The Continuity and Development Path of Tea Culture in the New Era

As an excellent traditional culture and world intangible cultural heritage, tea culture is full of profound connotations and depth, and has continuously innovated and optimized in the historical development process to this day. In the new era, tea culture is facing both opportunities and challenges, with new situations arising in terms of value connotation, dissemination form, and audience, while there are still many problems to be solved in terms of development models and group cognition. The exploration of how to inherit and develop tea culture should start from multiple aspects such as needs, connotations, and values, allowing tea culture to burst into its own vitality in the new era. The culture of Chinese tea fully formed and presented a robust development trend in the Tang Dynasty. In a cultural environment that was inclusive and mutually integrated, tea culture burst forth with unique energy and rich connotations. In terms of essence, tea culture refers to the abilities and qualities related to tea that are passed down among certain members of society^[1],it involves numerous aspects such as social etiquette, spiritual cultivation, health preservation, literature and art, and has been absorbed by many schools of thought in Chinese philosophy, presenting various characteristics of Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and others. In addition, tea culture, with its core of humanistic spirit, contains various elements of natural and social sciences. It presents a trend of integration and interaction with the economy, politics and other aspects, and is closely related to social development. As the productivity develops, the development of tea culture has gradually become diversified, from the initial sales of a single type of tea to the combination of different types of tea, and the matching sale of tea-making utensils. The combination of sophisticated tea-making techniques and exquisite tea-making tools fully reflects the artistic connotation of Chinese tea culture and lays a solid foundation for the later development of tea culture.^[2]Over the past century, tea culture has accumulated a rich connotation through historical changes, maintained vitality in the face of new conditions, and continuously developed and improved through constant innovation and practice.