Tea, Taste and Traders: Cultural Mediators and the Reinvention of China's National Beverage

茶、品味与商人：文化调解者与中国国饮的重塑

• 批准号: 2387356
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: School of Oriental and African Studies
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2387356
• 关键词: Tea; Taste; Traders; Cultural; Mediators

The proposed study intends to investigate the resurgence of a Chinese tea culture in mainland China. It will seek to understand how tea, which has become a symbol of Chinese culture, is traded in Zhejiang Province - an important tea production area. More specifically, the research will aim at exploring the relationship between tea's image as a cultural commodity and Chinese identity by looking at how these notions are being mediated through trade. Indeed, I hypothesise that this mediation is often operated in practice, by private actors involved in the local tea business such as teahouse owners, retailers and even producers, when they promote tea and tea culture to consumers. As they adopt strategies to market tea, businessmen draw on the beverage's historical associations with Chinese culture, thus both making its consumption a defining element of Chineseness and shaping its image as a commodity. For example, they may emphasise the Chinese nature of tea drinking, by preparing tea to their customers using sophisticated brewing methods identified as distinctively Chinese. Likewise, they might also 'teach' tea culture to their customers as they sell tea. All these strategies have an impact on imaginations of Chinese culture and tea's image as a cultural commodity. Furthermore, they are linked to the central government's attempt to redefine and promote a refined version of Chinese culture to its citizens and abroad. My project will also discuss this phenomenon, which will undoubtedly manifest itself through some of the public-private tea promotion ventures occurring in the field.In order to collect research data, I will conduct ethnographic fieldwork with tea traders and other types of 'mediators' working in the tea business, tracing commercial networks between a producing village and the provincial capital, Hangzhou.

这项拟议的研究旨在调查中国茶文化在中国大陆的复兴。它将试图了解茶，这已成为中国文化的象征，是如何在浙江省贸易-一个重要的茶叶生产区。更具体地说，本研究旨在通过研究这些概念如何通过贸易进行调解，探索茶作为文化商品的形象与中国身份之间的关系。事实上，我假设这种调解在实践中经常由参与当地茶生意的私人行为者，如茶馆老板，零售商甚至生产商，在向消费者推广茶和茶文化时进行。商人在推销茶叶时，利用茶与中国文化的历史渊源，使茶的消费成为中国特色的标志，并塑造了茶的商品形象。例如，他们可能会强调饮茶的中国特色，使用独特的中国复杂酿造方法为客户准备茶叶。同样，他们也可以在卖茶的时候向顾客“传授”茶文化。所有这些策略都影响了中国文化的想象和茶作为文化商品的形象。此外，它们与中央政府试图重新定义并向其公民和海外推广中国文化的精致版本有关。我的项目也将讨论这一现象，这无疑将通过一些公私茶叶推广企业在外地发生。为了收集研究数据，我将与茶叶贸易商和其他类型的“中介”在茶叶行业工作，跟踪生产村庄和省会杭州之间的商业网络进行民族志实地考察。