The Splendor of Verdure: Tea and the East Asian World of the Song and Yuan Dynasties

Abstract

Abstract Tea has played an important role throughout the entire East Asian world. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, due to differences in the target consumers and acceptance of tea, Chinese and Japanese tea cultures began to take different paths. The close relationship between tea and Goryeo politics propelled the flourishing development of Goryeo tea culture on the Korean Peninsula. The colorful landscape of tea culture during the Yuan dynasty illustrates the transformation of traditional Chinese tea culture from the Song to the Yuan, with an upper-class break and a lower-class continuation. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, there were great changes in the order of the East Asian world, where tea was not merely a beverage but carried historical changes and served as a spiritual symbol in the East Asian cultural world, reflecting historical transformations.