“茶之為飲，發(fā)乎神農(nóng)氏。”中國有著悠久的茶葉飲用史和茶文化史。茶作為貢品和祭品的記載可以推至周武王伐紂時(shí)期，而茶作為商品的記載，根據(jù)現(xiàn)有文獻(xiàn)資料，到西漢才出現(xiàn)。
“Shennong (Divine Farmer) was the first one to use tea as a drink.” China has a long history of tea drinking and tea culture. According to literature available, tea, as a tribute or a sacrifice, dates from the time when King Wu of Zhou sent a punitive expedition against King Zhou of Shang, while it traces back to the Western Han Dynasty as a commodity.
從茶史研究的角度來看，茶葉能夠成為商品買賣，說明在西漢時(shí)，飲茶已經(jīng)相當(dāng)盛行。那么，中國茶葉又是什么時(shí)候傳到西方的呢?
From the perspective of tea history, the fact that tea became a commodity in the Western Han Dynasty indicates that tea drinking was quite popular back then. Well, when were Chinese teas spread to the West?
絲綢之路和茶馬古道是我們現(xiàn)今發(fā)現(xiàn)的中國茶葉傳入西方最早、最著名的兩條國際通道。絲綢之路和茶馬古道的雛形，大約也是在西漢時(shí)期形成。隨著張騫出使西域，絲綢、茶就到了西方。但讓人納悶的是，在西方并沒有關(guān)于中國茶的記載。
The Silk Road and the Ancient Tea -Horse Road are the earliest and most famous international channels we have discovered so far for the introduction of Chinese teas into the West. The two ancient roads took shape almost in the Western Han Dynasty. Silk and tea were brought by Zhang Qian’s mission to the West. However, it is puzzling that there is no early record of Chinese teas in the West.
歐洲最早出現(xiàn)茶是在1559年，威尼斯商人拉莫修在其出版的《航海記》中首次提到了茶葉，這與中國西漢王褒的《僮約》相差了1500多年。在這1500多年的時(shí)間里，在西方的文獻(xiàn)中找不到一個(gè)茶字，更說不上茶葉的交易和消費(fèi)了。更讓人不解的是，在著名的《馬可·波羅游記》中，我們也看不到他對茶葉只言片語的介紹。
Tea appeared in Europe for the first time in 1559, as the Venice merchant Giovanni Battista Ramusio described in his publish book Navigationi et Viaggi (“Navigations and Travels”), which is more than 1,500 years later than Tong Yue by Wang Bao in Western Han Dynasty. In the more than 1,500 years, no word about tea can be found throughout Western literature, let alone tea trade and consumption. Even the famous book The Travels of Marco Polo does not contain a single word about tea, either.
曬茶制茶(圖 東方IC)
直到1606年，荷蘭人首次將中國的茶葉運(yùn)往歐洲。但在此后的90多年間，茶葉并沒有成為輸送至歐洲的重要商品。1704年，英國商船“根特”號在廣州購買470擔(dān)茶葉，價(jià)值1.4萬兩白銀，只占其船貨價(jià)值的11%，而所載絲綢則價(jià)值8萬兩白銀，是茶葉價(jià)值的好幾倍。
In 1606, the Dutch first imported Chinese teas to Europe. In the next over 90 years, however, tea did not become a major commodity imported to Europe. In 1704, the British merchant ship “Ghent” purchased 470 piculs of tea in Guangzhou, valued at 14,000 taels of silver, accounting for only 11% of the value of the cargo on board. In contrast, the silk aboard was worth 80,000 taels of silver, several times the value of the tea.
1716年，茶葉開始成為中英貿(mào)易的重要商品，兩艘英國商船從廣州買走3000擔(dān)茶葉，價(jià)值35085鎊，占總貨值的80%。18世紀(jì)20年代后，歐洲的茶葉消費(fèi)迅速增長，茶葉貿(mào)易成為歐洲在東方的貿(mào)易公司最重要、最盈利的項(xiàng)目。
In 1716, tea became an important commodity in Sino-British trade. Two British merchant ships brought back 3,000 piculs of tea from Guangzhou, worth 35,085 pounds, accounting for 80% of the total cargo value. After the 1720s, tea consumption in Europe grew rapidly, and tea trade became the most important and most profitable business for oriental trading companies in Europe.
在品茗的歷史中，沙皇俄國則要比歐洲其他國家幸運(yùn)得多。1638年，一名叫斯特拉科夫的沙皇俄國使者受命前往蒙古拜見可汗，并帶去珍貴的貂皮作為覲見禮?？珊故障露Y物，并回贈(zèng)了200包中國茶葉，使者將茶葉帶回了圣彼得堡，沙皇命仆人沏茶請近臣們品嘗，眾人一致認(rèn)為入口有奇香。從此，俄羅斯人開始了漫長的飲茶史。
In the history of tea drinking, Tsarist Russia was much luckier than the rest of Europe. In 1638, a Tsarist Russian envoy named Stratkov was sent to Mongol Empire to pay respects to Khan and bring precious marten as a tribute. Khan accepted the gift and repaid 200 bags of Chinese tea. The envoy brought the tea back to St. Petersburg. The Tsar ordered his servants to make tea and invited his courtiers to taste it. Everyone was amazed at it wonderful fragrance. From then on, Russians began a long history of tea drinking.
茶葉曾引起了西方人的極大好奇(網(wǎng)絡(luò)圖片)
事實(shí)上，從16世紀(jì)西方接觸茶算起，在此后3個(gè)多世紀(jì)中，茶葉一直被西方人疑為“有毒之物”。1664年，東印度公司向英王進(jìn)貢茶葉后，追求時(shí)髦的貴族婦女紛紛仿照王室試飲起來，可她們擔(dān)心茶葉有毒，飲茶之后還要喝白蘭地“排毒”。
In fact, tea was suspected as “toxic” by Westerners in the following more than three centuries from the 16th century when Westerners came into contact with tea. In 1664, after British East India Company paid tribute to the King of Britain with tea, fashionable aristocratic women flooded to drink tea as the royal family did. But they worried that tea was toxic, so they drank brandy for “detoxification” after they drank tea.
茶是怎么生產(chǎn)出來的?歐洲人一直不解，這種東方古國的神秘植物引起了西方人的極大好奇。直到1560年，葡萄牙耶穌會(huì)傳教士克魯茲喬裝打扮混入一群商人隊(duì)伍中，在4年多的時(shí)間里，他來往于中國貿(mào)易口岸和內(nèi)地，才搞清了茶的來龍去脈?；貒螅褞啄甑囊娐剬懭肓恕吨袊栾嬩洝?，這是歐洲第一本介紹中國茶的專著。
How was tea produced? Europeans were always puzzled by it. This mysterious plant from an ancient oriental state aroused great curiosity of Westerners. Into 1560, the Portuguese Jesuitic missionary Cruz dressed himself up and mingled with the men of a caravan. He traveled between China’s trade ports and mainland and found out the origin of tea in more than four years. After returning to his country, he described what he had seen and heard in his Book of Chinese Teas, the first European monograph on Chinese teas.
圖片
茶農(nóng)采茶忙(網(wǎng)絡(luò)圖片)
1848年，蘇格蘭“植物獵人”福瓊的到來，則真正解開了歐洲人對茶的誤解。長期以來，西方人一直相信茶樹有綠茶樹和紅茶樹之分，而福瓊卻告訴他們，綠茶和紅茶的區(qū)別，只在于制茶工藝的不同。他這一觀點(diǎn)起初受到了公眾和專家的質(zhì)疑，他請制茶專家在英國公開進(jìn)行手工制茶后才得到了認(rèn)可。
In 1848, the Scottish “plant hunter” Robert Fortune arrived in China. He really unraveled the European misunderstanding of tea. Westerners had long believed that tea trees were divided into green tea trees and black tea trees. Fortune told them that the difference between green tea and black tea was only caused by the tea making process. His view was initially questioned by the public and experts, so he asked tea experts to make tea in front of the British public. Then, his statement was accepted.
1867年前后，一個(gè)叫唐古柏的英國人又來到中國，他計(jì)劃的考察路線是成都—雅安—康定—巴塘—印度，實(shí)際上卻只走到巴塘便原路返回。唐古柏所走的路線，正是古已有之的川藏茶葉大道(今稱“川藏茶馬古道”)，來自雅安、邛崍等地的邊茶，通過這條路源源不斷地轉(zhuǎn)運(yùn)到西藏、青海等地。
Around 1867, an Englishman named Tang Cooper came to China. His planned route was Chengdu-Ya’an-Kangding-Batang-India. In fact, he only reached Batang and then returned along the route. Tang Cooper’s route was exactly the ancient Sichuan-Tibet Tea Road (now known as “Sichuan-Tibet Ancient Tea-Horse Road”). Biancha (a kind of tea in Sichuan) from Ya’an, Qionglai et al was transported through this road to Tibet, Qinghai and other places.
面對茶這片神奇的“綠色”黃金，英國商界迫切需要打開中國西南門戶。在唐古柏之后，不斷有人進(jìn)入雅安一帶，了解川茶種植和邊茶貿(mào)易。
In face of the magical “green gold”, the British business community was desperate to open the door to southwest China. After Tang Cooper, Westerners came to Ya’an successively to understand Sichuan tea planting and biancha trade.
在史海中打撈碎片，還原中國茶走向世界的過往，為我們打開了一道“認(rèn)識(shí)自己”的獨(dú)特窗口，也讓我們可以從歷史中探尋以茶為元素的中國文化符號的意義。
By virtue of the fragments in history, we have narrowly restored the picture of Chinese teas going global, opening a unique window for us to “know ourselves”, and enabling us to explore the significance of tea-related Chinese cultural symbols from history.
文 《雅安日報(bào)》高富華。來源：《一帶一路報(bào)道》2021年第1期。
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