The written history of China dates back to the Shāng 商 dynasty, which ruled approximately between 1600 and 1046 BC. During these more than three thousand years of history, the Middle Kingdom (中國 Zhōng Guó) has varied in extension over and over again by encompassing or leaving out different groups and territories to form what is now the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国 Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó).
Although in this section we will normally focus on the history of Chinese Martial Arts, we do not want to exclude other historical events even if they are not related to this field.
At the end of the eighteenth century, the China of the Qīng 清 dynasty was one of the most advanced and powerful nations on the planet. But this would change radically in the following decades, almost overnight. The decline of the Qīng began dramatically in the Opium Wars (Yāpiàn Zhànzhēng 鴉片戰爭) and precipitated even faster in the following decades.
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In the seventeenth century, the Manchus (Mǎnzú 滿族), considered barbarians by the Chinese, conquered the Míng 明 empire and established a new dynasty that would last almost three hundred years and lay the foundations of modern China: the Qīng 清 dynasty.
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During the Qīng 清 dynasty (1636-1912) there were groups of martial artists who believed in obtaining, through certain esoteric rituals and practices, a protection that made them invulnerable to both physical and spiritual damage. This invulnerability was referred to as dāo qiāng bù rù 刀槍不入, literally, “sabres and spears do not penetrate”.
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For most of Chinese history, archery (射藝 shèyì), whether with bow or crossbow, was the main martial discipline and the most important form of warfare. Even after the appearance of the first firearms, archery maintained its primacy on the battlefield until well into the nineteenth century.
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In the last dynasties there were radical changes in the consumption and production of tea, shaping the current customs related to this drink. The Qīng 清 dynasty saw the end of the Chinese monopoly of tea and the acquisition of production methods by Western powers.
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During the Sòng 宋, tea preparation reached its highest degree of sophistication, requiring an arduous and laborious process that was only possible among the upper classes, who often had several servants dedicated to this task. To this was added the fever for dòuchá 鬥茶, “tea duels”, in which people competed to demonstrate the skill in the preparation of this drink.
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The Táng 唐 dynasty (618-907) was the time of greatest diffusion of tea consumption within China, and in it there were great changes that defined not only the way of consuming tea, but also the way of thinking about it during the rest of the history of China.
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Despite the existing legends about its origin, it seems that the first uses of tea were not as a drink but as an edible for medicinal purposes, in the form of pickles, fries or condiments. Certain ethnic groups in the Yúnnán 雲南 region still consume tea in this form today.
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The Tea Classic or Chá Jīng 茶經 is a work of literature of the eighth century that deals with various aspects related to tea, from the cultivation of the plant to the preparation of the drink. This work, written by Lù Yǔ 陸羽, known as “Tea Sage”, had a tremendous impact in his time on the spread of the custom of drinking tea in China.
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Lù Yǔ 陸羽 was a scholar of the eighth century, known for being the author of the Chá Jīng 茶經 or Classic of Tea. In this first article dedicated to him we will see how the life of this eccentric character was, a life dedicated to investigating and experimenting with tea in all its aspects.
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