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Proper moments for drinking tea

Translated in Lin Yutang’s 1937 work The Importance of Living, from a classic Chinese treatise on tea, the Chasu

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Translated in Lin Yutang, 1937 work The Importance of Living (p 230), from a classic Chinese treatise on tea, the Chasu:

When one’s heart and hands are idle.

Tired after reading poetry.

When one’s thoughts are disturbed.

Listening to songs and ditties.

When a song is completed.

Shut up at one’s home on a holiday.

Playing the ch’in and looking over paintings.

Engaged in conversation deep at night.

Before a bright window and a clean desk.

With charming friends and slender concubines.

Returning from a visit with friends.

When the day is clear and the breeze is mild.

On a day of light showers.

In a painted boat near a small wooden bridge.

In a forest with tall bamboos.

In a pavilion overlooking lotus flowers on a summer day.

Having lighted incense in a small studio.

After a feast is over and the guests are gone.

When children are at school.

In a quiet, secluded temple.

Near famous springs and quaint rocks.