The eastward shift of tea industry
By Emma Chang | 09 October 2018 | 0 Comments
In the pre-Qin period, the drinking and production of Chinese tea was mainly spread in the Bashu area. After the Qin and Han dynasties unified the country, the tea industry and the economic and cultural exchanges with the local governments, especially the processing and planting of tea, first spread to the east and south. But the advantage of Chinese tea production and technology is still in Bashu area. In the Western Jin Dynasty, with the growing development of Jingchu tea industry and tea culture in the country, and due to geographical advantages, the Yangtze River Midstream or Central China region, in the spread of Chinese tea culture, slowly replaced the Bashu. Therefore, from the perspective of development, the Qin and Han dynasties to the Western Jin Dynasty is not only a period in which the Bashu tea industry continues to flourish, but also an important stage in which the Chinese tea industry has moved eastward from the Bashu to the country of the tea industry.
During the Western Jin Dynasty, the royal family were shameless, and they were more than rich and corrupted to the extreme. After exile to Jiangnan, some people, in view of the lessons of past loss of the country, changed the style of luxury and advocated the pride of simplicity. At this time, tea has become an item used by some dignitaries to flaunt frugality and simplicity. On the other hand, with the southward migration of the Tu people in the north, the ritual system has also been strengthened.
Due to the need of the ruling class of the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties to “take heavy tea”, the culture of tea and tea drinking in the south of China, especially Jiangdong, has developed greatly, which has further promoted the advancement of Chinese tea industry to the southeast. From Zhejiang West, it has expanded to the coastal line of Wenzhou and Ningbo. The further eastward shift of the focus of the tea industry in Jingchu and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River was after the middle of the Tang Dynasty.
