The study on tea drinking culture in the Joseon Dynasty of Korea and the Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam

Abstract

Tea is not only good for health as well as the mind, and a spiritual drink that enlightens people, but also contributes to developing culture and art in each country. If the Goryeo Dynasty of Korea favored the culture of "whisked tea" (點茶法), using powdered tea as in the Song Dynasty, then in the Joseon Dynasty of Korea, the culture of "leaf tea" as in the Ming Dynasty ascended. During the Joseon Dynasty, the art of tea drinking declined and disappeared with the policy of “Supressing Buddhism Revering Confucianism” (崇儒抑佛). However, Zen tea masters and late Joseon Confucian scholars still drank tea and wrote poetry about tea, which revived the Joseon art of tea ceremony and helped it be passed to these days. It can be said that the Korean art of tea drinking today is inherited by Zen masters and Confucian scholars of the Joseon period. Compared to the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) - the last feudal dynasty of Korea lasting more than 500 years, Vietnam experienced many dynastic changes in history with the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1910) as the Vietnam's last feudal dynasty. With the idea of understanding the tea culture in the last feudal dynasties of the two countries, the author focuses on the tea culture of the late Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) of Korea and the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945) of Vietnam. The study focuses on analyzing and comparing the similarities and differences between the tea drinking cultures of the two dynasties from a historical perspective. This paper consists of the three main parts (1) an overview of the tea drinking culture of the Joseon period, (2) an overview of the Nguyen dynasty’s tea drinking culture, and (3) a comparison of the tea drinking culture through tea products and tea enjoyment space (tea room) of the two dynasties. This study uses the method of synthesizing and analyzing domestic and international scholars’ papers, the historical-cultural interdisciplinary research method, and the comparative method to clarify the three above- mentioned issues.