Zhu Quan And Guide Of Tea

Zhu Quan (1378-1448) was the 17th son of Zhu Yuanzhang—the founder of Ming Dynasty. Since very young Zhu Quan was brighter than others and was entitled as a prince at the age of 14. Like Emperor Huizong, Zhu Quan failed as a political ruler. His brother Zhu Di (1360-1424) house-arrested him for his throne and didn't release him until he succeeded in his coup and obtained the crown. After that Zhu Quan withdrew from society and devoted himself to Taoism in his later years, living a life free from worldly anxieties.

Zhu Quan's Guide of Tea comprises two parts—preface and body, body being subdivided into discussion of tea and catalogue of tea. Discussion of tea copes with tea's functions, introduces five names of tea, and comments on works by earlier scholars. Despite that Zhu Quan highly appraised Lu Yu's The Book of Tea and Cai Xiang's Record of Tea and considered them the only ones of value among its kind, he put forward different opinions from theirs. Zhu Quan didn't think much of tea cakes popular in Tang and Song dynasties, believing that the practice of "making leaves into powder, grease and cake" stripped tea leaves of their natural taste, whereas cooking loose tea catered for the inherent nature of tea. Zhu Quan criticized Lu Yu for running after "curiosity" too much. This was in accordance with the trend of loose tea replacing iced tea and cooking method supplanting frying method.
Catalogue of tea includes four ways of drinking tea—tea estimating, water estimating, water boiling and tea cooking, two ways of making tea—collecting and smoking with scent, and ten apparatus—stove, kitchen stove, mill, grain mill, etc. Zhu Quan made many interesting improvements on tea apparatus. Take teaspoon for instance. People of past dynasties used gold, people of Ming Dynasty used silver or copper, but Zhu Quan substituted them with coconut shell. He opposed Song people in using black- glaze porcelain, believing white porcelain could foil the brightness of tea and making it "clear and lovely." He also criticized the contemporary practice of making tea shelves with wood, thinking "mottled bamboo and black bamboo are purest." In short, Zhu Quan was against luxury, triviality and complexity, but was for natural and crude simplicity. He invented methods of making floral tea, suggesting plum blossom, sweet-scented osmanthus, and jasmine because they could add fragrance and loveliness to tea.

The best part in Record of Tea is Zhu Quan's definition of atmosphere for drinking tea. For Zhu Quan, tea helped people to be "undisturbed by worldly worries and uplifted from vulgarities," so it was "conducive to virtue cultivation." Therefore, tea should be drunk in tranquil locations, either among springs and rocks, or in pine or bamboo forests, either under a silvery moon on breezy night, or near a bright and clean window. While drinking tea, one should avoid vulgar talk, and should "study metaphysics and seek truth, purify thoughts and elevate mind."