Seven necessities

Seven necessities
Traditional Chinese 開門七件事：柴米油鹽醬醋茶
Simplified Chinese 开门七件事：柴米油盐酱醋茶

The seven necessities (Chinese: 開門七件事 pinyin: kai men qi jian shi) stem from the phrase "Firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea are the seven necessities to begin a day". The items were known as early as the Song dynasty travel book, Dreams of the Former Capital,[1]

The Chinese phrase "seven necessities" literally means "開open 門 door 七seven 件事items" when translated, which is an old Chinese saying. They include firewood (柴 chái), rice (米 mĭ), oil (油 yóu), salt (鹽yán), sauce (醬 jiàng), vinegar (醋 cù), tea (茶 chá). The seven necessities were made popular in modern tea culture due to the fact the beverage was mentioned as one of the seven necessities of Chinese life.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Huang (Huang Xingzong), H.T. (2000). Fermentations and Food Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. External link in |title= (help) p. 394.
  2. ↑ "Chinese Tea Culture, Tea Drinking Custom, Tea Tasting, Yum Cha". Travel China Guide. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
  • Chinese Culture Institute
  • "Notes on Chinese Culture- Food and Drinks (08) – Chinese Tea". dict.cn. Archived from the original on August 4, 2012. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
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