The compressed tea was replaced by the
dispersed tea in the Ming Dynasty. The procedure was also
simple. The tea can be soaked in hot water directly and then
ready to serve. The tea equipment was also much simpler than
the previous dynasties. However, it also became more
exquisite and fashionable. The technology of porcelain also
had a great jump in the Ming Dynasty. The design, color,
pattern, material and glaze also developed greatly. There
were many treasured tea containers in the Ming and Qing
Dynasty. The tea equipment in the Tang Dynasty was of
primitive simplicity; in the Song Dynasty the black was the
major color of the tea equipments, but in the Ming and Qing
Dynasty, the tea containers were diversified in any aspect.
In the Ming Dynasty, the major color of tea
equipment was white. The size tended to be small. In the
late Ming Dynasty, the ZiSha (purple sand pottery) was
created and came to be known as a big type of tea
container.
The invertor of the ZiSha pot was called
GongChun, some other versions said it was a monk of the
JinSha Temple who is a little earlier than Gongchun. There
were another three famous ZiSha makers in the Ming Dynasty:
Shi DaBin, Li ZhongFang and Xu YouQuan. In the Qing Dynasty,
more ZiSha makers contributed to the progression of ZiSha
technology such as Chen MingYuan, Hui MengChen, Chen
HongShou, Yang PengNian and Shao DaHeng. ZiSha pot has been
widly used in many tea ceremonies.
In the Qing Dynasty, the colored and
gold-gilded porcelain in GuangZhou and lacquer work in
FuZhou were also developed. In the Capital Beijing (also
called Jing Shi at that time), the characteristic GaiWan was
introduced to every corner. A whole set of GanWan includes a
lid, a cup and a tray. They also symbolize the sky, human
being and the earth. The inventor of GanWan was not
traceable. It was said that the creator was the daughter of
the Sichuan governor CuiNing in the Tang Dynasty. It was
popularized in the Qing Dynasty. Today it is still being
used, especially in Beijing and the Sichuan Province.
The tea equipment had become a valuable art
since the Ming Dynasty. Many families collected fine tea
containers and use them as a show off to their honored
guests.
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