Chapter II · The Implements: Vessels and fire — The chuan string is made in Jiangdong and Huainan from…
Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
The passage
“The chuan string is made in Jiangdong and Huainan from split bamboo, and in Bashan and the gorges from twisted mulberry-bark. In Jiangdong one jin is a large string, half a jin a medium, and four or five liang a small one.”
Vessels and fire
The passage points toward vessels and fire: “The chuan string is made in Jiangdong and Huainan from…” is also a question of what the tea is made in.
Material, thickness, shape, and heat change the water and the extraction. A vessel is a tool for controlling time.
Old implements are not automatically better. Understanding them helps us see what a modern gaiwan or teapot is actually doing.
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.