Research Proposal: Invented Tradition, Tea in Modern Chinese Culture
Published
Agoston Horanyi
Laidlaw Scholar, Durham University
Hullo! I'm a forth year Chinese & French studies undergraduate at Durham. With my research, I have been exploring the formation of new wave tea culture in Hungary. My main interest these days are sustainability and urban planning, which I'm hoping to study after my BA.
Comments
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 :)