Research Proposal: Invented Tradition, Tea in Modern Chinese Culture
Laidlaw Scholar, University of St Andrews
Hullo! I'm postgrad student in St Andrews reading Sustainable Development with a focus on urban planning. My bachelor's degree at Durham centred around Chinese & French language, culture, and literature, which I'm still involved with on the side, along with photography and Continental & Eastern philosophy.
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Sounds super interesting, Agoston! I had no idea that tea сulture in China was only invented recently. I love that you chose puer too - it's definitely special...Back in Kazakhstan, many university students drank several cups of puer per day for its effects :)
Thank you, Nikol! How very nice, it would be fascinating to look into how and when puer tea found its way to places all around the world.
It is important to note, though, that it is not so much tea culture itself that has only recently been invented: it has millenia-old history in China. But when it comes to the kind of ceremony—often referred to as gongfu—that is associated with Chinese tea culture today, it is indeed but an amalgam of different traditional brewing methods. The key is to realise that it is only one way of drinking it and is not at all representative, especially not from a historical point-of-view. : )
Ah, I see! Thank you so much for clarifying! Fascinating nonetheless :)