摘要

茶是世界上和咖啡、可可并列的三大饮料之一，而且也是一种历史悠久、广大民众普遍喜爱的保健饮料。作为茶的故乡，中国是世界上最早种植茶、利用茶的国家，而中国茶文化则是博大精深的中华文化在茶和茶事中的渗透和发展，它是中国传统文化的一个分支。
中国茶叶几百年前就已进入欧洲市场，众多的西方国家加入到茶叶消费的行列中，但在众多的国家中，因饮茶形成系统文化体系的却只有英国。英国的茶文化根植于本国传统文化的土壤，受国内政治、经济和社会生活等多种因素共同作用，并在形成过程中借鉴了亚洲国家饮茶的经验，最终沉淀形成了自己的茶文化。
经过几百年的发展，中英两国关系发生了翻天覆地的变化。其中，十七世纪的鸦片战争，使两国关系恶化到了极点。但随着历史发展，新中国成立后，两国关系逐渐正常化。现今，两国间合作日益加强，呈现出互利共赢的发展趋势。
本文试图通过介绍中英两国间茶贸易的发展历程以及各自茶文化的形成，分析两国关系发展趋势，以及中国茶作为当代中国的标志对当今社会和国家发展的作用以及发挥作用的途径，并对在经济全球化和文化多元化发展的情况下中国茶文化的发展进行了展望。本文避免了中国茶以及英国茶叶史的笼统性，同时也较为全面地论述了以茶叶为纽带的中英关系，避免了以往中英茶叶研究中只偏重茶叶贸易的局限性。

关键词：中国茶，茶文化，中英关系

Abstract

It is known that tea is one of the world’s three major beverages along with coffee and cocoa. It has a long history and is accepted generally because it does go to people’s health. As the home of tea, China is the first country to plant and make tea. The Chinese tea culture is a branch of the traditional Chinese culture and the result of the penetration and development of tea in culture. 
Chinese tea was transported to Europe many hundred years ago, lots of western countries started accept Chinese tea in the ancient time. However England is the only nation which has its own tea culture among these countries. The English tea culture is rooted in the nation’s traditional culture, affected by several factors, such as the domestic politics、economy and local life and assimilates experience from the eastern countries.
With the time goes by, the relationship between China and England has changed totally. In the Opium War during the 19th century, two nations engaged with each other and the Chinese lived in miserable lives. After the foundation of the People’s Republic of China, the two countries’ relationship has been smooth slowly. Nowadays the cooperation enhances the two nations’ communication. There is a trend that two states will benefit each other afterward.
The purpose of the thesis is to analyze the development of bilateral relations by introducing the tea trade between Britain and China as well as the formation of their tea culture. The Chinese tea is a symbol of the contemporary China, it does contribution to the nation in some way. There is also a prospect of the Chinese tea culture during the process of economic globalization and cultural diversity. The paper tries to prevent one-sidedness. And to avoid simplification, it discusses deeply on the Chinese tea from different angles. On the basis of the social history of tea, together with the information of the tea trade between China and Britain, the paper discusses comprehensively on the tea relations between the two countries.      
     
Key words: Chinese tea trade, Tea culture, the Sino-British relations