1. Segment 1A Plant names & appearance Origins Origin myths
History of the culture of Tea in china, japan, and Korea
Study Group — society for Asian art
November 3, 2018

2. Naming the tea plant — scientific names
Camellia sinensis
Camellia assamica

3. Naming the tea plant — common names
Chinese (and Japanese and Korean): cha
Persian: chay
Urdu: chay
Arabic: shay
Russian: chay
Swahili: chai
Min Nan (a coastal Fujian Chinese dialect): te
Dutch: te
French: thé
German: Tee
English: tea
Nikhil Sonnad, “Tea If by Sea, Cha If by Land: Why the World Only Has Two Words for Tea,” Quartz, accessed November 1, 2018,

4. Naming the tea plant — common names
…. But Portugal is chá. Why?

5. Naming the tea plant — common names
Nikhil Sonnad, “Tea If by Sea, Cha If by Land: Why the World Only Has Two Words for Tea,” Quartz, accessed November 1, 2018,
Dutch traded out of Fujian & Taiwan; Portuguese traded out of Macao.

6. Naming the tea plant — common names
Nikhil Sonnad, “Tea If by Sea, Cha If by Land: Why the World Only Has Two Words for Tea,” Quartz, accessed November 1, 2018,
Some of the areas with local language names for tea

7. Origins of the tea plant
"The potential natural vegetation of Yunnan is described in thirteen major categories based on geographical region and climate (tropical, monsoon, subtropical, montane), seasonality (evergreen, deciduous), stature of dominants (trees, shrubs, herbs, savanna) and leaf form (broadleaved; 'conifer'). Each has numerous subsidiary types. At the generic level the flora is drawn from fifteen distribution types of which the tropical southeast Asian, the pantropic, the north temperate and the eastern Asian account for 50% of the genera. It is hypothesized that the great species richness of Yunnan and the frequency of vicarious sub-species and varieties is the result of rapid diversification as the Himalayan uplift accentuated topographical variety over an already steep climatic gradient."
Li Xiwen and D. Walker, “The Plant Geography of Yunnan Province, Southwest China,” Journal of Biogeography 13, no. 5 (1986): 367–97,

8. Origins of the tea plant
The plant probably developed in the bio-diverse region of the "Three Gorges" area of Yunnan, close to the border of Burma.

9. Origins of the tea plant
The plant probably developed in the bio-diverse region of the "Three Gorges" area of Yunnan, close to the border of Burma.
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Martin Yan’s Hidden China 1x01 “Ancient Lijiang: A Journey Through Time,” accessed November 2, 2018,

10. Naming the tea plant — one more comment
Assamica tea was discovered in the 1800s in a forest in the Assam region of India. There are significant differences in the sinensis and assamica varieties.
And, by the way, Darjeeing is the only place where sinensis variety is grown in India.

11. Hmm …

12. Tea plant appearance
C. sinensis, illustrated — similar in appearance to camillia bushes

13. Tea plant appearance
C. sinensis, leaves used for tea production

14. Tea plant appearance
C. sinensis, buds only, for very high quality teas (China, Japan, Korea)

15. Importance of the buds 
Tea plant appearance
Importance of the buds 
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16. Tea plant appearance
C. sinensis, buds buds processed for brewing ("Silver needle" tea, China)

17. Tea plant appearance
C. sinensis, as a young plant

18. Tea plant appearance
C. assamica, as a young plant

19. Tea plant appearance
C. sinensis, grown into a tree several hundreds of years old

20. Tea plant appearance
C. sinensis, cultivated (Japan)

21. Tea plant appearance
C. sinensis, cultivated (Darjeeling, India)

22. Tea plant appearance
C. sinensis, cultivated (Daehan, Korea)

23. Two origin myths — Number 1, Shen nong
Shen Nong and his classic on medical plants
Shen Nong is a legendary emperor of China, said to live around 2600 B.C. The text referred to in the next two sources, while attributed to him, dates from the Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD). That text is Divine Farmer’s Grasses and Roots Classic (Shennong Ben Cao Jing 神農本草經 ).

24. Two origin myths — Number 1, Shen nong
"It is said that the first man to discover what tea can do is Shen Nong — the father of agriculture and herbal medicine in China. In time immemorial, people knew very little about plants. In order to find out which plants could be eaten and which couldn’t, Shen Nong tasted various kinds of plants to find out their features as food or medicine."
Tong Liu, Chinese Tea, trans. Liwen Yue, Cultural China Series (China International Press, 2005).
"Shennong chewing a branch" — Guo Xu (1456–c.1529) - Telling Images of China (exhibit). Dublin: Chester Beatty Library.  “Shennong,” Wikipedia, October 10, 2018,

25. Two origin myths — Number 1, Shen nong
"Fortunately, Shen Nong had a transparent stomach, which made it possible for him, after he had eaten the plants, to observe the reaction in his stomach caused by them. That is where the famous story of “Shen Nong Tasting a Hundred Plants” came from. One day after walking for a long time, Shen Nong felt tired and thirsty, so he rested under a tree and started a fire to boil water. Suddenly some tree leaves fell into the water hollowware on the fire. Shen Nong drank the water and found it not only sweet and tasteful, but freshening as well. He found his exhaustion all gone, so he finished all the water in the hollowware."

26. Two origin myths — Number 1, Shen nong

27. Two origin myths — Number 1, Shen nong
"Another tale is a little different from this one, but more amazing. It is said that Shen Nong tried 72 different kinds of poisonous plants in a day and he lay on the ground, barely alive. At this moment, he noticed several leaves dropping from the tree beside him, giving off gusts of fragrance. What with curiosity and whit habit, Shen Nong put the leaves in his mouth and chewed them. After a little while, he felt well and energetic again. So he picked more leaves to eat and thus cleared all the poison in his body. Whatever way the story goes, tea interested Shen Nong and attracted him to do further research on its characteristics. The ancient Chinese medical book called Shen Nong Herbal, which is attributed to Shen Nong, says that 'tea tastes bitter. Drinking it, one can think quicker, sleep less, move lighter, and see clearer.' That is the earliest book to put down the medical functions of tea."

28. Two origin myths — Number 2, Bodhidharma
"The Indian monk who introduced the Zen form of Buddhism into China around AD 520 is said to have cut off his eyelids so as not to fall asleep during meditation. The legend goes on to say that where they fell a plant called ch’a, with leaves shaped like eyelids, sprang up and provided meditators with a means of staving off sleep."
John Eaton Calthorpe Blofeld, The Chinese Art of Tea (Shambala Publications, 1985).
"Bodhidharma" by Fugai Ekun, 1568–1654 Japan, Edo period, 17th century ink on paper.
Smithsonian Freer Gallery Gallery Guide: Art of Buddhism .

29. Contrast these legends with the origin myth of coffee
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KQED/PBS, Episode 1: The Irresistible Bean, Video, Black Coffee, 2010,