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Xuanhe Beiyuan gongcha lu 宣和北苑貢茶錄 and Beiyuan bielu 北苑別錄

Jun 20, 2013 © Ulrich Theobald

Xuanhe Beiyuan gongcha lu 宣和北苑貢茶錄 "On the tribute tea from the Beiyuan Gardens during the Xuanhe reign-period" is a book on tribute tea written during the Song period 宋 (960-1279) by Xiong Fan 熊蕃 (early 12th cent.), courtesy name Maoshu 熊茂叔 (or Shumao 叔茂), style Dushan Xiansheng 獨善先生, from Jianyang 建陽 (in today's Fujian province). He was a famous poet and writer and a secretary of the politician Wang Anshi 王安石 (1021-1086).

The short book, written during the Xuanhe reign-period 宣和 (1119-1125), describes the history of the tea in the region of Jianyang and the actual situation of cultivating tea. Of particular interest is his description in the chapter Gongcha lu 貢茶錄 of the taxation of the tea harvest with the method of so-called tribute tea (gongcha 貢茶). These stocks of tea were directly shipped to the imperial household for consumption. The book is enriched with 38 drawings of standard tea bricks and ten poems on tea. The Song-period bibliography Zhizhai shulu jieti 直齋書錄解題 says that the drawings were only added at a later date, probably by Xiong Fan's son Xiong Ke 熊克 (1118–1194), who had the book printed in 1158 after some revisions and adding supplementary information.

An appendix to the book includes the text Beiyuan bielu 北苑別錄 written by Zhao Ruli 趙汝礪, an offspring of the imperial house who was in charge of the accountant office of the transport commissioner (zhuanyunshi zhuguan zhangsi 轉運使主管帳司) of Fujian. It was written between 1186 and 1205 and is divided into 27 chapters that provide detailed information on the imperial tea gardens, plucking, oxidating and grinding tea, the preparation of the beverage, the various "fine" (xi 細) and "coarse" (cu 粗) colours and tastes, as well as the amounts of tea shipped to the capital. The Beiyuan bielu is very detailed and surpasses all other books in the range of concrete information about Song-period tea.

The two texts are included in the series Shuofu 說郛, Wuchao xiaoshuo 五朝小說, Wuchao xiaoshuo daguan 五朝小說大觀, Dushuzhai congshu 讀書齋叢書 and Siku quanshu 四庫全書. The Beiyuan bielu is also included in the Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編.

Sources:
Li Xueqin 李學勤, and Lü Wenyu 呂文郁, eds. 1996. Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典, vol. 2, 1861. Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe.
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, 1880. Beijing: Zhongguo nongye chubanshe.
Wang Guozhong 王國忠. 1996. "Xuanhe beiyuan gongcha lu 宣和北苑貢茶錄." 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, 403. Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe.
Wang Yuhu 王毓瑚, ed. 1964. Zhongguo nongxue shulu 中國農學書錄, 82. Beijing: Nongye chubanshe.
Wu Feng 吳楓, ed. 1987. Jianming Zhongguo guji cidian 簡明中國古籍辭典, 229, 669. Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe.
Xu Hairong 徐海榮, ed. 2000. Zhongguo chashi dadian 中國茶事大典, 571, 595. Beijing: Huaxia chubanshe.
蜀漢 (221-263)