\tThe Chajing \u8336\u7ecf "Classic of Tea" is one of the most famous ancient Chinese books on tea. The 3 juan "scrolls" long book was written by the Tang period \u5510 (618-907) scholar Lu Yu\u9646\u7fbd (733\uff0d804). Lu Yu never occupied a post in the government although he had been offered the position of Great Supplicator (taizhu \u592a\u795d) of the Office of Imperial Sacrifices (Taichangsi \u592a\u5e38\u5bfa). Instead, he lived a private life in a very rural style. Because of his deep knowledge of tea, he was also called the "god of tea" (chashen \u8336\u795e). In his book Chajing, he describes the origin and spread of the tea plant (Camellia sinensis), the shapes of the leaves of different kinds of tea plants, and the different qualities of tea; the harvest of leaves and different tools used for the preparation of tea leafs; as well as the method of tea fermenting. The second part is dedicated to the preparation of the beverage and the different tools to serve tea. In the last part, he narrates stories about fermenting, drinking, different matters around tea, places of origin, concise statements about tea types , and – very short – an outline of the book.<\/p>\n
\tInspite of its shortness, the Chajing is very reknowned for its beautiful and concise language. It is included in a lot of collectanea, like Baichuan xuehai\u767e\u5ddd\u5b66\u6d77, Shuofu \u8bf4\u90db, Tang-Song congshu \u5510\u5b8b\u4e1b\u4e66, Xuejin taoyuan \u5b66\u6d25\u8ba8\u539f, Gezhi congshu \u683c\u81f4\u4e1b\u4e66, Bai mingjia shu \u767e\u540d\u5bb6\u4e66, Tangren shuohui \u5510\u4eba\u8bf4\u835f and Siku quanshu \u56db\u5e93\u5168\u4e66. There are also several other prints from the Ming \u660e (1368-1644) and Qing \u6e05 (1644-1911) periods.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
| \n \t\t\t\t\tContents<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \t\t\t\t\t\u8336\u4e4b\u6e90 Cha zhi yuan<\/em> Origins |