Research On Tea Customs And Economic Issues Of Tea Industry In Song Dynasty

China is the origin of tea and drinking tea has a long history in China. Tea leaves have been used ever since the Shennong(??)Time and spread from Sichuan to other regions in the Warring States Period. When tea became an indispensable part of everyday life, the so-called customs of tea came into being. Customs of tea are various kinds of tea ceremonies formed by combining tea with folk customs of entertaining guests, wedding and funeral ceremonies, sacrificial offering and religion. They also include customs formed in planting tea trees, making tea, judging tea and drinking tea. Customs of tea incessantly promote the development of tea economy, which give impetus to customs of tea in return.Tea leaf is an important carrier for tea culture. Chinese tea culture can be traced back to the Han Dynasty. In Tang Dynasty, tea became a popular drink in ordinary people's household and tea economy became actually prosperous. Ever since then, tea has become an important economic field and played an important role in increasing the government revenue, developing business, stabilizing borders and enriching people's everyday life. In Southern and Northern Dynasties when Buddhism was in vogue, tea industry continued to grow. During Five Dynasties(??)period, tea tribute trade prospered and in border areas tea was traded with the ethnic minorities, which laid down a solid foundation for the development and prosperity of tea economy in Song Dynasty.Ever since Song Dynasty, tea culture became increasingly prosperous. Books on tea appeared in this period, which recorded famous tea brands such as Beiyuan Tribute Tea and served as valuable material for later research into tea culture. Tea culture in Song Dynasty has its peculiarities. Firstly, it lied in the development of the law of tea and Tribute Tea and the prosperity of tea competition. Such activities directly promoted tea-making craft and led to more tea brands. Secondly, tea culture of city residents prospered, which added a new element to Song tea culture. Finally, there were the tea art and tea ceremony and tea-ism sublimed by merging Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism with tea art. They displayed the flavor and temperament of tea culture in Song Dynasty.From Tang Dynasty to Song Dynasty, tea economy played an important role in national economy, military and politics. As a result, Emperor Taizu(??)in Song Dynasty began to implement the policy of tea monopoly. That is, the government monopolized the sale of tea. Although tea monopoly added to the government revenue, it impeded the production and circulation of tea, which resulted in lots of tea smuggling. Businessmen profited a·lot from it. The government imposed indiscriminate punishment to ensure its tea profit, which incurred people's dissatisfaction. At the same time, military situation also called for reform of the tea law, rebalancing interests among the government, businessmen and tea farmers. Over ten reforms were conducted in Song Dynasty and among which Ruzhong(??)law?Sanshuo(??)law?Xianqian(??)law?Jiayoutongshang(????)law and Zhenghe (??)law had greater influence; Generally speaking, the reforms were a struggle between the regie of tea and trading together law. It is characteristic of tea law in Song Dynasty to adopt a divide-and-rule policy according to different conditions in different tea planting areas. Tea law had negative influence, but generally speaking, tea law reform and its implementation played active role for tea economy.Tea economy developed rapidly in Song Dynasty. The production and sale of tea substantially expanded. Domestic market came to became a large scale whole, bringing basic-level market, transfer market and the terminal consumer market into streamlined operation. The prosperity of markets made border and overseas tea trade possible. The development of tea economy brought huge profits to the government. Horses traded from tea could serve as warhorses, which helped to stabilize the borders. Tea became a tie that maintained the friendly relationship between the Han and peripheral ethnic minorities, which was of significance to Song Dynasty. In people's livelihood, tea also played an important role. An organic system, which had tea as its center and brought various commodities into exchange system, affected people's cultural and social life. Last but not least, tea connected farmers and market closely, promoting the commercialization of agricultural products, enlarging the share of commodity economy in the whole society's economy.