Having good tea but not knowing how to use it is like wasting the efforts of those who have made good tea. Tea connoisseurs often say that “the first is water, the second is the tea, the third is the brewing method, and the fourth is the teapot”. Tea is only delicious using pure water and proper brewing. As for Mr Mong Dong Vu, it must be “the first is the teapot, the second is the tea” a good teapot is not only an essential factor in enjoying the quality of the tea but moreover, through the teapot also shows a clear understand the tea drinking culture of the Vietnamese people.
From “first teapot, second tea…”
The ancient Vietnamese, from the ordinary people to the humble people, the sage kings, the honest mandarins, or the actual cultivators… considered enjoying tea as a habit, an elegant pleasure, a spiritual practice… And tea enjoyment by Vietnamese people has its style, which has become a cultural feature of thousands of generations. However, in the past, only a few people have gone into deep research and admitted to having Vietnamese tea culture.
I was born in the land of “First tea” in Thai Nguyen and an “addict” to tea, Mr Mong Dong Vu – former Director of the Provincial Cultural Center, a person who is quite famous in tea promotion and honouring activities. Thai Nguyen – realizes: Drinking tea is a habit, and according to taste, in the world, to prove which country’s tea is the best or better, or the same is very difficult because it is a relative concept according to the perception of the drinker. But at the tea table, an indispensable item in the art of tea making, the essential thing of a tea tool is the teapot. And it is the most apparent manifestation of tea culture. Therefore, to prove the existence of tea culture, Mr Mong Dong Vu started collecting teapots in the late 80s.
The small teapot has a simple shape but is quite artistic.
In 2006, at Lam Dong Tea Culture Festival held in Da Lat, Mr Mong Dong Vu displayed and announced his collection of teapots. This collection surprised many tea researchers, collectors and connoisseurs of pottery and porcelain. And starting from here, Mr Vu’s collection of teapots is one of the important historical artefacts, proving the long-term existence of Vietnamese tea culture.
Indeed, when seeing that collection with their own eyes, everyone must be conquered by the lovely teapots of all sizes and designs. Each kettle, depending on its use situation, is unique. The shape of the teapot includes the lid, the body, the mouth of the teapot, and the spout, and the warm textures create a unique whole. This is what Mr Vu and collectors of antique porcelain and pottery have also realized; the workers’ most subtle, sophisticated and meticulous work in each ancient pottery kiln is probably through making teapots.
The person who keeps 300 Vietnamese teapots in Thai Nguyen.
History proves Vietnamese ceramics and porcelain have a very long account (about 4000 years). They started to produce pottery and made daily life items in each old pottery kiln. In addition to teapots, potters make other items such as vases, lime pots, cups, plates, etc. But these objects also have only a few styles and simple shapes. Only the teapot is exceptionally diverse with all sizes, colours, textures, and patterns… And this uniqueness makes no other type of ceramic and porcelain items can match.
The works of the ancient potter were handmade, hand painted and fired in artisan kilns, so each finished teapot is different. Even a craftsman makes a teapot, but when it is heated through the fire, the colour pattern of each can be different. Some are “fired” with extraordinary shapes and colours. Sometimes, in addition to being a tool, a teapot is a precious gift to give to relatives, close friends, and benefactors. Under the talented hands, the craftsman has breathed the soul into those kettles most thoughtfully and carefully to send a message and a cherished sentiment to the recipient.
Over 30 years of collecting, Mr Mong Dong Vu has more than 300 teapots of all sizes, shapes and ages, all kinds of antique teapots, and old teapots with many different ceramic lines such as Chu Dau and Mong Cai ceramics. , Huong Canh, Son Dong, Bien Hoa, Cay Mai, Lai Thieu, Oc Eo… He found that, in the most sophisticated and luxurious places like Saigon, Hanoi, and Hue, there are many antique teapots and extremely valuable teapots… The Vietnam Fine Arts Museum still displays a collection of beautiful antique ceramic and porcelain teapots of Vietnam through the ages.
In Mr Vu’s collection of teapots, each style, ceramic, enamel and pattern has brought stories and culture of tea enjoyment, kings, mandarins or writers, intellectuals and the standard class. For example, a teapot for commoners is rustic and simple, with a funny look, and another with a sad, contemplative look… In a teapot of a scholar, everything is neat and balanced. Harmony. Harmonious, neat even the colours of the illustrations, painted on the body of the teapot or painted To Dong Pha, poems about tea by Luc Vu and a few other tea saints…
Vietnamese tea style
From his collection of teapots, Mr Mong Dong Vu said that Vietnamese tea-drinking culture is expressed through 3 styles: enjoying tea in a folkway, enjoying tea in the elegant form of a guest, enjoy tea in harmony with spirituality.
Enjoy tea in a folk way: Vietnamese people drink tea anywhere with various teas, from fresh to mandarin tea, mixed in large or small pots depending on work and preferences. One can see the green teapot the farmer brings to quench his thirst when working in the fields or the teapot drinking on the bamboo cot on the porch to dispel the sultry, hot summer days or the cups of tea. Drinking ice at the toad shop… “If you come home without tea, you will have cake” a cup of sweet tea always opens up countless stories and, from there to connect the soul. Through the Vietnamese teapot, we also see the way of enjoying tea of a people who are free and liberal but also very disciplined, close and hospitable… Enjoying tea in folk style is the most popular drink for Vietnamese people.
Part of Mr Vu’s teapot collection.
Enjoying tea as an elegant hobby of the guests: This is a rather sophisticated way of enjoying tea and is relatively strictly regulated. For example, depending on the number of people drinking tea can be divided as: drink one person, drink two people, drink three people, drink many people. Or enjoying tea, it is best to drink small sips while the soul is leisurely and pure: “…the pleasure of drinking tea, can’t be noisy. The way of communication of the ancients was frugal, not as rowdy as it is now. Only elegant people, with the same aura, can sit together with a teapot…” (Nguyen Tuan, Vang Bong Mot Thoi). With this way of drinking, tea drinkers not only enjoy the taste of tea but also admire the unique beauty of the designs and decorative motifs on the tea utensils or brood over old stories, stories, and talented pen strokes. Store on teapot. Through the tea ceremony, they also enjoy precious flowers, watch the moon, write poems, discuss the world…
Chrysanthemum-patterned teapot at the end of the Le dynasty.
Enjoying tea in harmony with spirituality: Through the tea sets used on the altar, it can be seen that, in the past, the Vietnamese have always had a cup of tea on the altar to worship their ancestors on essential occasions. And that culture still exists to this day, and tea is always a precious gift to offer on holidays or important events, of the community and each family, from worshipping heaven and earth to gods and goddesses. After making tea to deliver to ancestors in every house on holidays and New Year’s Eve, the extended family gathers to drink tea under a flower mat spread in the middle of the house. This unique style of enjoying tea is probably only available in Vietnam, which is both respectful and disciplined and close and democratic, clearly showing the characteristics of the original agricultural culture.
The white ceramic “god chicken” pot is as transparent as an eggshell and is about 800 years old.
Admiring hundreds of unique antique teapots dating back to Mr Vu’s collection, he understands more about his father’s concept of teapots. Through his vast collection of Vietnamese teapots, Mr Vu asserts what he has spent many years and efforts trying to prove: Vietnamese people have a long-standing tea culture. He declared: “Tea is the national water of the Vietnamese people with the cultural characteristics of the wet rice civilization – respect, dignity, respect for the collective… The Vietnamese way of drinking Tea is simple and close but diverse he is sophisticated, sophisticated and organized no less than any other country”.
[Photo provided by the character]
Article: Quang Khai
