ali, the remnants of tea were found, which dated back to about 1,800 years ago.
Research shows that these teas are very likely to come from the central, eastern and southern regions of the mainland, or even the only source.
It is inferred from this that tea mainly produced in the central, eastern and southern regions of the mainland arrived in the hinterland of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau very early.
In the Tang Dynasty, an ancient Tang-Fan road for communication was formed between what is now Lhasa in Tibet and Xi'an in Shaanxi Province.
In 781 AD, when Duke Lu of Changlu was on his mission to Tibet, he had a dialogue with Tubo Zanpu Chisongdezan about tea, and Zanpu also displayed six kinds of famous teas from Han.
This shows that the tea from the Han region had entered the Tubo royal family at that time.
During the Song Dynasty, tea became more popular in ethnic minority areas, which promoted the expansion of ancient transportation routes, and formed a number of ancient routes between Lhasa and Sichuan, and between Lhasa and Yunnan.
During the Sakya regime in Tibet, the "Xifan Tea Lifting Division" established by the Yuan Dynasty government was an important institution to manage the trade of tea between Han and Tibet.
In the Qing Dynasty, the management system of tea "judgment field" continued to be implemented, and four post stations were set up in Lhasa, mainly to manage the distribution and transportation of tea and horse commodities.
In addition, folk stories such as the divine bird holding tea to rescue the king and Princess Wencheng bringing tea to Tibet, which are circulated on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, all share the common narrative elements of Chinese and Tibetan culture, demonstrating the important position and role of tea in Sino-Tibetan cultural exchanges.
The practice of Tibetan people accepting and using tea is formed through long-term accumulation and evolution on the basis of Sino-Tibetan cultural exchanges, exchanges, exchanges and blending among various ethnic groups.
The cultural and emotional connections of people of all ethnic groups are strengthened through tea ties.
Tea, especially butter tea, has thus become a cultural bond and symbol.
In March 2012, in Lhasa, Tibet, people chatted while drinking butter tea on the Jokhang Temple Square.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Li Lin
China News Service reporter: The "Tea-Horse Road", which was specially created for the tea-horse trade, is the world's oldest economic and trade road. Why is this ancient road not only circulating commodities and goods, but also a link for cultural exchanges between the Han and Tibetan peoples?
Zhao Guodong: The rise of the Ancient Tea-Horse Road has experienced different forms, and its long history must endow it with an important cultural link.
Caravans are the main force on the Ancient Tea-Horse Road and one of the main participants in the tea trade.
Their spirit of adventure and exploration, diligence and innovation has had an important impact on the ethnic groups and groups along the ancient road.
In addition, its role in cultural ties is also reflected in the development of cities (villages), trade, population mobility, religious and musical cultural exchanges, and ethnic exchanges and integration.
In 2019, during my investigation in Alipuran County, Tibet, I found many relics of tea culture in an old house, including "Baoxing Tea Yingjing Refining Factory", "Kangding Tea Number" (the original word is "Number"), "Yingjing Yaxi", "Xikang Province Tea Company" and other tea culture logos.
Existing mainly in the 1930s and 1940s, they were carefully preserved and affixed to the walls.
There is a "flame picture" in the patterns of the two logos of "Baoxing Tea Yingjing Refining Factory" and "Kangding Tea No.". The composition incorporates two cultural elements of Han and Tibetan. A shared common pattern for marking good tea leaves.
This shows that along the Ancient Tea-Horse Road, some cultural forms of tea were jointly completed by the Han and Tibetan peoples, with the characteristics of cultural mutual construction and sharing.
In June 2022, tourists walk on the site of the Ancient Tea Horse Road in Nakeli Village, Ning'er County, Pu'er City, Yunnan Province.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Ranyang
China News Agency reporter: It is understood that the Tibetans pay attention to the order of elders and youngest, the subject and the guest, and have a series of etiquette and norms. What is the similarity between this and the Han tea culture?
Zhao Guodong: The hospitality of the Tibetan people can be reflected in tea drinking.
When there are guests at home, the host should invite the guests to sit down in the main seat.
Before pouring tea, you should clean the tea set. When pouring tea, you should face the guests directly, hold the teapot with both hands and pour the tea soup slowly.
If it is not the new tea of the day, after pouring the tea for the guests, it is necessary to make new tea immediately, and then change the tea in front of the guests after making it.
The host will add hot tea to the guests every few minutes.
From the perspective of the formation and evolution of tea culture, tea drinking of the Han people has profound artistic and cultural accumulation. Etiquette and norms are all attached to cooking, decocting, ordering, and brewing tea. These cultural elements have also profoundly affected the Tibetan tea drinking culture.
For example, in the "Tea Classic" written by Lu Yu in the Tang Dynasty, it said: "For the sake of drinking, it is most suitable for those who practice frugality and morality." Both Han and Tibetan tea drinking emphasize the relationship between drinking tea and good conduct and moral sentiment.
Tea ceremony and tea art are another type of tea drinking culture, which emphasizes the combination of technology, art and emotion, and uses this to highlight specific aesthetics.
In recent years, Tibetan tea ceremony and tea art performances have been paid attention to, and it occupies an important position in Chinese tea ceremony and tea art.
In July 2019, young tourists from Suzhou, Jiangsu experience butter tea making in Lhasa.
Photo by China News Agency reporter He Penglei
The folk life-oriented tea drinking culture and the artistic performance tea drinking culture go hand in hand.
China News Service: Over the past 70 years since the peaceful liberation of Tibet, what measures has the state taken to ensure and enhance the demand for tea drinking of the Tibetan people?
Zhao Guodong: For a long time, the state has always been concerned about the tea drinking needs of people of all ethnic groups in Tibet, and has carried out a lot of work to this end.
The first is to ensure the supply of tea and reduce the price of tea, focusing on the majority of farmers and herdsmen.
The state has increased its support for border-selling tea production enterprises in Sichuan, Yunnan and other places, and has taken active measures to ensure consumption.
At the beginning of the peaceful liberation of Tibet, the PLA troops entering Tibet set up a purchasing office to ensure the supply of tea, and established the "Tibet Trading Company" on this basis.
After the Qinghai-Tibet and Sichuan-Tibet highways opened to traffic in 1954, the "Tibet Trading Company" organized a large number of tea and other materials to arrive in Lhasa and all parts of Tibet.
In order to meet the needs of the masses of farmers and herdsmen, the state has especially increased the supply of tea to remote farming and pastoral areas.
Since 1960, the state-owned commercial and trade department of Lhasa has carried out commodity supply distribution based on the principle of "production first, then living, people first, workers first, high and cold areas first, and general areas first", which effectively guaranteed the tea demand of the people.
After 1980, market-oriented operation has become an important support for meeting the tea needs of people of all ethnic groups in Tibet.
In the early days of peaceful liberation, the price of tea in Sichuan, Yunnan and other places in Tibet was much higher than that in the production area. The price of tea dropped around 1959, and the state has lowered the selling price of tea in Tibet several times since then.
The second is to vigorously support the development of tea planting and tea industry in Tibet.
In 1953, tea cultivation began in Tibet's current counties such as Bomi, Zuogong, Chaya, Gongjue, Leiwuqi, and Basu.
In 1956, a small-scale tea garden was built in Chayu County, Nyingchi City.
In the 1960s, tea seeds were successively introduced for trial cultivation.
In November 2021, people of the Monba ethnic group in Yigongbai Village, Dexing Township, Medog County, Tibet are picking tea.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Gonggar Laisong
At present, with the support of the state, counterpart support from provinces and cities, and the struggle of people of all ethnic groups in Tibet, the Tibetan tea industry has developed a good momentum.
The scale of high-quality tea gardens has continued to expand, the varieties of tea trees and tea products have continued to increase, and the quality of tea has been steadily improving.
Tibetan people not only drink tea produced in Tibet, but also enjoy the economic and ecological dividends brought by the development of the tea industry.
We have seen that tea consumption in Tibet has always maintained its resilience and has not been eliminated by the highly abundant modern beverages.
This is closely related to the unique practicality, culture and emotion of tea in Tibet.
In the development of the Tibetan tea industry, we have seen the profound friendship between the Chinese and Tibetan people, and we believe that tea will continue to write new stories and chapters in Tibet, adding more excitement to Sino-Tibetan exchanges.
(Finish)
Interviewee Profile:
Zhao Guodong, Ph.D., associate professor of Tibet University for Nationalities, outstanding young scholar in the Himalayas of Tibet and Qin, an expert with outstanding contributions in Xianyang City, winner of the honorary title of the first "Chinese Excellent Tea Teacher", currently an academic committee member of China International Tea Culture Research Association, author of "Tea and Tea" Tibet", "Tibetan Tea Culture" and many other monographs.