茶和中國的茶文化（tea and the tea culture of china）
since i started my major in the tea culture of china, i have been deeply impressed by its sophistication and beauty. i would like to share some fascinating aspects of the tea culture of china.
in a country with the history of five thousand years, the chinese tea drinking habit dated back to the tang dynasty (618-907ad). it became a national tradition and led to development of a delicate tea drinking ritual. over the centuries, poets and artists in china wrote many marvelous masterpieces, in appreciation of tea and chinese people’s constant love of tea drinking .one of the best-known writers is lu yu, who was regarded as the “tea sage ” for he composed the first book on tea. in his classic book, he detailed his studies of tea, such as the origin of tea, tea tools, tea picking, tea cooking, tea ceremony and well-known areas where tea was grown. and the valuable knowledge he recorded has laid foundation for modern tea culture development.
based on ways in which tea leaves are processed, there are five distinct types of tea. they are as follow: the green tea, the black tea, the wulong tea, the compressed tea and the scented tea. among them, may foreigners are familiar with the green tea. the longjing tea, of the green type, has a reputation