Tea Culture of the Southern Song Dynasty Viewed through Menglianglu

Menglianglu is a collection of 20 books written by Wu Zimu on the prosperity of the Southern Song Dynasty, focusing on Lin An city. It explains the facilities and geography of Lin An, products, civilians, and customs, and provides a wealth of data that enables one to understand urban life and culture during the Southern Song period. Focusing on Menglianglu, this study attempted to examine the tea culture of the Southern Song period through the analysis of tea-related articles contained in this book. The development of commerce, industry, and cities during the Southern Song period brought about the development and diversification of popular culture. As the level of popular cultural consumption increased, tea consumption also expanded, which can be said to have brought about the daily routine of tea culture. To accommodate the tea consumption of various classes, various forms of tea commercial activities emerged, and the center of these was the tea house. In the tea house, people of various classes came and went to consume tea and engage in cultural activities. Tea houses devised various business and promotion strategies to attract customers. During this period, tea was already an indispensable daily necessity and was widely used in rituals and as gifts. The state actively controlled the distribution through a monopolistic system to secure profits from tea as financial income and operated a dedicated government office for this purpose.