第一章：茶之祖，源于楚

第一章：茶之祖，源于楚

Chapter 1: The State of Chu, the Epicenter of Tea Culture

不羡黄金罍，不羡白玉杯；

不羡朝入省，不羡暮登台；

千羡万羡西江水，曾向竞陵城下来。

——陆羽《六羡歌》

I envy not the golden ornamented urn of ale,

I envy not the emperor’s ruby and jade grail;

I envy not others’ glorious audience with the throne,

I envy not the dusk light’s ascension to the sacred stone;

But for he who drinks of the West River’s water pure and sweet,

But for he who brews a teapot from Jingling’s springs, my heart skippeth a beat.

—Lu Yu “The Song of Six Envies”

北纬30度。

这是一条穿越地球种种秘境说不清道不明的神奇纬线！

古埃及金字塔、巴比伦空中花园、百慕大死亡三角、雅鲁藏布江大峡谷、喜马拉雅山、远古玛雅文明遗址……在这条线附近或在这一纬度线上，奇观绝景比比皆是，自然迷团频频发生。

神农架，正位于这条线附近。在这里，有神秘的原始森林和美丽的传说，以及许多令人不可思议的未解之谜。这里群峰巍巍，山壑纵横，林木葱翠，保存有完好的原生生物群落，被誉为“华中屋脊”、“绿色宝库”。

Thirty degrees north latitude.

This is an other-worldly geographic parallel that cuts right through stretches of land that contains every manner of mind-boggling mysteries on earth.

The Ancient Egyptian Pyramids, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Bermuda Triangle, the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, the Himalayas, the Ruins of the Ancient Mayan Civilization … the greatest mysteries in the vicinity of this parallel occur with such frequency as to be described as run-of-the-mill, and rarities here are so commonplace as to be regarded as a dime a dozen.

The Shennongjia Forestry District, located near this parallel, is home to mystical primeval forests and astounding legends, as well as many incredible unsolved mysteries. The towering peaks, the crisscrossing mountains and valleys and the lush greenery have been preserved completely intact as a vibrant and whole living community, known as the “China roof,” or the “green treasure.”

但很多人也许并不了解，神农架在我国茶文化中的重要地位。

湖北是“茶祖”神农的故乡。相传，神农架是炎帝神农尝百草的地方，且茶又是神农尝百草过程中所发现。

关于神农发现茶的过程，有多个版本，传播比较广泛的是，神农尝百草中毒晕倒在茶树下，恰好有水从茶树叶子上滴下，流入神农口中，神农饮后起死回生；还有一种说法是神农煮水，有茶树叶子飘落锅中，神农饮后，这种味苦回甘的叶子可提人精气神，从而发现了茶叶的药用功能。

《神农本草》载：“神农尝百草，日遇七十二毒，得茶解之。” 神农，便是茶之始祖。

有关神农的传说，显示了饮茶起源的线索，也可以佐证湖北神农架作为茶叶产地的悠久历史和深厚文化底蕴。而在神农架原始深林中，至今还有野生茶树生长。

自古高山云雾出好茶。高海拔山区云雾弥漫，茶树接受日光辐射和光线的质量与平地不同。空气、温度、光照、土壤等方面深刻影响着茶树的生长和茶叶的品质。

Yet what still remains unknown to many is, that Shennongjia holds a lofty seat in the hierarchy of the tea culture of China.

Hubei Province is the hometown of Shen Nong, the “God of Agriculture.” According to legendary tales, Shennongjia is the place where Shen Nong sampled hundreds of medicinal plants, and tea is what Shen Nong discovered through the process of actually tasting the herbs.

There are many versions of how Shen Nong made his tea discovery, but the most popular one is: while sampling different herbal decoctions, Shen Nong ingested a toxic batch and fainted under a tea plant. Just then, droplets of dew hanging from the tea leaves like sparkling jewels began to drip into Shen Nong’s mouth, which was slightly agape; and as he drank it, he was revived. There is another version that claims, as Shen Nong was boiling water, some tea leaves were fluttering in the air around his pot, which eventually settled into the pot itself. After drinking it, Shen Nong noticed that this bitter leaf with the smooth aftertaste had invigorating and energizing properties, thus he discovered the medicinal features of tea.

The anecdote is recorded in The Classic of Herbal Medicine, which tells of a time when “Shen Nong took a herbal decoction made up of seventy-two toxins, but neutralized them with tea.” Thus, Shen Nong is considered the father of tea-making.

The legendary tale of Shen Nong actually provides clues about the origin of tea-making but also illustrates that Shennongjia enjoys a lengthy history and rich cultural heritage as the place of tea production. Even today, in the old-growth forests in Shennongjia, there is still a plethora of wild tea tree growth.

It’s been widely believed that high-altitude areas and misty mountaintops produce the best tea leaves. At these high-altitude areas in the cloud-shrouded mountains, the quality of the sunlight that radiates on the tea trees is wholly different from that of lower elevations. The air, temperature, light, soil and other factors all have a profound effect on the growth and quality of tea.

神农架林区自然资源富集，且有着独特的气候条件和生态环境，负氧离子浓度达16万每立方厘米。漫射光多，云雾缭绕，昼夜温差大，有利于茶树自身营养物的体内循环，茶树中茶多酚、氨基酸、果胶质等营养物质得以积累和贮存。此外，山区茶树根系发达，有效物质沉淀到叶面，使得这里产出的茶叶清香怡人，滋味醇厚，品质上乘。

Shennongjia Forestry District is rich in natural resources, and has singular climatic conditions and ecological environment with a negative oxygen concentration of 16 million ions per cubic centimeter. The large proliferation of diffused light, the great billows of swirling mist, the mean temperature gap between day and night are all conducive to the absorption of nutrient cycles within the tea plants, as the polyphenols, amino acids, pectin and other minerals are accumulated and stored within the tea plant. In addition, the developed network of mountain tea roots effectively deposits the nutrients into the leaves, making the final tea product in this area richly aromatic and pleasing, with a mellow taste and a superior quality.

茶圣陆羽一生嗜茶，精于茶道，以著世界第一部茶叶专著《茶经》闻名于世，并开启了一个茶的时代。

湖北同样也是“茶圣”陆羽的故乡。据传，唐开元二十一年（公元733年）秋天的一个早晨，湖北天门龙盖寺智积禅师漫步西湖，忽闻小桥旁的芦苇丛中“群雁喧集”，隐约伴有婴儿的啼哭声。循声走去，只见大雁“以翼覆一婴儿”。禅师慈悲为怀，将婴儿抱回寺中抚养。此地后被视为陆羽的出生地，小桥称作雁桥。

Lu Yu, the Tea Sage, was fond of tea for his whole life. He was quite adept at the art of tea ceremony and wrote the world’s first treatise on tea, The Classic of Tea, for which his fame spread throughout the world and he himself became the founding father of the tea epoch.

Hubei is also the hometown of “the Tea Sage.”According to legend, one morning in the autumn of the twenty-first year of the Tang Dynasty, (AD 733), Zhi Ji, a Zen Master of the Tianmen Longgai Temple was out strolling around West Lake, when a “cacophony of wild goose honks” emanated abruptly from the cluster of reeds next to the ramshackle bamboo bridge he was standing on, vaguely accompanied by what sounded like the cries of a cherubim babe. Following the sound of his footsteps, he spied a “baby wrapped in goose wings.”Compassion filled the Zen master’s bosom, and he carried the baby back to the temple in his arms. Afterwards, this was considered to be the birthplace of Lu Yu, and the small bridge was christened the“Goose Bridge.”

按照陆羽的自传描述，他相貌丑陋并且有些口吃，但这都阻挡不了他的向茶之心。为了撰写《茶经》，陆羽几乎走遍了当时的主要产茶区。他不但精于品茶，还非常重视水在品茶中的作用。现在各地都有他曾经品评过的煮茶名泉。

在《全唐诗》中，收录了陆羽的一首《六羡歌》：

不羡黄金罍，不羡白玉杯；

不羡朝入省，不羡暮登台；

千羡万羡西江水，曾向竞陵城下来。

陆羽之所以能被尊为茶圣，大概是因为他有着因茶而生的心，和如茶一般淡泊旷达的品格。

According to Lu Yu’s autobiography, he was an unsightly sort who was given to stammering and stuttering but neither condition could hold back his passion for tea. To write The Classic of Tea, Lu Yu toured through nearly every important tea production area of the time. He was not only a skilled tea maker but also attached great importance to the role of water in the tea-making process. Nowadays, tea lovers can find, nearly everywhere in China, renowned springs Lu Yu had tasted and evaluated for tea making.

Lu Yu’s “The Song of Six Envies” was included in the Complete Tang Poems collection.

I envy not the golden ornamented urn of ale,

I envy not the emperor’s ruby and jade grail;

I envy not others’ glorious audience with the throne,

I envy not the dusk light’s ascension to the sacred stone;

But for he who drinks of the West River’s water pure and sweet,

But for he who brews a teapot from Jingling’s springs, my heart skippeth a beat.

Lu Yu was most likely revered as the Tea Sage because he was a natural born tea connoisseur and a big man of broad-minded character who cared little about fame and wealth. In fact, many parallels could be drawn between his character and the essence of tea itself.