Jian chashui ji 煎茶水記

Jian chashui ji 煎茶水記 "On boiling tea water" is a book on the preparation of tea written during the Tang period 唐 (618-907) by Zhang Youxin 張又新 (jinshi degree 814), courtesy name Kongzhao 孔昭. He hailed from Luze 陸澤 in the prefecture of Shenzhou 深州 (modern Shenze 深澤, Hebei) and obtained the jinshi degree in 814. He was appointed Right Rectifier of Omissions (you buque 右補闕). He was later appointed regional inspector (cishi 刺史) of Jiangzhou 江州 and then sectional director in the Ministry of Justice (xingzhong langzhong 刑部郎中). Because of an offense he was demoted to the post of bureau director in the Left Office of the Department of State Affairs (zuosi langzhong 左司郎中). His collected poems are called Yongjia baiyong 永嘉百詠.

The short book Jian chashui ji describes seven qualities (pin 品) of water that can or cannot be used for preparing tea. The idea to write this book was based on Liu Bochu's 劉伯芻 (758–818) qualification of waters. Zhang himself tested the waters of many regions of the empire and created a classification of twenty ranks. While Liu Bochu had ranked the water Nanlingshui 南零水 of the lower Yangtze 揚子江 as of first class, the "tea god" Lu Yu 陸羽 (733－804), author of the Chajing 茶經, had given the first place to Lian Water 廉水 of the Kangu Valley 康王谷 of Mt. Lushan 廬山. The author says that he had been provided information about Lu Yu's classification at Jianfu Monastery 薦福寺 in the shape of a text called Zhuchaji 煮茶記. This book had allegedly been compiled by Liu Jiqing 李季卿 (d. 767), regional inspector of Huzhou 湖州, according to oral instructions by Lu Yu himself.

There were also some other books on the same topics, namely Ye Qingchen's 葉清臣 (1000–1049) Shu jiancha quanpin 述煮茶泉品 and Ouyang Xiu's 歐陽修 (1007–1072) Daming shuiji 大明水記. The Song-period 宋 (960-1279) bibliography Zhizhai shulu jieti 書錄解題 says that the Daming shuiji relied on Lu Jiqing's book as a source. Ye Qingchen calls the Jian chashui ji with the title Shuijing 水經, which is also used in the encyclopaedia Taiping guangji 太平廣記. It can be assumed that Shuijing was the original title of the book, but it was renamed later in order to discern it from Li Daoyuan's 酈道元 (466 or 472-527) geographical book Shuijingzhu 水經注. Lu Guiming 陸龜蒙 (d. c. 881) calls Zhang's book Shuishuo 水說, and Lu You 陸游 (1125–1210) mentions it with the title Shuipin 水品. It is apparent that Zhang Youxin's text circulated in different versions during the Song period.

Ouyang Xiu vehemently criticized Zhang Youxin's book because it contradicted Lu Yu's classic in some points. It was also known that Lu Yu and Liu Jiqing did not have a friendly relationship.

The Jian chashui jing is included in the series Baichuan xuehai 百川學海, Shuofu 說郛, Tangren shuohui 唐人說薈 and Siku quanshu 四庫全書. It is quoted in the series Chashu quanji 茶書全集 and was published as an appendix to the Wanli reign-period edition of the Chajing, with the title Chajing shuibian 茶經水辨, and in Zheng Yun's 鄭煾 critical edition of the Chajing. The paragraphs of Zhang Youxin's Shuiji 水記 quoted in Huang Tingjian's 黃庭堅 (1045–1105) commented poetry collection Shangu shi Ren Yuan zhu 山谷詩任淵注 differ from the transmitted version of the Jian chashui ji.