{"id":1385,"date":"2011-09-13T05:33:27","date_gmt":"2011-09-12T21:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/?p=1385"},"modified":"2012-03-06T00:28:30","modified_gmt":"2012-03-05T16:28:30","slug":"rong-tsang-tsai%e3%80%82the-way-of-tea-and-abstract-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/?p=1385","title":{"rendered":"The Way of Tea and Abstract Art-Rong-tsang Tsai"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u8336\u9053\u4e0e\u62bd\u8c61\u827a\u672fThe Way of Tea and Abstract Art<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u8521\u8363\u7ae0-Rong-tsang Tsai<\/strong><\/p>\n

2002.07\u300a\u8336\u827a\u300b\u6708\u520a\u793e\u8bbaPublished in \u201cTea Art\u201dmonthly magazine<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are no strangers to familiar sights and sounds around us; but when it comes to sights and sounds we are not familiar with, or are unsure of, we\u2019ll be at a lost.\u00a0 With the Way of Tea <\/em>1, there are more of the \u2018unfamiliar\u2019 than the \u2018familiar\u2019 if what we encounter in our daily lives is a guide.\u00a0 It could be easier for us to appreciate the Way of Tea if we have some knowledge of Abstract Art.<\/p>\n

The Way of Tea is a cultural behavior externalized by the act of tea brewing and drinking.\u00a0 This is not to say that tea brewing and drinking is not figurative enough; through tea brewing and drinking, aficionados express abstract concepts. However, both the \u2018senders\u2019 and \u2018recipients\u2019 of the conceptual messages must have an understanding of the abstract.<\/p>\n

It is not enough to only appreciate what is figurative as in representational art, such as a person, a tiger, a street, a church, a musical piece based upon birds chirping, or a familiar folk song. When a canvas shows nothing but lines and planes of colour, or a sculpture that looks like nothing we know of, or a musical rendition of simply sounds, that is abstract.\u00a0 And if these images and sounds reflect exactly what their creators want to express in terms of the aesthetics and concepts, they are what we call the \u2018Abstract Art\u2019.<\/p>\n

Understanding and application of the abstract in art must be taught.\u00a0 Many a time, during school outings, teachers will direct students\u2019 attention to the \u2018Lion Head Hill\u2019 (because it looks like a crouching lion), or the mountain ridge that resembles a Buddha lying down with the face of the \u2018Goddess of Mercy\u2019.\u00a0 Rocky outcrops not readily recognizable in terms of physical likeness are simply ignored.\u00a0 Musical appreciation is approached in a similar manner \u2013 we are encouraged to find out if the music sounds like children crying, or festivities and celebrations. With such training, people will consider a painting or a piece of music incomprehensible because they see or hear nothing familiar in it.\u00a0 This springs from a lack of understanding towards the \u2018abstract\u2019.\u00a0 If we are aware of the impact of the abstract on art, thoughts and the aesthetics, we will understand how much we have lost by not being able to appreciate the abstract \u2013 without us know, we are turning our life of vibrant colours into something monochromatic.<\/p>\n

This brings us back to tea, where exposure to abstract concepts, paintings, sculptures and pure music, among others, is a pre-requisite. Only by liberating ourselves from what is recognizable can we fully appreciate the colour, aroma, flavor, appearance and style of tea \u2013 and this will also make it possible for us to master the spirit of \u2018m<\/em>odesty and self-restraint<\/em> <\/em>2\u2019, \u2018purity and harmony<\/em> <\/em>3\u2019 and \u2018emptiness and solitude<\/em> <\/em>4\u2019.\u00a0 When the need arises, we will be able to externalize the ideas by way of tea brewing <\/em>5 and tea gatherings <\/em>6.<\/p>\n

\u4ee5\u4e0b\u4e3a\u6587\u5167\u4e4b\u7f16\u7801<\/em>Coding in the text:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u8336\u9053<\/em>1 the Way of Tea <\/em>1<\/p>\n

\u7cbe\u4fed<\/em>2 modesty and self-restraint <\/em>2<\/p>\n

\u6e05\u548c<\/em>3 purity and harmony<\/em> <\/em>3 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u7a7a\u5bc2<\/em>4 emptiness and solitude <\/em>4<\/p>\n

\u6ce1\u8336<\/em>5 tea brewing <\/em>5<\/p>\n

\u8336\u4f1a<\/em>6 tea gatherings <\/em>6.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Introduction\uff1a<\/strong><\/p>\n

The aesthetics, character and the state of mind created are not to be undermined in the understanding and enjoyment of tea; and yet, they are the hardest to express.\u00a0 Writings on the thoughts pertaining to tea, regardless of languages used, remain scarce.\u00a0\u00a0 We have attempted to express them in Chinese, with accompanying English translation(Translator:Katherine Yip.2010.01), to elaborate our thoughts as they are. What we want is to share the knowledge of tea alongside tea drinking.\u00a0 This is, in our opinion, an important contemporary task in promoting the tea culture (Coding in the text is for cross-referencing of the academic terms of tea). (2372)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u8336\u9053\u4e0e\u62bd\u8c61\u827a\u672fThe Way of Tea and Abstract Art \u8521\u8363\u7ae0-Rong-tsang Tsai 2002.07\u300a\u8336\u827a\u300b\u6708\u520a\u793e\u8bbaPublished in \u201cTea Art\u201dmonthly magazine We are no strangers to familiar sights and sounds around us; but when it comes to sights and sounds we are not familiar with, or are unsure of, we\u2019ll be at a lost.\u00a0 With the Way of Tea 1, there are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787,116,4],"tags":[801,800,708,783,784,397,785,18,786],"class_list":["post-1385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contemporaryteathinker-com-8-1-201001the-ideology-of-tea-","category-n-1-the-ideology-of-tea-chinese-english","category-n-chinese-foreign-languages","tag-aficionados","tag-drinking","tag-emptiness-and-solitude","tag-modesty-and-self-restraint","tag-purity-and-harmony","tag-tea-brewing","tag-tea-gatherings","tag-the-way-of-tea","tag-the-way-of-tea-and-abstract-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1385"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1388,"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1385\/revisions\/1388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}