Scholars have already done some researches on the comparison between the two cultures. Wang Yalan made a comparative analysis on the comparison of Chinese tea culture and French coffee culture. It was very good that she analyzed them comparatively, but the deficiency was that the paper mainly talked about tea and coffee themselves and only discussed French coffee culture (39). Wang Jianping studied the differences of Chinese tea culture and Western coffee culture (137). However, these studies are not systematic and thorough enough.
This paper attempts to make a comparison between Chinese tea culture and Western coffee culture by specific analysis of their differences and developing tendency. It contains five chapters. The first chapter introduces the background and significance of the paper. The second chapter elaborates the origin, classification definition and characteristics of Chinese tea culture. The third chapter expounds the origin, classification, definition and characteristics of Western coffee culture. The fourth chapter analyzes Chinese tea culture and Western coffee culture, and points out the tendency of the mutual integration. The fifth chapter makes a conclusion of the paper. The paper is aimed to make people better understand Chinese tea culture and Western coffee culture, and thus help to promote Sino-Western cultural communication.
II. The Analysis of Chinese Tea Culture
Many people are interested in tea, but they don't understand the origin and classification of tea, not to mention the characteristics of tea culture. In order to make the tea culture better understand, this chapter will introduce it from the following several aspects.
2.1 The Origin of Tea
The origin of tea can be traced back to Zhou Dynasty, and it was developed in the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty. According to an old saying, “Using tea as a drink because of a man named Shen Nong, and it has became important since the period of Lu Zhougong.” To stop people from eating the poisonous plants, Shen Nong, who picked and tasted different kinds of wild plants to distinguish whether are toxic. They say he was poisoned seventy-two times. In course of time, he had a very deep poison and was nearly dead, then happened to be saved because of having some tender leaves. From that day on, it was called “cha”, meaning search in Chinese people’s eyes. Later it was renamed and tea came into being.