
Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Thesis
The key words in “晋王濛好茶人至辄命饮之士大夫皆患之每欲往候必” are not ornament. They mark where Tang tea names, vessels and provenance meet.
Text
“Wang Meng of Jin loved tea, and pressed it on every visitor; the officials dreaded it, and whenever they meant to call they would say, ‘Today we must suffer the water-calamity.’”
Context
王濛:东晋大臣,嗜茶。水厄:被水害,指被迫饮茶。
Evidence
- Collation: 各本一致。"水厄"典出此,为茶史上著名的掌故。
- Existing readings: 吴觉农指出"水厄"一典可见晋代饮茶尚未普及:主人热情以茶待客,客人却视茶为"灾"——这恰是茶由小众走向大众的历史缩影。
Analysis
The annotation matters less as philology than as a distinction between name and thing. 各本一致。"水厄"典出此,为茶史上著名的掌故。 Once names settle, picking, grading and trade can share a language.
Conclusion
The section does not give a universal rule. It demonstrates a method: read the text, the annotation and the Tang context together before making a modern claim.
Source: The Classic of Tea, Chapter VII · The History, section 8; the original is in the public domain.
Ask what period this person lived in.