茶之边界、消费分层与茶饮平民化:清代民国四川老鹰茶研究OACHSSCD

Whether tea consumption in China became popularized among commoners during the Qing Dynasty and the Republican Period is an important question in the study of modern Chinese tea history.Existing scholarship has often equated the term"tea"in historical sources directly with"true tea"in the modern botanical sense,thereby overlooking its actual referent within historical contexts.The production,circulation,and consumption of Laoying tea in Sichuan during the Qing and Republican periods provide a useful case through which to reconsider the popularization of tea drinking in modern China.Within the cognitive framework of the time,the definition of"tea"was not determined primarily by botanical affinity,but rather by methods of preparation and practical effects.Although Laoying tea is classified in modern terms as a substitute tea,it long appeared in local sources under such names as Laoying tea,Laoren tea,white tea,red tea,and red-white tea,and was incorporated into the category of tea in both everyday consumption and market transactions.As its scope of use expanded,consumer demand increased,and its commodity attributes strengthened,Laoying tea gradually transformed from a wild food resource gathered in localized mountain areas into a daily tea-drinking commodity that reached both urban and rural Sichuan and extended further into the Sichuan-Xikang borderlands.The essence of the popularization of tea drinking in modern Sichuan was therefore not the widespread diffusion of true tea among the lower strata of society,but rather the formation of a stratified pattern of consumption in which officials,gentry,and literati tended to drink true tea,while ordinary people more commonly consumed Laoying tea.Owing to its low price,simple processing techniques,abundant supply,and practical functions such as relieving summer heat and thirst,serving as a dietary therapy,promoting health,and withstanding long-term storage,Laoying tea was well suited to the everyday needs of commoner society.Its consumption contexts included not only household drinking,agricultural labor,and tea-soaked rice,but also the operation of urban and rural teahouses,making it an important material basis for the low-cost operation and broad diffusion of Sichuan teahouses.Elite rejection of Laoying tea did not stem merely from differences in taste or quality,but was also closely related to status distinction and cultural taste in food consumption.In terms of market circulation,Laoying tea,supported by stable mass consumption,dispersed yet abundant raw-material resources,and a relatively lenient tax environment,formed regional trade networks centered on its places of production and radiating to neighboring prefectures and counties.Through routes in western and northern Sichuan,it entered Songpan,Xikang,and the Tibetan-Qinghai markets,thereby participating in the material exchange and commercial circulation of the modern Sichuan-Xikang borderlands.The study of Laoying tea reveals that the popularization of tea drinking in modern China did not necessarily mean the downward diffusion of true tea consumption.Rather,it was achieved through the incorporation of substitute teas into the cognitive and consumptive system of tea,which enabled the broader dissemination of tea-drinking practices.Accordingly,tea history research should pay closer attention to the differences between ancient and modern concepts of tea,the class differentiation of consumption practices,and the composite nature of historical data concerning tea.