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Luojiecha ji 羅玠茶記

Aug 10, 2024 © Ulrich Theobald

Luojiecha ji 羅玠茶記 (also written 羅岕茶記) is a book on tea written during the late Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Xiong Mingyu 熊明遇 (1579–1649), courtesy name Liangru 良儒, from Jinxian 進賢, Jiangxi. He obtained the jinshi degree in 1601 and was the district magistrate of Changxing 長興 and later palace steward (jishizhong 給事中). Xiong was arrested during the fights around the Donglin Faction, but later rose to the office of Minister of War (bingbu shangshu 兵部尚書). He also wrote the text Wen zhixing shu 文直行書.

Mt. Luojie 羅岕山 was a place name in Changxing which means that the book was written based on Xiong's own experience during his time as district magistrate. The text consists of 7 paragraphs explaining the conditions of the local tea gardens, types of quality, preparation and storage methods, qualities of water and properties of the local tea. It seems that the transmitted version is not complete. Part of the text quotes from older books on tea.

The text is found in the series Xu shuofu 續說郛 and is quoted in the encyclopaedia Gujin tushu jicheng 古今圖書集成.

Sources:
Deng Aihong 鄧愛紅. 2009. "Shilun Mingdai Xiong Mingyu de Luojie chashu 試論明代熊明遇的《羅岕茶疏》." Nongye kaogu 農業考古 2009 (2): 205–209+278.
Deng Aihong 鄧愛紅. 2010. "Mingdai Xiong Mingyu de Luojie chashu chengshu niandai xintan 明代熊明遇的《羅岕茶疏》成書年代新探." Nongye kaogu 農業考古 2010 (5): 294–298+309.
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, 1021. Beijing: Zhongguo nongye chubanshe.
Wang Jianping 王建平. 2013. "Xiong Mingyu yu Luojie chaji 熊明遇與《羅岕茶記》." Nongye kaogu 農業考古 2013 (2): 319–324.
Wang Yuhu 王毓瑚, ed. 1964. Zhongguo nongxue shulu 中國農學書錄, 178. Beijing: Nongye chubanshe.
Wu Feng 吳楓, ed. 1987. Jianming Zhongguo guji cidian 簡明中國古籍辭典, 511. Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe.
Xu Hairong 徐海榮, ed. 2000. Zhongguo chashi dadian 中國茶事大典, 575. Beijing: Huaxia chubanshe.
蜀漢 (221-263)