Tea & the Chinese Wedding 茶与中式婚礼

Tea plays a significant part in the Chinese wedding ceremony for the Chinese people.

A tea tree cannot be transplanted from another adult tea tree; it only can be grow from a tea seed. Therefore, the Chinese people took tea to symbolize love, loyalty and the expectation of a happy married life.

It is difficult to trace backwhen tea actually became an important item in the Chinese dowries. The earliest written record of tea ceremonies is from the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). When the Tang princess Wencheng married the Tibetan emperor, Songtsän Gampo, in 641 AD, tea leaves was part of her dowry items.

During the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD), the Chinese tea-ceremony has been an indispensable part of the marriage process. Tea has been one of the essential item in the numerous betrothal gifts that the bride groom give to the bride family, be it weather you are rich or poor. Tea was also served to the guests on the wedding day as a beverage.

Since tea symbolizes people’s wishes for the love, loyal and a happy marriage, it continued to play a part in the institution of marriage during the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368 AD), Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 AD), and Qing (1644–1912 AD) Dynasty.

Till today the tradition of the tea ceremonies at Chinese weddings still remained, and is still highly valued.

The tea ceremony is one of the most significant events at the Chinese wedding. It’s called jing cha in Chinese, literally meaning, ‘to respectfully offer the tea’. It incorporates a very formal introduction of the bride and groom, and expresses respect to their families.

在华人的中式婚礼中，茶起着重要的作用。

要载种新的茶树不能从另一棵成年茶树接枝。 它只能从茶种子中慢慢的生长出来。 因此，中国人把茶的生长象征着爱情，忠诚和对幸福婚姻生活的期望。

如果要追溯茶何时真正成为中国嫁妆中的重要物品，最早的记录来自唐朝（公元618-907年）。 唐朝文成公主在公元641年与西藏皇帝宋赞·甘波（SongtsänGampo）结婚时，茶叶是她嫁妆的一部分。

在宋代（公元960-1279年），敬茶仪式一直是婚姻过程中不可或缺的一部分。 茶已成为新郎送给女方家庭的订婚礼品中不可缺少的物品之一，无论你是富贵还是贫穷。 婚礼当天主人还为客人提供茶作为饮料。

由于茶象征着人们对爱情，忠诚和幸福婚姻的渴望，它在元朝（公元1271–1368年），明朝（公元1368-1644年）和清朝（1644-1912年）的婚姻中扮演着重要的角色之一。

直到今天，在中式婚礼上的敬仪式统仍然被保留着，并且受到高度重视。

敬茶是中式婚礼上最重要的活动之一。 它的意义包含着新娘和新郎正式以夫妻的身份介绍给所有的亲朋戚友，并表达他们两人对家庭的长辈的尊重。