Hi there (Alex? Sasha?)

Just to point out your definition of 'Ming'. Your definition belongs to an
archaic meaning, MING in the past - that's during the Tang dysnasty (AD618)
& before. MING indicates more than being the leaves of C Sinensis, it
actually meant the flush of TU, and TU did not only meant C Sinensis, but a
collective term of leaves that makes a bitter brew. Both Lu Yu & Lu Yan Can
made it very clear in their works The Book of Tea, & Contiuning The Book of
Tea, respectively.

MING in present usuage does not indicate the flush, but the drink.

Lu Yu was probably the man who single handedly picked a handed to the world
the word CHA from the list of words that could have or not meant C Sinensis.
He first listed the few words that meant TEA as a beverage: CHA, TU, JIA,
SHE, CHUAN, MING etc, and gave each other specific meaning in relation to
tea. Then he picked out the word CHA and used it as a singular word
throughout the rest of the book, thereby acknowledging the status of the
word CHA as a PLANT, to indicate C Sinensis.

The confusion and debates often arise in Tea as a beverage. But that's
another story.


"Alex Chaihorsky" > wrote in message
. com...
> Mike,
>
> Excellent pages, great info.
> I would only dare to make one comment and one addition.
>
> Comment: I think that translating "cha" as "tea" while 100% right for
> general purposes, for people deeply interested in tea certain notes should
> be added. The full and precise meaning of "Cha" is "steeped drink".
Although
> 99% of the time it is made of C. sinensis, many other plants can be used.
> Translating it to English "tea" is still the best because in English "tea"
> can also be non-C. sinensis (Camomille tea, etc.).
>
> Addition: There is a Chinese character that means :leaves of C.
sinensis" -
> its ming2. It combines normal character ming - "name" with grass radical
> (same as on the top of "cha"). Unicode index U+8317.
>
> On your "shapes" pages you said that you are still looking for the pinyin
> for the character for Tibet mushroom puerh. It is "gu cha" and you
actually
> know that because its right there on your Rosetta page.
>
> Sasha.
>
>
> "Mike Petro" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Hi Joel,
> >
> > Look at my Puerh Shapes page http://www.pu-erh.net/puerhshapes.html
> > or my Puerh Rosetta Page http://www.pu-erh.net/rosetta.html for the
> > Chinese characters of these terms then look up the characters at
> > http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict for the
> > literal definitions.
> >
> >>I've done a little research, including asking a couple of Chinese
> >>people I know, but have been unable to determine this to my
> >>satisfaction. Can anyone confirm or correct the following?
> >>
> >>In both words, "cha" simply means tea.
> > Yes, that is accurate
> >>"bingcha" is tea compressed into a disc-like shape.
> > Yes, that is accurate
> >>"tuocha" is tea compressed into a bowl shape (bird's nest?)
> > Yes, that is accurate
> >>Any variety of tea can, theoretically, be packed as bingcha or tuocha,
> >>i.e. it's not limited to pu-erh. Are greens sometimes packed this way
> >>too?
> > Yes I have seen greens packed this way although it is uncommon.
> >
> >>Finally, does anyone know the *literal* translation of the two words?
> > pu'er = a town in China known for tea trading since ancient times
> > cha (as in puer tea) = cha2/tea/tea plant
> > bing (as in cake puer) = bing3 / round flat cake / cookie / cake /
> > pastry /
> > tuo (as in bowl shaped puer) = tuo2/river/streams/waterways
> > tuocha (2 symbols together) = "Bowl-shaped brick tea"
> > tuan (as in ball shaped puer) = tuan2/roll around with hand
> > fang (as in square puer) = fang1/a square/rectangle/a region; local
> > zhuan (as in brick puer) - zhuan1/ tile/ brick
> > jin = (I know it means small brick shape but I have not researched the
> > proper Chinese character)
> > san (as in loose leaf puer) = san4/scatter/ disperse/ break up
> >
> >
> >
> > Mike Petro
> > http://www.pu-erh.net
> > remove the "filter" in my email address to reply
>
>