从跨文化交际角度看中英茶文化的差异性

郭其洋  张亚文（西北大学现代学院  陕西西安  710130）

摘 要：目前，跨国交际日渐频繁，给参与交际国家的文化带来了深刻的影响。由于历史的差异性，中西方文化之间存在着较大的差异性。而中西方文化差异中最为重要的一部分就是茶文化。这种差异影响着人们如何烹茶以及人们是否对茶予以足够的重视。本文将从跨文化交际角度对中西方茶文化的差异性进行分析。

关键词：中西方文化差异；中国茶文化；西方茶文化；跨文化交际

I Introduction

1.1 Research background 

    Nowadays, the cultural communication in the world-wide has become more and more popular and frequent in the context of globalization. Since thousands of years ago, Chinese has been famous for its rich resources and the glorious culture, Chinese culture has a deep influence on the culture of the majority of the countries in the world, and one of the most important part is the tea culture. To be specific, in this thesis, the tea culture of China and that of western nations are compared to find out the distinctions between them.

1.2 Research significance 

    Such a thesis will be of significance for the readers who are interested in tea culture and the distinctions between Chinese and western culture. To be specific: in this thesis, the part of the tea culture that differ Chinese tea culture from that in western countries will be introduced in details in this thesis and such analysis will help readers to have a better understanding of the tea culture. In short this thesis will help the readers to deepen their understanding of the distinctions between Chinese and western tea culture.

II Literature Review 

    As one of the most important part of Chinese culture, the tea culture has attracted large numbers of scholars who used to do a variety of researches about such a topic. Generally speaking, the previous studies about tea culture could be classified into the following categories. Wang Xiaodan focused on the tea culture in Fujian Province (Wang Xiaodan, 2009: 12) while Xie Qinling investigated the tea culture in Anxi (Xie Qinling, 2014: 9). In short, researchers have already made many researches about tea culture and their researches could help readers to have a better understanding of tea culture.

    Despite of the fact that other researchers have already done many researches about tea culture, the researches about the differences between Chinese and western tea culture are still limited.

III Differences between Chinese and British Tea Culture in Cross-cultural Communication

3.1.Differences in history 

After the tea is introduced into other nations, there should be some changes happened to it so that the tea culture could be accepted better by the local people. In this part, the differences in history of the two types of tea culture will be analyzed from the perspective of the origins, the significance and the changes happened to them.

3.1.1 Origins of tea culture in China and British countries

    It is well-known that the Chinese tea culture is the ancestor of that in other nations and the exact time when the tea culture is originated remains unknown. It is agreed by most researchers that the period of time when the Chinese tea culture started is about 2737-2697 B. C. The mark of the real beginning of the tea culture is the book named as The Book of Tea, written by Lu Yu in 780 A. D.

    As for the tea culture in western countries, the history of it is much shorter since they introduced tea from China .To be specific, the tea culture was introduced into European nation since the 17^th century when some brave people travel a long way to China so as to explore more lands in the world. All in all, the first and most noticeable difference between Chinese and western tea culture lie in their origins.

3.1.2 Significance of tea culture in China and British countries

    To be specific, in China, the tea culture has already become one of the necessary part of the life in China. There is an old tradition in China: after one gets up, there are seven things that should be done and one of the seven things is to drink a cup of tea because is has been proved by traditional Chinese medicine that it is very good for people’s health to drink tea every day.

    Different from the tea culture in China, westerners have not attached so much significance to tea culture as Chinese have done. For instance, tea is added into other traditional western food. In short, the tea culture is not as significant as it is in China.

3.1.3 Changes happened to tea culture in China and British countries

    The last difference between Chinese and western tea culture lie in the changes that happened to such culture. Generally speaking, the changes happened to the Chinese tea culture is more than that of the western tea culture. Besides, the tea is also related with social status: the people who are of higher social status could enjoy the tea at higher price frequently while those of lower social status might not afford such tea.

    Similar with the tea culture in China, the western tea culture also experienced a series of changes. It is obvious that the Chinese tea culture is different from western tea culture in the changes happened to them.

3.2 The characteristics of tea culture in China and British countries

    Generally speaking, the distinctions between the two kinds of tea culture could be analyzed from the perspective of the preference for various types of tea, the preferences for methods to taste tea and the decorations of tea houses, which could be introduced in details in the following part.

3.2.1 Preferences for various types of tea

    To be specific, Chinese prefer green teas such as Longjing, burr points and others, while Americans prefer black tea such as the lapsang souchong and others. Besides, Americans also like Wulong Tea and it has already become one of the necessary drinks consumed by Americans. All in all, it is obvious that people in different countries have different preferences when they chose tea. Actually such preferences are closely related with their customs and culture and now such differences are disappearing under the influence of cultural integration.

3.2.2 Preferences for methods to taste tea 

    To be specific, in China, people have been attaching great significance to the tools used to make tea and there is a series of tools used in such process. Generally speaking, in formal situations, tea cups are in a smaller size so that the customers could taste all the smell and taste of the tea. As for the tea tray, they are the tool on which the teapot and the tea cups are put and presented to the customers. It is obvious that the Chinese methods to make tea is very complex and it is believed that people could sense all the scent of the tea.

    In short, it is obvious that the methods to make tea in China are different from that in western countries and such distinctions are related closely related with the local customs and culture.

3.2.3 Decoration of tea house

    To be specific, in China, tea houses are established as the ancient buildings which are characterized by the shape of a towel, wood girders and even wood doors. As for the indoor decoration, there are also some special characteristics which differ the tea houses in China from those in western countries. There are also some separated rooms which are used to hold the people who would like to have a chat in a quite place.In short, the tea houses in China are characterized by ancient constructions unique in China.

3.3 Influence of tea culture in China and UK

    At last, the distinctions between Chinese and western tea culture lied also in the influence of the tea culture on people, which could be analyzed from the following two perspectives.

3.3.1Differences in customs related with tea 

    Generally speaking, the influence on the former is deeper than that on the latter. In China, tea has already been regarded as one of the most important beverage that could be used to serve their guests. As for westerners, they usually add tea into other beverage such as milk or coffee because they dislike pouring out the leaves after drinking tea. Therefore, the customs of westerners related with drinking tea is limited.

3.3.2 Differences in literature related with tea culture 

    In China, tea culture has become one of the necessary part of Chinese culture and it interacts with other parts of Chinese culture such as Confucian culture, Taoism culture and others. In many cases, the people who want to negotiate about business issues often choose the tea house since the tea could help people to keep logical thinking. In short, it is obvious that not only tea, but also the complex culture about it are influencing the daily life of Chinese and their culture.

    As for the westerners, the influence of tea culture is not as deep as that in China. All in all, it is obvious that the influence of the tea culture on Chinese is much deeper than that in western culture.

IV Reasons for the Differences Between Tea Culture in China and British Countries in Cross-cultural Communication

4.1. Geographical environment

4.1.1 Location

    It is common sense that China is located in the south-east Asia and its territory is the largest one in the world. As for the westerners, since most of them are located in near the ocean which make them get easy access to the explorations so that they could sell their products to broader market. Therefore, it is obvious that the geographic background has deep influence on the thoughts of the Chinese and westerners.

4.1.2 Temperature

    Besides the location, the climate in China and western countries is different from each other. In China, the climate in various regions is different from each other: the inland area such as Inner Mongolia is characterized by the dry weather so people have to depend on poultry to make a living. As for the western countries, they could depend on the alcohol made from fruit or crops, as well as the imported tea owning to the convenient transportation.

4.2.Historical backgrounds 

    Another important reason for the distinctions between tea culture in China and that in western nations is the historical background. As for the tea, they have to drop the waste tea leaves after drinking. Therefore, they would not drink it everyday.

4.2.1 British history 

    In western countries, they have been influenced by capitalism and people attach great significance to the individual freedom. Besides, influenced by the ancient chivalry, the males are always polite to the females so that the women enjoy a better treatment. For instance, before the westerners have dinners, the males always move the seats for the females and then they will seat themselves. Besides, the females would like to ask the ladies to have food at first.

4.2.2 Chinese history 

    In China, people has been influenced by the feudalism which required people to obey the regulations made by the ruling classes. The scholars are respected by the common people and their habits of drinking tea is also regarded as elegant habits. Therefore, common people would like to treat their guests with tea so show their courtesy and respect.

4.3. Development of customs 

    The second important part of the cultural difference between China and western nations is about the customs. Actually, custom of a nations is composed of a series of activities to be participated by the majority of the population or certain group of the nation. It could not be denied that the customs differ from one country to another since the customs are originated from the history, literature and other factors of a nation.

4.3.1 Festivals 

    Festivals are the days that are celebrated to memorize specific important events or famous persons. On such holidays, people, especially those working in the factories and workshops to produce alcohol would like to drink as much as they can and to devote some alcohol to the god of alcohol. In short, the festivals in China and western countries are different from each other in many aspects and such differences have already attracted large amount of attention.

4.3.2 Production activities 

    Another reason for the difference between the Chinese and western tea culture is the production activity. It is common sense that China is located in the south-east Asia and its territory is the largest one in the world. As for the westerners, since most of them are located in near the ocean which make them get easy access to the explorations so that they could sell their products to broader market. Therefore, it is obvious that the geographic background has deep influence on the tea culture of the Chinese and westerners.

Ⅴ Conclusion

    In conclusion, it is obvious that there are plenty of differences between Chinese and western tea culture and such differences are actually caused by a variety of factors. To be specific, the distinctions between the Chinese tea culture lie in three aspects: the history of tea culture, the characteristics of tea culture and the influence of the two types of tea culture. To be specific, the history of Chinese tea culture is much longer than that of western culture. Besides, Chinese tea culture is attached more significance and it is frequently used to treat customers in China. As for western tea, it is usually made into tea bag for the sake of convenience. Besides, westerners usually add tea into other beverage such as milk. In addition, Chinese tea culture is more influential on the world due to the uniqueness but the influence of western tea culture is comparatively limited. Those distinctions between the two kinds of tea culture were actually caused by a series of factors, including the geographic environment, the historical background and the changes of the customs. It is obvious that the three factors interact with each other and such relationship proves the complexity of culture. As one of the most important treasure of our nation, the tea culture has thorough influence on the daily life of Chinese and even people all over the world owning to the influence of international integration.

    Due to the limit of time and energy, the analysis of the tea cultural differences are limited to the comparison of the most important part of the tea culture in China and that in western countries. Therefore, it is still meaningful to make more investigations about the differences between Chinese and western tea culture in the future.

Bibliography

Ⅰ.Works in English

[1] Alice Brown, A Study of Tea Culture in Northern America [J]. Journal of Culture: 2004(3): 78-79           

[2]Feng Weiying, Discussion and Evaluation of How Tea Culture is Defined[J].Tea Leaves, 2013(7): 73-78

[3] Florian Coulams, The Handbook of Culture[M], Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2001.

[4] Julian Wolfreys Introducing Tea Culture at the 21st Century [M], Edinburgh Press，2002．

II. Works in Chinese

[1]龚永心.弘扬茶文化、推动茶文化产业建设[J].湖北广播电视大学学报，2006,7

    [2]黄小琴.茶文化的兴盛及其对社会生活的影响[D].浙江大学硕士学位论文, 2003(5).

[3]简伯华.茶与茶文化概论[M].长沙：湖南科学技术出版社，2003,155

[4]雷鸣.西方茶文化与礼仪[J].理论前沿，2014,6