3. Tea in China: A Religious and Cultural History

Title: Tea in China: A Religious and Cultural History

Length: 306pg

Date of Publication: August 5, 2015

Link:Book

Professional Review

"The book contains a wealth of material on the social and intellectual interchange between the Buddhist clergy and wide sections of the educated laity. It deserves the attention of all whose interest lies in the role of religion in the life of the Chinese elite." - Religious Studies Review

Reader Review:

"I can only agree 100% with Matthew London's review (the only other one so far). This is a major work. It covers tea in China from the beginning through the Ming Dynasty; it is best on Tang and Song. It draws on a vast range of Chinese sources, almost none of them previously mined in any detail by western writers. It does indeed, as London says, avoid the tired myths; it breaks new ground and provides us new translations throughout. Benn shows that tea was closely associated with Buddhism from the beginning through Song. He provides details on differing ways of brewing the stuff over the centuries. He has some fun with the incredible lengths of tea connoisseur-ship, which resemble wine snobbery today. For anyone interested in tea, or in the history of Chinese consumption, this is an indispensable book."

- E. N. Anderson

What does this book teach the reader?

This book teaches the reader about the transformation of china through the lens of tea, and how tea changed China's religious and political scene.