Monday, December 24, 2007
Posted by Miss Neddy at 12:31 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Categories: Tea Related

As promised, I will explain a little on why the pouring of tea into cups is known as “General Guan Patrols the City” (关公巡城） and “Han Xin Counts His Troops” （韩信点兵）.

A little bit of Chinese history first, to give a proper context to the two idioms. General Guan, or Guan Gong, was a famous general during the War of the Three Kingdoms, sworn brother to Liu Bei（刘备）, and legendary for his loyalty, courage, wit and martial skills. He is patron god to policemen, gangsters, soldiers, bookkeepers and accountants, among others. Why bookkeepers? Because he was credited as the first accountant in Chinese history! There was a period of time when, to ensure the safety of his brother’s wives, General Guan had to surrender to his enemy, Cao Cao （曹操）. Cao Cao tried to bribe Guan Gong into changing sides permanently, with silks and gold, horses and a mansion and servants. General Guan made no comment about the bribes. On the day he finally left to rejoin his brother Liu Bei, General Guan handed Cao Cao a book, which detailed every single thing the latter had bestowed upon him. If I recall correctly, General Guan only kept one horse.

To be like General Guan, impartial and thorough in his patrol duties, one pours the tea out evenly among the cups, ensuring that each cup has not only equal quantities of tea, but that the strength of the tea is also equal in all cups.

Han Xin was likewise a general in chaotic times. He was a brilliant strategist but his talents were long overlooked by Xiang Yu (项羽）, whom he first served, and also Liu Bang （刘邦）, a descendant of Liu Bei. However, after much work on the part of Liu Bang’s advisor, Xiao He （蕭何）, Liu Bang made Han Xin his commander-in-chief. Liu Bang once asked Han Xin how many troops he, Liu Bang, could command. Han Xin replied that Liu Bang could command 100,000. When asked how many he, Han Xin, could command, he replied, “The more, the merrier.” (多多益善). This, perhaps, was one of the factors that led to his downfall later when Liu Bang became emperor.

It is Han Xin’s reply with which we are concerned. The phrase “Han Xin Counts His Troops” is paired with the phrase “the more the merrier”. This applies to the last drops from the teapot that are the strongest, the essence of the tea. So the more one is able to pour from the teapot to the waiting cups, the better. Why counting though? This is because one would smoothly lift and lower the teapot slightly to use gravity to draw out the last drops, much like someone counting by pointing their finger.

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