Abstract:China is the birthplace and the cradle of tea. At the very beginning, tea was used and widespread as a herb. After it integrated with Chinese traditional culture, tea culture of Chinese characteristic came into being. And with the spread of Chinese tea into the western world in the 16th century, another new tea culture of typical western characteristic formed.

This paper is made up of four chapters. Chapter One concentrates on the background and significance of this paper, and also makes a brief introduction to tea culture. Chapter Two explores the literature review. Chapter Three is the core part of the paper, which takes black tea as an example, and mainly analyzes the differences of Sino-western tea culture from two aspects: the material aspect and the spiritual aspect. Chapter Four, based on the comparison made in Chapter Three, draws a conclusion of the reasons that lead to the differences of Sino-western tea culture. This paper aims at enabling more people to know more about the differences in Sino-western tea culture and enhancing the mutual understanding of tea culture, for the sake of improving the cross-cultural communication between China and western countries.

Key words:  tea culture  Sino-western  comparison

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 Background-1

1.2 Significance-1

Chapter Two Literature Review-2

2.1 General Introduction to Tea Culture-2

2.2 Previous Studies on Tea Culture-3

Chapter Three Comparative Analysis of Black Tea in China and Western Countries-5

3.1 Comparative Analysis from Material Aspect-5

3.1.1 Tea Wares-5

3.1.2 Tea Snacks-6

3.1.3 Environment of Tea Drinking-7

3.2 Comparative Analysis from Spiritual Aspect-8

3.2.1 Unity and Individuality-8

3.2.2 Harmony and Honor-9

Chapter Four Conclusion-11

References-12