Buddhism, tea and porcelain!
In the Tang Dynasty Dunhuang literature "On Tea Wine", "the floating beam of the state, all countries to seek" was once the production and sales center of tea in the Tang Dynasty. Its rise is directly related to Lu Yu's Book of Tea, and there is a more profound context behind it.
Buddhism, which influenced both the Northern and southern dynasties, was the driving force behind the whole thing, only this time it spread more widely. The Ouigour tribe may have followed a different path of Buddhism and Manichaeism than the Chinese (they, like the Northern Wei, were more likely to get their information from the southern steppes of Central Asia), but they were inspired by the meals and drinks of the Chinese monks, and quickly adopted and popularized the habit of tea drinking, which inadvertently turned tea into a commodity that influenced later generations. From this point of view, the creation of "Tea Classic" is not the author of tea popularity, but more like the participant and recorder of this popular trend. In order to meet the demand for tea, Fuliang and its surrounding areas in the Tang Dynasty became an important base for tea production throughout China. The transportation, sale and consumption of tea greatly increased the fiscal and tax revenue of the dynasty. At the same time, this industry has also spread to the surrounding industries, and the emergence of porcelain tea sets driven by tea has opened up a new path for the ancient ceramic industry. In the opportunity of tea production, the floating beam is also the first wind. Generally speaking, these new economic growth points provided a rare economic foundation for the Tang Dynasty to recover the old mountains and rivers after the rebellion of An and Shi.
The popularity of tea drinking has also had a significant impact on the people around Han Dynasty. As soon as tea appeared in the grassland camps, it replaced silk as the hard currency of trade with its spirit-boosting function. Since Huihe, the surrounding people, including Dangxiang and Tubo people, have become fans of this magical plant.
In addition to the tea itself, factors such as culture and population continue to flow through this network. This form of tea horse trade, since its establishment, has continued to the 20th century, the scope from the northwest and southwest of China, has been extended to the western Eurasia.
Long-distance trade activities also promoted changes in the taste and processing of tea. In the process of long-term long-distance transportation, freshly processed tea undergoes natural fermentation, forming a fermented tea flavor similar to that of later "black tea". This unique flavor, by mixing with dairy products, can emit a rich aroma. Over time, in the process of tea processing, through the active warming, sealing, the formation of new types of tea. It is worth mentioning that today's northern Chinese people love milk tea, in addition to the use of fermented brick tea, but also to add salt, fried rice, milk tofu, milk skin and some beef jerky, so that the boiled milk tea aroma. But such milk tea, to put it bluntly, seems to be a retro way of drinking tea with spices such as scallions, ginger and dogwood in ancient times.
Of course, the more important change may be the emergence of Jingdezhen, the porcelain capital. The change of tea drinking mode in Tang and Song dynasties promoted the replacement of celadon and Jianmi black glaze in Yue Kiln. The worship of white porcelain brought by the Yuan Dynasty created conditions for the transition from Fuliang Town to Jingdezhen. With the decline of the Fuliang tea market after the Tang Dynasty, it is no accident that the local gradually transformed to the direction of porcelain manufacturing, and this is inseparable from the role of tea in it. Today, Fuliang is already a county seat below Jingdezhen, an interesting transformation that encapsulates centuries of cultural exchange and trade flows between the Tang and Song dynasties. Tea and porcelain promoted the development of Tang and Song history, but the fresh and quiet tea could not hide the turbulence of The Times. Tea can buy horses for the Han Dynasty and create great wealth, but this wealth is not, because the initiative of wealth may not be in the hands of the payer.