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It is commonly believed that the habit
of ea drinking originated in Sichuan Province
about 3,000 years ago. There is evidence
that people there began to drink tea early
in the Spring and Autumn Period. In the
Qin Dynasty, tea drinking spread to other
areas of China; and according to The History
of Sichuan, local people began to plant
tea during the Western Han Dynasty. Zhang
Jingyang of the Western Jin Dynasty spoke
highly of tea produced on Mt. Qingcheng
near Chengdu. In a poem entitled Climbing
Chengdu’s Bai Tu Tower Zhang says,
“Fragrant tea is superior to the
sixth quiet story of Taoism; and its pleasant
taste spreads to ninth realm.”
The custom of tea drinking gradually
spread out from Sichuan; and towards the
end of the Western Han Dynasty, tea was
regarded as the drink of imperial and
noble families, Later, from the Jin to
she Sui dynasties, tea drinking became
popular among the common people.
This
article by Yang Tianqing and Daniel Kister.
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