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Dongxi shicha lu 東溪試茶錄

Jun 20, 2013 © Ulrich Theobald

Dongxi shicha lu 東溪試茶錄 "Tasting tea at the Eastern Creek", briefly Shichalu 試茶錄, is a book on tea written during the Song period 宋 (960-1279) by Song Zi'an 宋子安, of whose life is not much known. He must have lived around 1050. The bibliography Junzhai dushu zhi 郡齋讀書志 and the bibliographical chapter in the encylopaedia Wenxian tongkao 文獻通考 (see Mashi jingji kao 馬氏經籍考) calls the author erroneously Zhu Zi'an 朱子安. The "Eastern Creek" Dongxi was located in the prefecture of Jian'an 建安 (modern Jian'ou 建甌, Fujian).

The short book was intended as a supplement to the classic Chalu 茶錄, which was written by Ding Wei 丁謂 (966-1037) and Cai Xiang 蔡襄 (1012-1067). It is divided into eight chapters describing the preparation of tea leaves, tea gardens, tea mountains, kinds of tea, the plucking of the leaves, and problems of tea. The book provides details about the regions where tea can be cultivated, the colours, fragrances and tastes of the beverage, and it provides clear information about the differences of each type of tea. The Dongxi shicha lu is very important because it is one of the few Song-period books on tea that have survived. Lü Huiqing's 呂惠卿 (1032–1111) Jian'an chayong ji 建安茶用記, Zhang Bingwen's 章炳文 Junyuan chalu 壑源茶錄 and Liu Yi's 劉異 Beiyuan shiyi 北苑拾遺 are lost. At least, the statements in the book of Song Zi'an can be compared with those of contemporary books like the Xuanhe Beiyuan gongcha lu 宣和北苑貢茶錄 or its appendix Beiyuan bielu 北苑別錄.

The Dongxi shicha lu is included in the series Baichuan xuehai 百川學海, Shuofu 說郛, Gezhi congshu 格致叢書, Bai mingjia shu 百名家書, Siku quanshu 四庫全書 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編.

Sources:
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Nongye da cidian bianji weiyuanhui 《農業大詞典》編輯委員會, ed. 1998. Nongye da cidian 農業大詞典, 343. Beijing: Zhongguo nongye chubanshe.
Wang Guozhong 王國忠. 1996. "Dongxi shicha lu 東溪試茶錄." In Zhongguo xueshu mingzhu tiyao 中國學術名著提要, vol. Keji 科技卷, edited by Zhou Gucheng 周谷城, 398. Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe.
Wang Yuhu 王毓瑚, ed. 1964. Zhongguo nongxue shulu 中國農學書錄, 70. Beijing: Nongye chubanshe.
Wu Feng 吳楓, ed. 1987. Jianming Zhongguo guji cidian 簡明中國古籍辭典, 212. Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe.
Xiao Zhengguang 肖正廣, and Chen Shangfeng 申廠鋒. 2017. "Shixi Song Zi'an Dongxi shicha lu de xianshi yiyi 試析宋子安《東溪試茶錄》的現實意義." Zhongguo chaye jiagong 中國茶葉加工 2017 (2): 61–66.
Xu Hairong 徐海榮, ed. 2000. Zhongguo chashi dadian 中國茶事大典, 570. Beijing: Huaxia chubanshe.
蜀漢 (221-263)