The book contains a wealth of material on the social and intellectual interchange between the Buddhist clergy and wide sections of the educated laity. It deserves the attention of all whose interest lies in the role of religion in the life of the Chinese elite.
Religious Studies Review James A. Benn's new book is a history of tea ... Read moreas a religious and cultural commodity in China before it became a global commodity in the nineteenth century. . . . the book makes not only a great read, but also a very useful pedagogical resource!
New Books in East Asian Studies ln terms of scholarship, Benn 's Tea in China (hereafter TiC) is Sinologically and Buddhologically generally adequate. By and large, Benn's translations are up to snuff, and his references to and annotations for early texts, for the most part, are reliable. . . . There is much we can learn from TiC.
Journal of Chinese Studies Tea in China makes an important contribution to the study of religion in China by using a single commodity to demonstrate how religion-specifically Buddhism-is not cut off from the aesthetic, economic, and culinary worlds, but exists in connection to them. It will certainly become a foundational work for future studies of tea's religious and cultural significance in China.
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