Abstract:

Culture is just like a dynamic notebook, recording the occurrence of human society. Culture is a historical phenomenon, generating corresponding cultural products in different social stages. As a result, tea culture also recorded the development of human civilization. Chinese tea was introduced into Britain and helped Britain form the unique British tea culture which is different from the Chinese one. Combination of tea and culture has not only changed the British way of life, but also played an important role on British people’s spiritual life. Britain is a relatively traditional country but also the most famous land of ceremony. The British gentlemanship is known to the world. The British in tea time pay great attention to etiquette and gentlemanship, which can be seen in Downton Abbey. Based on the above understanding, in this paper, British afternoon tea culture will be analyzed mainly from the development of the British tea culture as the main clue and through the analysis of the classic afternoon tea scene in the hit series Downton Abbey.

Keywords: Downton Abbey; Afternoon Tea; Culture

摘  要：

文化好似一动态笔记本，记载了人类生活的点点滴滴，同时也是一种历史现象，随着社会阶段的不同而产生相应的文化。继而茶文化也是对人类文明的记载。中国茶的传入使英国形成了有别于中国的英国茶文化。茶与文化的结合不但改变了英国本土的生活方式，也对英国人的精神生活起到了一定的作用。英国是一个相对传统的国家但也是世界上最著名的礼仪之，而英国人的绅士风度更是闻名于天下。英国人在饮茶时十分注重礼仪，讲求绅士风度，通过《唐顿庄园》可以清晰的看出英国文化中这一鲜明特点。基于上述识，本文要以英国下午茶文化的发展脉络为主要线索，通过分析热播剧《唐顿庄园》中经典的下午茶场景探究“英式午茶文化”。

关键词：《唐顿庄园》；下午茶；文化

1 Introduction
    Afternoon tea is a light meal typically eaten between 4 pm and 6 pm. Observance of the custom originated amongst the wealthy classes in England in the 1840s. (Daniel Pool, 1994)
As the saying goes in this country with a three-hundred year history of tea drinking "when afternoon bell rings four times, everything in the world suddenly stops for tea.", which refers to the afternoon tea. It is said that even if something extremely serious happens, you need to wait until the British have enjoyed their afternoon tea, because this is an unshakable rule.
The British tea culture is developed in the soil of traditional national culture. After receiving the political, economic, cultural changes, and studying the Asian tea experience, the British tea culture acquired unique characteristics. With the popularity of tea drinking, however, tea culture has exerted a subtle influence on the United Kingdom’s culture. Many literary and television works also recorded and described a lot of tea culture, in which descriptions of the British "afternoon tea" are more common in literary works.