Editing Chinese culture (section)

=== Tea culture ===
{{Main|Chinese tea|Chinese tea culture|History of tea in China}}
[[File:China tea.jpg|thumb|right|A traditional [[Chinese tea culture]] (茶艺，茶藝) set and three [[gaiwan]].]]
The practice of drinking [[tea]] has a long history in China, having originated there.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Inscribed landscapes : travel writing from imperial China|last=E.|first=Strassberg, Richard|date=1994 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-91486-5 |location=Berkeley|oclc=44957693}}</ref> The history of tea in China is long and complex, for the [[Chinese people|Chinese]] have enjoyed tea for millennia. Scholars hailed the brew as a cure for a variety of ailments; the nobility considered the consumption of good tea as a mark of their status, and the common people simply enjoyed its flavour. In 2016, the discovery of the earliest known physical evidence of tea from the mausoleum of [[Emperor Jing of Han]] in [[Xi'an]] was announced, indicating that tea from the genus ''[[Camellia]]'' was drunk by [[Han dynasty]] emperors as early as 2nd century BC.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Earliest tea as evidence for one branch of the Silk Road across the Tibetan Plateau |author=Houyuan Lu|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=6|doi=10.1038/srep18955| date=7 January 2016 |pages=18955|pmid=26738699|pmc=4704058 |bibcode=2016NatSR...618955L|display-authors=etal}}</ref> Tea then became a popular drink in the Tang (618–907) and Song (960–1279) Dynasties.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Chinese Tea|last=Liu|first=Tong|publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2012|isbn=978-0-521-18680-3|location=The United States of America|page=1}}</ref>

Although tea originated in China, during the Tang dynasty, Chinese tea generally represents tea leaves which have been processed using methods inherited from [[ancient China]]. According to popular legend, tea was discovered by Chinese Emperor [[Shen Nong]] in 2737 BCE when a leaf from a nearby shrub fell into water the emperor was boiling.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.radio86.com/lifestyle-china/tea-and-chinese-way-life|title=Tea and the Chinese way of life |publisher=radio86.com |access-date=9 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110816121220/http://en.radio86.com/lifestyle-china/tea-and-chinese-way-life|archive-date=16 August 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> Tea is deeply woven into the history and culture of China. The beverage is considered one of the [[seven necessities]] of Chinese life, along with firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ketang.dict.cn/item/4e981f95acf0a3c9df000098 |title=Notes on Chinese Culture – Food and Drinks (08) – Chinese Tea|publisher=dict.cn|access-date=9 January 2012 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120804163552/http://ketang.dict.cn/item/4e981f95acf0a3c9df000098|archive-date=4 August 2012}}</ref> During the [[Spring and Autumn period]], Chinese tea was used for medicinal purposes and it was the period when the Chinese people first enjoyed the juice extracted from the tea leaves that they chewed.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}

Chinese tea culture refers to how tea is prepared as well as the occasions when people consume tea in China. Tea culture in China differs from that in European countries such as [[British tea culture|Britain]] and other Asian countries like [[Tea in Japan|Japan]] in preparation, taste, and the occasions when people consume tea. Even today, tea is consumed regularly, both at casual and formal occasions. In addition to being a popular beverage, tea is used in [[traditional Chinese medicine]], as well as in Chinese cuisine. [[Green tea]] is one of the main teas originating in China.