Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Posted by Miss Neddy at 08:30 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Categories: Tea Related

The Song Dynasty emperor Huizong (徽宗) is a historical figure viewed with rather mixed feelings. He was unmistakably a bad emperor, implementing disastrous foreign policies, putting his trust in corrupt officials and ignored the needs of the imperial military. His rather tragic fate in the end was largely his fault, as the Jin (or Jurchens) kidnapped him, his son, and his harem, demoting him eventually to a commoner and exiled him to Northern Manchuria, where he died in poverty and captivity at 52.

And yet, he was a man of many personal talents and accomplishments. He created the Slender Gold (瘦金) style of calligraphy, a beautifully thin and angular form. His paintings are still much admired for their own merits, he was considered a talented poet and he could play the guqin (a stringed instrument somewhat like a prone lute). He was also a great lover of tea.

His Treatise on Tea (茶论) was finished in 1107 AD, and at approximately 3000 thousand words, is a succinct, poetic and informative thesis on tea. Based on Lu Yü‘s Book of Tea, the treatise lists out notable teas (many of which no longer exist, at least with the names that Huizong was familiar with), methods of processing tea, where tea bushes are commonly grown, how the leaves are plucked, and so forth. He concurs with Lu Yü that mountain spring water is best for teas, generally, but differs with the Tea Sage by ranking well water above river water, claiming that river water, with the stink of fish and mud, lacks the lightness and sweetness that good water should have. Lu Yü ranked river water first, since it is flowing water, while well water is still and tends towards staleness.

Huizong spares several words for his favourite tea, white tea, describing its form in loving detail and emphasising its rarity. “No more than four or five famlies grow this tea,” he wrote, “and each family no more than 1 or 2 bushes.” White tea, in his judgment, is incomparable “它无与伦也”.

Huizong’s period of reign was called the Da Guan (大观) period, and so his treatise was likewise named Da Guan Treatise on Tea “大观茶论”.

 

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