Chapter VIII · The Producing Regions: Misreadings — In Jiangnan, teas of Ezhou, Yuanzhou, and Jizhou are pungent…
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The passage
“In Jiangnan, teas of Ezhou, Yuanzhou, and Jizhou are pungent in taste; those of Fuzhou, Jianzhou, Shaozhou, and Xiangzhou are excellent.”
Misreadings
The most common misreading of “In Jiangnan, teas of Ezhou, Yuanzhou, and Jizhou are pungent…” is to treat a Tang observation as a universal rule.
“Wild is better than garden” made sense in a particular landscape and market. It is not a law that every modern tea garden is inferior.
Ask instead: what was the observation responding to, and what part of it still holds?
Reading note
Read the passage once for the image, once for the judgment, and once for the practice it implies.
Practice
- Name one thing the passage asks you to notice.
- Compare it with a tea you know.
- Keep the question open.