從一杯茶，了解中國
——對(duì)話作家、茶人、學(xué)者王旭烽

文 /王 毓

又見西湖秋意濃，金燦燦的銀杏占領(lǐng)了杭城的眾多道路。藏在銀杏背后的中國茶謠館從容坐落著，風(fēng)韻雍容。在這里，我見到了作家、茶人、學(xué)者王旭烽。

一條圍巾，短發(fā)微漾著柔軟的波紋，嘴角上一彎淺淺的弧線，眼神遠(yuǎn)望。與我在她眾多著作勒口上看到的形象一模一樣。

22年前，也是秋天的這個(gè)時(shí)候，王旭烽以“茶人三部曲”的前兩部《南方有嘉木》和《不夜之侯》榮獲了中國長(zhǎng)篇小說最高獎(jiǎng)—第五屆茅盾文學(xué)獎(jiǎng)。她以“黑馬”的姿態(tài)，打破了該獎(jiǎng)自從設(shè)立以來沒有茅盾家鄉(xiāng)浙江的作家獲獎(jiǎng)的歷史。

沉潛26年，她的新作《望江南》今年和讀者見面了。十個(gè)月來，已連印十六次，暢銷超過二十萬本。該書繼承了“茶人三部曲”杭城史影和茶人精神交相輝映出的厚重史詩品格，嵌合了“三部曲”中近20年的敘事斷層。由此，從1863年太平天國撤出杭州城到1998年由全世界茶人捐資修建的杭州國際和平館揭幕，杭姓茶葉家族六代人在歷史浪潮中的恒常生活落下了帷幕。中國第一部茶文化長(zhǎng)篇史詩小說也完成了連貫的百年敘述。作家渴望搭建一個(gè)“紙上杭州”的心愿更是得以圓滿。

“紙上杭州”天生錦繡

王旭烽筆下角色的生活軌跡，足以連綴杭城的文化地理。這使一些驢友把她的書當(dāng)作杭州旅行秘籍。“西湖，有茶、有水、有舟，既是詩意的棲居地，也通向詩和遠(yuǎn)方。這里的生活給了我無窮無盡的創(chuàng)作元素?！蓖跣穹檎劦降赜?qū)ψ约鹤髌返挠绊憰r(shí)如是說。1977年，在恢復(fù)高考的第一年，她考入了杭州大學(xué)歷史系。從此，就一直在西湖邊求學(xué)、工作、成家。依托這里，她還創(chuàng)作了小說《斜陽溫柔》《愛情西湖》和散文集《走讀西湖》等。

王旭烽憑借作品“茶人三部曲”榮獲茅盾文學(xué)獎(jiǎng)。Wang Xufeng won the Mao Dun Literature Prize for her “Trilogy of Tea People”.

“江南，天生就是一方錦繡山河！視覺上，一年四季我們總能看到和諧的美景，湖光山色，一樹一景，鶯飛蝶舞。瀕臨東海，西南丘陵起伏，江河湖水星羅棋布，再加上溫和的氣候，使這里物產(chǎn)豐富，山珍海味和鮮果時(shí)蔬源源不斷地出現(xiàn)在餐桌上，做工也考究，江南人是有口福的。而且，杭州底蘊(yùn)深厚，是五代吳越國和南宋王朝兩代故都，并誕生了良渚文化、跨湖橋文化。”博學(xué)善談的她遞給我一本還未上架的歷史隨筆《吳越王》，書里談的是吳越國三代五王綿延的家國史錄。

“這里的人更是勤勞、智慧、審時(shí)度勢(shì)。以西湖為例，它其實(shí)是一個(gè)人工湖，正是因?yàn)橐淮说呐Ψe累才成就了西湖明珠。無論是洪水，還是戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)，這片土地上的人沒有經(jīng)歷過重大災(zāi)難，把文明保留了下來。江南人是溫和的改革派。正是那種循序漸進(jìn)的文明成就了江南?！蔽幕浅鞘凶罡吆妥罱K的價(jià)值，而文明的生活是人們理想的生活。這也是浙江打造“詩畫江南、活力浙江”的初心和目標(biāo)。

“一片樹葉”品飲中華文明

王旭烽一度更看重的身份是茶人，她在文章中寫到，“雖然并未曾停止創(chuàng)作，但多年來我的心已經(jīng)完全沉浸在茶之中了”。

1988年8月，杭州市園文局籌建中國茶葉博物館，她進(jìn)入茶博館資料室工作，開始天天與茶葉、茶具、茶書、茶人打交道?！安枞巳壳本褪峭跣穹檫M(jìn)入這兒工作不久后開始寫的。等到2013年重新啟動(dòng)寫《望江南》的時(shí)候，她已經(jīng)在浙江農(nóng)林大學(xué)當(dāng)了七年的茶文化教授。八年后，《望江南》交稿時(shí)，他們的茶學(xué)和茶文化學(xué)院真正成為二級(jí)學(xué)校。于她而言，這是雙喜臨門：“這是國內(nèi)外唯一的茶學(xué)和茶文化學(xué)院，這是我們中華民族的瑰寶??！”她把給學(xué)生上《茶文學(xué)通論》期間的講義提煉揉粹，結(jié)成了《茶文化通論 ：品飲中國》一書，2020年由浙江大學(xué)出版社出版。

品飲中國，茶既是物質(zhì)的，又是精神的。開門七件事，柴米油鹽醬醋茶；文人七件寶，琴棋書畫詩酒茶。中國人會(huì)友、聯(lián)誼、示禮、倡廉、表德、養(yǎng)性、祭祀、嫁娶、獻(xiàn)藝、飲食等，都離不開茶。她總結(jié)說：“茶融合了中國的習(xí)俗、制度、美學(xué)和哲思，已經(jīng)成為一個(gè)普適性文化元素?！彼蛷埵靠?、沈才洪主編的《中國茶酒文化》一書中就詳細(xì)描述了茶文化融合進(jìn)中國人的宗教文化，滲透進(jìn)生活體制，并和文化藝術(shù)結(jié)緣。所以，王旭烽有一個(gè)口號(hào)：“您想了解中國文化嗎？就從一杯茶開始吧?！?/p>

采訪當(dāng)天，安吉白茶研究會(huì)一行人也來拜訪王旭烽，向她請(qǐng)教白茶產(chǎn)業(yè)發(fā)展的建議。據(jù)中國茶葉生產(chǎn)流通協(xié)會(huì)統(tǒng)計(jì)，2021年，全國茶園面積4896.09萬畝，茶葉產(chǎn)量306.32萬噸。如何增值，是大家共同面臨的發(fā)展問題。在浙江，還是共同富裕具體實(shí)現(xiàn)的問題。王旭烽回答道，文化是產(chǎn)業(yè)發(fā)展的根底，也是向上發(fā)展的空間，要和茶農(nóng)等人的“利”字掛鉤，實(shí)現(xiàn)“文化”“科技”“茶葉”跨界創(chuàng)收，讓茶產(chǎn)品重歸百姓生活的角角落落。

茶為民用，茶為民生。這不僅是建議，也是她自己正在踐行的道路。中國茶謠館不僅是竹茶文化研究所、漢語國際推廣茶文化傳播基地杭州站，也是浙江農(nóng)林大學(xué)茶文化學(xué)院大學(xué)生教學(xué)實(shí)踐基地，大學(xué)生團(tuán)隊(duì)在此創(chuàng)業(yè)。操作吧臺(tái)后面的墻上，按綠茶、紅茶、烏龍茶等七大茶類排列著創(chuàng)意茶飲和特色茶點(diǎn)、茶餐。這里平時(shí)還有茶藝培訓(xùn)、茶文化講座和雅集。王旭烽還提出了微茶莊園概念，這是以家庭為經(jīng)濟(jì)單位的小規(guī)模茶莊園，集結(jié)了食宿、休閑、品飲、度假、勞作等功能，并已在桐廬瑤溪等地開館迎客。她還趁在各地講學(xué)之機(jī)，考察茶文化游學(xué)走讀線路，計(jì)劃在全國設(shè)計(jì)九條茶路。

王旭烽在《中國茶酒文化》新書發(fā)布暨茶酒研討會(huì)上發(fā)言。Wang Xufeng speaks during the launch of the book Tea and Liquor Culture in China.

由王旭烽小說《愛情西湖》改編的電影《柳浪聞鶯》上映。The Chanting Willows is a movie adapted from Wang Xufeng’s novel Love by West Lake: Ten Love Stories.

“一片樹葉”走向世界

在所有作品中，王旭烽最喜歡的是由她撰稿的六集紀(jì)錄片《茶，一片樹葉的故事》。這是中國首部全面探尋世界茶文化的紀(jì)錄片，一共拍攝了三年，走訪了中國、日本、格魯吉亞、英國、肯尼亞等八個(gè)“茶國”，翻越了三十多座著名的茶山，采訪了一百二十多位茶人。云南布朗族人蘇國文謹(jǐn)遵父親遺囑，將茶文化和民族歷史緊密融合在一起；意大利人加博列拉·波尼諾千里來華，輾轉(zhuǎn)北京、杭州，只為尋味最好的龍井；日本宮城美惠子收留殘障孩子，傳授他們茶道本領(lǐng)……這一片小嫩葉是如何從田間甘苦成為座上佳品，如何滋養(yǎng)一方水土，如何聯(lián)絡(luò)東西、溝通古今，都可以在這趟全球“茶文化”之旅中找到一份答案。

該片在央視一套播出后，廣受歡迎，豆瓣評(píng)分8.7分，僅在中國年輕受眾高度聚集的文化社區(qū)和視頻網(wǎng)站B站上就有七十八萬多的播放量。該片被譯成英語、法語、西班牙語、阿拉伯語等多種版本，向全世界傳播茶文化。2018年2月，中國將紀(jì)錄片《茶，一片樹葉的故事》作為國禮贈(zèng)送給了當(dāng)時(shí)的英國首相特雷莎。

茶有包容之心。王旭烽在解說中寫到，“茶是包容的，在不同國度、不同種族、不同文化的人手中，茶，呈現(xiàn)了無窮無盡的可能性”。茶性也是包容的。既可以清飲，也可以調(diào)飲，是僅次于水的世界第二大飲品。茶道也是包容的，在茶葉的故鄉(xiāng)中國，它與儒教、道教、佛教貫通，融匯了中華文明的精華：以中庸之道秉持和諧之境，以道法自然順應(yīng)養(yǎng)生之式，以禪茶一味通達(dá)平常之心。放眼世界，茶道在五大洲落地生根，雅俗共賞，超越了信仰、文化、民族、窮富、性別的隔閡。茶人更是包容的。王旭烽的學(xué)生指著茶謠館墻上茶圣陸羽的掛像說：“從他開始，茶人的身邊既是名儒顯貴，也是普通百姓，像王旭烽老師筆下的杭嘉和一樣。我們茶人嘴邊常掛的一句話就是‘天下茶人是一家’！”

“家和萬事興?！币咔橹?，王旭烽的腳步留在了英國、塞爾維亞等很多國家，走的路愈長(zhǎng)愈遠(yuǎn)，愈感嘆和平的珍貴。她邊倒茶邊說，只要一杯茶的時(shí)間，便可以凝神靜氣，收獲平和的心情，進(jìn)而減少人與人之間的沖突。茶有平和之美?！爸袊璧溃匆浴泻汀癁楹诵牡年P(guān)于茶的人文精神及相應(yīng)的教化規(guī)范?！痹谥鳌恫栉幕ㄕ摗分兴@樣說道：“茶與人類和平、茶與社會(huì)和諧、茶與人性自我之間，就如此構(gòu)成深刻的本質(zhì)關(guān)系?！?/p>

近年來，“茶敘外交”在G20杭州峰會(huì)、廈門金磚國家會(huì)晤等場(chǎng)合頻頻出鏡。中國是茶的故鄉(xiāng)，全球有七十多個(gè)國家引入了中國的茶籽、茶樹，一百六十多個(gè)國家飲茶，喝茶的人口占全球三分之二。所以，茶不僅是中國味道，更是世界味道。2019年12月，聯(lián)合國大會(huì)將5月21日定為“國際茶日”，旨在宣傳推廣茶產(chǎn)業(yè)的社會(huì)經(jīng)濟(jì)意義。聯(lián)合國糧農(nóng)組織總干事屈冬玉曾在會(huì)上說到：“贊頌茶就是贊頌和平、文化與希望?！?/p>

茶本是一片綠葉，當(dāng)與人類邂逅之后，滲入生活的各個(gè)地方。茶文化中的濟(jì)生、愛生、共生，象征著中國人關(guān)于生活的最高智慧，更可以作為人類命運(yùn)共同體的愿景和瞻望。

我們離開前，王旭烽的幾位學(xué)生站在中國茶謠館門口，朝著天空喊出了他們的愿望：“把世界鋪成一張茶席，請(qǐng)全人類在此共飲！”

鏈接：

王旭烽，第五屆茅盾文學(xué)獎(jiǎng)得主，四次獲中宣部“五個(gè)一工程”獎(jiǎng)，國家一級(jí)作家,浙江省文史館館員。浙江農(nóng)林大學(xué)教授、茶文化學(xué)科帶頭人，茶學(xué)與茶文化學(xué)院名譽(yù)院長(zhǎng)，中國國際茶文化研究會(huì)理事，漢語國際推廣茶文化傳播基地主任，浙江省茶文化研究會(huì)副會(huì)長(zhǎng)。全國宣傳文化系統(tǒng)首批“四個(gè)一批”人才，國務(wù)院特殊津貼獲得者,全國五一勞動(dòng)獎(jiǎng)?wù)芦@得者。1980年開始進(jìn)行文學(xué)創(chuàng)作，迄今共發(fā)表1000多萬字，作品涵蓋小說、散文、戲曲、話劇、隨筆等。

1.王旭烽作品《望江南》，由浙江文藝出版社出版。 2.王旭烽撰稿的紀(jì)錄片《茶，一片樹葉的故事》登陸央視。 3.王旭烽撰稿的央視紀(jì)錄片《茶，一片樹葉的故事》中的影像畫面。1.Memories of Jiangnan, written by Wang Xufeng and published by Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House. 2.The six-part docuseries Tea: Story of the Leaf, the script of which was written by Wang Xufeng, was aired by CCTV. 3.A scene from the six-part docuseries Tea: Story of the Leaf, the script of which was written by Wang Xufeng.

Understanding China Through a Cup of Tea

By Wang Yu

The lotus flowers in the West Lake were blooming red and the golden ginkgo trees took over many roads in Hangzhou. Hidden behind the ginkgo trees was a tea house that sits gracefully, full of charm. Here, I met the writer, tea master, and scholar Wang Xufeng.

Wearing a scarf, with short hair slightly rippling with soft waves and a faint smile at the corner of her mouth, her gaze distant. She looked exactly like the image I saw on the covers of her numerous works.

Some 22 years ago, also at this time in the fall, Wang won China’s highest literary award — the 5th Mao Dun Prize for Literature — for her novellas, the first two parts of her“Trilogy of Tea People”. Emerging as a dark horse, she broke history since the establishment of the award that no writers from Zhejiang, Mao Dun’s hometown, had won.

After 26 years, her new work met with readers this year.In the past ten months, it has been printed 16 times and sold more than 200,000 copies. The book inherits the heavy epic style reflected in her “Trilogy of Tea People” and integrates the narrative discontinuity of nearly 20 years in the trilogy. After this book was published, the historical story of the six generations of the Hang family, from the withdrawal during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom from Hangzhou city in 1863 to the opening of the Hangzhou International Peace Exhibition Hall funded by tea people worldwide in 1998, has come to an end. China’s first epic novel of tea culture has also completed a consistent hundred-year narrative. And the writer’s desire to build a “Hangzhou on paper”has also been fulfilled.

2022年10月，王旭烽為非遺傳承人講授《三茶統(tǒng)籌下的微茶莊園》。Wang Xufeng delivered lectures on tea culture at a workshop for inheritors of intangible cultural heritage in October 2022.

The life trajectories of the characters in Wang’s books are enough to connect the cultural geography of Hangzhou. This has led some tourists to treat her book as a secret guide to Hangzhou.

“The West Lake, with its tea, water, and boats, is a poetic habitat that also accommodates wild dreams. Life here has given me endless creative elements,” said Wang when talking about how her works have been influenced by the city of Hangzhou. In 1977, the first year of resuming the college entrance examination, she entered the history department of Hangzhou University. Since then, she has stayed here by the West Lake, studying, working and living.

“Jiangnanwas born to be such a piece of beautiful land with mountains and rivers. All year round we can always see the harmonious beauty of the landscape. Bordered by the East China Sea, and the rolling hills of the southwest, it also has a mild climate, making it a land of abundance. On the table, there are constantly seafood, meat, seasonal vegetables, and fresh fruits …very exquisitely cooked as well. Jiangnan people are a lucky group of eaters. Moreover, Hangzhou has a deep historical heritage, being the former capital of the Wuyue State of the Five Dynasties and the Southern Song dynasty for two generations, and is also home to the Liangzhu and Kuahuqiao cultures,” Wang explained.

“The people here are even more diligent, wise and flexible.Take the West Lake as an example, it is actually an artificial lake,and it is the result of generations’ collective efforts. Whether caught in floods or wars, the people of this land have never failed to preserve local civilization. Jiangnan people are mild reformers. It is that kind of step-by-step philosophy that has shaped Jiangnan into the way it is.” Culture is the highest and ultimate value of the city,and civilized life is what people are after. This is also the original intention and goal to build a “picturesque and dynamic Zhejiang”.

Wang Xufeng values her identity as a tea expert more. She once wrote in an article that “although I haven’t stopped writing,over the years my heart has been completely drenched in tea”.

In August 1988, when the then Hangzhou Garden Bureau was preparing for the establishment of the China National Tea Museum, Wang began to work at the museum’s information room, dealing with tea sets, tea books, and tea people every day. The “Trilogy of Tea People” was written shortly after she started working here. By the time she restarted writingMemories of Jiangnanin 2013, she had been a professor of tea culture at Zhejiang A&F University for seven years. Eight years later,when she finished the manuscript ofMemories of Jiangnan, the university’s College of Tea Science and Tea Culture became a secondary school. To her, this was double happiness: “This is the only college of tea science and tea culture at home and abroad,which is the treasure of our nation!” She compiled her lecture notes for the course on the general theory of tea literature into a book titled Essays of Tea Culture, which was published by Zhejiang University Press in 2020.

王旭烽。Wang Xufeng.

Chinese tea is both physical and spiritual. “Tea has become a universal cultural element by integrating Chinese customs,institutions, aesthetics and philosophies,” she concluded. The bookEssays of Tea Culture, edited by herself, Zhang Shikang and Shen Caihong, describes in detail how tea culture has fused into Chinese religious culture, penetrated the institutions of life, and tied up with culture and art. Therefore, Wang has come up with a slogan:“Do you want to understand Chinese culture? Just start with a cup of tea.”

“I did not drink tea, it was tea that drank me,” Wang once wrote down this sentence. She was determined to spend her life doing one thing — to spread tea culture.

王旭烽參加微茶莊開館儀式。Wang Xufeng attended the unveiling of a tea manor.

On the day of the interview, a group of researchers from the Anji White Tea Research Association also came to visit Wang, to ask her advice on the development of the white tea industry. According to the China Tea Production and Circulation Association, in 2021, the national tea garden area was 48,960,900mu, and the tea output was 3,063,200 tons. How to increase value is a development issue faced by everyone. In Zhejiang, it is also a specific item of common prosperity. Wang answered that culture is the foundation of industrial development and provides the space for upward development. According to her, we need to link the“benefit” of tea farmers and others to achieve cross-border creation of income from “culture”, “technology”, and “tea”, and make tea products return to every corner of people’s lives.

Tea is for the people, tea is for people’s lives. This is not only a suggestion but also a path that Wang Xufeng herself is practicing.Her tea house is not only a bamboo tea culture research institute,an International Tea Culture Base, but also a teaching and practice base for college students in the College of Tea Science and Tea Culture of Zhejiang A&F University, where college students started their own businesses. Behind the bar counter, creative tea drinks and special tea snacks, arranged according to the seven categories of tea, such as green tea, red tea, and oolong tea, are offered to guests. There are also tea art training, tea culture lectures and elegant gatherings. Wang also proposed the concept of a micro tea manor, which is a small-scale tea manor run by families as the smallest unit. It combines functions such as accommodation,leisure, tea-drinking and farm work, and has already opened in Yaoxi, Wenzhou and other places to welcome guests. She also takes the opportunity to lecture in various places to visit tea culture study routes and plans to design nine tea routes nationwide.

Among all her works, Wang’s favorite is the six-episode documentaryTea: Story of the Leaf. This docuseries shows China’s first comprehensive exploration of the world’s tea culture, with a total of three years of filming. The crew visited China, Japan,Georgia, Britain, Kenya, and other eight “tea countries”, covered over 30 famous tea mountains, and interviewed more than 120 tea people.

After its broadcast on CCTV, it was widely popular. It has also been translated in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic to spread tea culture around the world. In February 2018, this documentary was even presented to the then British Prime Minister Theresa May as a national gift.

In recent years, “tea diplomacy” has frequently appeared,including in the Hangzhou G20 summit, Xiamen BRICS meeting, and other occasions. China is the home of tea: more than 70 countries around the world have introduced Chinese tea seeds, and tea trees; people in more than 160 countries drink tea,making the tea-drinking population account for two-thirds of the world. Therefore, tea is not only a Chinese flavor, but also a world flavor. In December 2019, the United Nations General Assembly designated May 21 as “International Tea Day” to promote the socio-economic significance of the tea industry. The directorgeneral of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Qu Dongyu, said on the occasion: “To celebrate tea is to celebrate peace, culture and hope.”

Tea was originally a green leaf, but after meeting with humans, it has penetrated various aspects of life. The concept of rescuing, loving, and coexisting in tea culture symbolizes the highest wisdom of the Chinese people about life, and can also serve as a vision and outlook for the common destiny of humanity.Before leaving, several of Wang’s students stood at the entrance of the tea house and shouted their wish to the sky: “Spread the world into a tea mat and invite all humanity to drink together here!”

Wang Xufeng, winner of the 5th Mao Dun Literature Prize,four-time recipient of the “Five One Project” award, writer and historian at the Zhejiang Provincial Museum. She is a professor at Zhejiang A&F University, the leader of the tea culture discipline,the honorary dean of the university’s College of Tea Science and Tea Culture, the director of the China International Tea Culture Research Association, the director of the Chinese International Tea Culture Base, and the vice president of the Zhejiang Tea Culture Research Association. She is one of the first “Four Ones” talent and a recipient of special allowances from the State Council and the May Day Labor Medal. She has been engaged in literary creation since 1980 and has published more than 10 million words to date, covering novels, essays, plays, dramas, and sketches.