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In 907, the Tang Dynasty fell and China
split into a number of independent states.
The south split into separate kingdoms,
which remained peaceful. Trade and commerce
developed rapidly, and tea production
in the south at the present sites of Jiangsu
and Zhejiang provinces developed so quickly
that these areas gradually became the
center of tea art and culture.
People in the Song Dynasty came to drink
tea even more delicately than in Tang
times. In the Tang, tea drinking was popular
mainly among noble families, but in some
cities during the Song Dynasty, teahouses
sprang up where common people could go
and have tea. In Chengdu, tea service
centers were set up to offer “official
tea” for passers-by free of charge.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, tea drinking
differed from that of previous dynasties.
In that time, people drank piece-tea instead
of solid-tea and tea makers stir fried
tea in an attempt to strengthen tea-leaves’
flavor. In the Ming Dynasty, green tea
was the most common tea-drink, but flower
tea also came into being. Down to the
Qing Dynasty, jasmine tea was produced
in Suzhou. In the Qing dynasty, Wulong
and black tea appeared.
This
article by Yang Tianqing and Daniel Kister.
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