The experience of studying tea culture by Russian missionaries in Beijing in the 19th century

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study and perception of tea and the tea culture of China by Russian missionaries and students of the Orthodox Spiritual Mission, who served in Beijing in the 19th century. Even in the large-scale works of Soviet and Russian orientalists’ little attention is paid to the issue of personal perception of the achievements of Chinese culture by missionaries. The author studied materials, including travel records, ethnographic notes and medical works of Russian missionaries of the 19th century: some of the above were published during the lifetime of the researchers, while some settled in the archives of Kazan, St. Petersburg and Moscow. The study found that tea culture at the beginning of the 19th century. has not yet taken root in the Russian Empire, and the question of the benefits of drinking tea as a remedy and as an everyday drink remained controversial both among doctors and orientalist missionaries. This thesis is also confirmed by the personal records of missionaries, doctors and students at the Beijing Spiritual Mission. However, works of a later time include a detailed study of tea culture in different regions of China, and there are also references to the tea trade in Russia and abroad, which confirms the thesis about the initial lack of data on tea and tea culture in China. Russian researchers, as well as the fact that half a century later, tea culture has become stronger not only in China, but also abroad, including in the Russian Empire.