China is an education. Learning about the country can seem as difficult as learning Chinese. The business visitor is said to be swiftly engulfed in the soupy embrace of China's cities, with their mushrooming tower blocks, television-illuminated meals in private restaurant rooms and visits to karaoke bars. Those who classify themselves as tourists rather than travellers, meanwhile, will walk a famous wall and meet an army of model warriors, cruise a large river, eat some mystifying meals, go shopping and go home. Either way, the new, open China can sometimes seem as elusive as the old, forbidden one.
  中國是一門學問。了解這個國家似乎與學習中文同樣困難。據說，商務游客很快被淹沒在中國城市的海洋里，他們四周是迅速崛起的高樓大廈，他們會在私家餐館包間里邊看電視邊享用晚餐，以及去卡拉OK唱歌。同時，這些將自己定義為觀光客而非旅行者的人，會在聞名遐邇的長城上漫步，在寬闊的江河上航行，品嘗一些不可思議的食物，逛商場，然后回家。不管怎樣，開放的新中國有時候似乎與封閉的舊中國同樣令人難以捉摸。

  Unlocking its intricacies requires either the courage to sally out in the face of incomprehension (tough but rewarding – problem-solving, good humour and honesty are far more common in China than their opposites) or it requires a special interest – in birds, gardens, railway trains, art – which will lead you to stranger, more educative places than nightclubs and cruiseboats. Tea can do this, too. Grown throughout southern China and loved nationwide, it will not only draw you towards some of the country's most remarkable landscapes but it also provides a glimpse, in the drinking, of a China far sweeter and more gracious than the nation's brash public image.
  要解開其中的錯綜復雜，要么需要面對疑問時施放出勇氣（雖然困難但是值得——解決問題、良好的幽默感和誠實比其反義詞在中國更為常見），抑或要求你對鳥類、園藝、火車、藝術等具有特別的興趣——這些事物將你帶往比夜總會和游艇更為陌生、也更具有教育意義的地方。茶也能做到這點。茶生長在中國南方，深受全中國人的喜愛，它不僅會將你帶到中國一些風景最為迤邐的地區，而且在品茗過程中，它還會帶你透過中國不佳的公眾形象，領略一個更美好和更高雅的中國。

  My own Chinese education was defective in that I had assumed that the vast, sparely rugged landscapes of classical Chinese painting were more spiritual lesson than a faithful rendering of place. Those tiny figures moving, insect-like, between indolent river and abrupt peak were there to teach modesty, instil calm and underline impermanence, surely, rather than reflect reality. No landscape could open like that, could it? It could and it does. Travel in China's tea country, and those same scenes will unfold before you, their pines seemingly placed at the summit of crags by some great artificer and their quiet valleys broken only by the soft race of falling water. Even the lenses of mist, mobile and intermittent, are accurate. Tea bushes thirst for more than twice London's annual rainfall, and cloud cover combined with high humidity is perfect for keeping their vivid green leaves pliant.
  我自己的中國學問并不完善，因為我曾以為，中國古典繪畫中廣袤平坦的風景，比忠實地描繪一個地方的手法更具精神層面的意義。那些如同昆蟲般微小的人影在水流緩慢的江河與陡峭的山峰之間移動，教育人們虛懷若谷，灌輸平靜的心境，強調世事無常，而不是對現實的反映。沒有其它哪處風景能夠如此開闊，不是嗎？游歷中國這個茶的國度，那些相同的風景將一一呈現在你的面前，在一些偉大畫師的筆下，松樹生長在峭壁頂峰，而靜謐的山谷中淌過涓涓的流水。就連對飄忽不定的霧靄的刻畫都是那么生動。茶樹對雨量的要求，是倫敦年降雨量的兩倍以上，而多云的天氣加上高濕度，構成了茶樹盎然生長的完美環境。

  A good bit of China is mountainous. Lowland areas are commandeered for the productive agriculture required to feed 1.3bn people, so that any crop that can migrate upwards will do so. Tea is ideal for this task – indeed you can create a small tea garden in many areas by doing no more than clearing the scrub to leave the wild, native bushes to enjoy the light and warmth on their own. “Garden” is exact: the small, shaped bushes grafted on to stone terraces and rock ledges look, at first sight, like effusions of the privet so cherished in suburban horticulture or like some vegetable sculptor's audacious installation. In the Da Hong Pao (Great Red Cloak) valley of Wuyi Mountain in Fujian Province, this is an installation dating back to Tang times. At the same moment as the first Viking raiders were descending on Lindisfarne, in other words, the bamboos were being parted to make way for Camellia sinensis in this almost secret valley where water cuts its way through soaring planes of sandstone and conglomerate as sheerly as gin through ice.
  中國大多數地區多山。低地被征用來從事生產性農業耕作，以養活中國13億人口，因此可被移往高處的農作物都會被移向高處。茶非常適合這種方式——實際上你可以在許多地區開辟一小塊茶園，所做的工作無非是清除雜草，讓野生天然的茶樹自己享受陽光和溫暖的氣候。“茶園”非常準確：修剪成形的小茶樹被移植到陽臺和花架上，乍看像是郊外園藝非常青睞的那種垂落的女貞灌木，或是像一些蔬菜雕刻家手下大膽的作品。在福建省武夷山的大紅袍峽谷里，這種植物的歷史可以追溯至唐朝。在首批維京海盜突襲林迪斯法恩島(Lindisfarne)的同一時期，在這個流水淌過層層沙巖和礫巖的幽靜山谷里，人們砍伐竹子，騰開地方種植茶樹。#p#分頁標題#e#

  In addition to Great Red Cloak, an oolong that is said to taste both of rocks and of sweet apples, Wuyi is also home to the greatest of all Lapsang Souchongs (or Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong, as it is known locally): that of Bohea Farm. This farm, where great smoked tea from wild bushes has been produced continuously since the 15th century, is sited at the village of Tongmu within the Long Chuan (Floating Dragon) gorge, in a protected zone of such environmental value that public access is restricted to the lower parts of the valley.
  除了大紅袍和據說同樣混合著巖石與蘋果香氣的烏龍茶以外，武夷山還盛產正山小種紅茶：產自武夷農場(Bohea Farm)。這里最上等焙制的茶葉取自野生茶樹的農場。自15世紀以來，一直在生產茶葉，坐落在龍川大峽谷內的桐木村，這是一處具有環保價值的自然保護區，公眾只能進入山谷中的低處。

  In springtime, smoke from logs of Taiwan red pine seeps from the wooden kiln roofs like the steam rising from a horse's back after a canter in the rain; under the eaves, the rolled and withered leaves rest on giant bamboo trays while the fragrant, almost peat-like fumes riffle through them. The subtlety of Bohea Lapsang makes cheaper versions taste like burnt toast. Within China, Bohea is considered the origin of black tea. The fact that it was the source of the first tea imported to Britain meant that the name became, in the 17th century, a metonym for tea itself (the two words rhyme), and is thus used by Pope (in “The Rape of the Lock”) and Byron (in “Don Juan”). The great Scottish plant hunter Robert Fortune, who ended China's tea monopoly by planting Darjeeling on behalf of the British East India Company, visited Bohea during a three-year voyage in the mid-19th century. “Never in my life,” he wrote later, “have I seen a view such as this, so grand, so sublime. High ranges of mountains were towering on my right and on my left, while before me as far as the eye could reach, the whole country seemed broken up into mountains and hills of all heights, with peaks of every form.”
  春季，臺灣紅松木燃燒的煙霧從木制窯爐頂繚繚升起，就像馬匹在雨中慢跑后背上升起的水汽一樣；屋檐下，烘制枯萎卷起的茶葉放置在巨大的竹制托盤上，飄出與泥煤非常相似的炭香。正山小種的精妙，使得便宜的茶葉品嘗起來如同烤焦的面包。在中國，武夷山被視為紅茶的發源之地。事實上，這里出產了首批出口至英國的茶葉，意味著武夷山在17世紀時成為了茶葉的代名詞，蒲柏(Pope)[在《奪發記》(The Rape of the Lock)里]和拜倫(Byron)[在《唐璜》(Don Juan)里]曾經用過這一稱謂。偉大的蘇格蘭植物學家羅伯特?福欽(Robert Fortune)曾代表英國東印度公司(British East India Company)種植大吉嶺茶，從而結束了中國茶葉的壟斷局面，他在19世紀中葉游歷3年，期間拜訪了武夷山。他后來寫道：“在我一生中，從未看過如此宏偉、如此壯觀的景象。我的左右兩側聳立著高山，而我面前是一望無垠的平川，整個中國似乎被山脈分割開來。”

  Great Red Cloak valley and the Floating Dragon gorge are just two of the scenic attractions of Wuyi Mountain but there are at least a dozen more in the 1,000-square kilometre World Heritage site (China's largest), many of them best seen from a seat on one of the languid raft trips that the Chinese describe in English, rather winningly, as “drifting”. Connoisseurs of geology may enjoy contrasting its red-rock danxia landforms with the better-known limestone karst outcrops of Guilin in Guangxi Province, home of the fishermen who prefer cormorants to rods or nets. Either landscape, though, will confirm the scroll painters' accuracy.
  大紅袍峽谷和龍川大峽谷只是武夷山的兩大風景區，而在這片占地1000平方公里的世界遺址（中國最大風景區）內，至少還有數十個景區，如果坐在一條緩緩行駛的竹筏上，你可以從最好的角度欣賞這些風景——中國人使用“漂流”這個相當迷人的詞來形容這種體驗。地質專家可能喜歡將這里的紅巖丹霞地貌與名氣更大的廣西省桂林石灰巖地形進行對比。而這兩種景致都會淋漓盡致地展現在山水畫家的筆下。廣西是漁民之鄉，漁民們喜歡用鸕鶿而非魚桿或魚網來捕魚。

  Perhaps the easiest of all tea locations to visit is the city of Hangzhou in China's largest tea-producing province, Zhejiang.
  或許在所有茶鄉中，中國浙江省的杭州市是交通最為便利的。

  This is the source of the irresistible Long Jing (Dragon Well) green tea, the best of which smells and tastes like an essence of chlorophyll and creamed hazelnuts. Hangzhou is within easy reach of Shanghai. Indeed, in many ways, it would make a more attractive base for a Chinese initiation than Shanghai, thanks to its long history (it is one of China's seven ancient capitals) and its watery attractions.
  杭州是魅力無法抗拒的龍井綠茶的故鄉。極品龍井茶聞香和品味像是葉綠素香精與奶油榛子的混合。杭州與上海頗近。實際上，由于杭州擁有悠久的歷史（中國七大古都之一）和水資源名勝，因此對于初到中國的游客來說，杭州比上海的吸引力更大。

  China's Grand Canal flows through Hangzhou, snaking north all the way to Beijing, and two hours down the largely empty Hang-Quian Expressway is the 580 sq km Quindao (Thousand Island) Lake, surely the world's prettiest reservoir and a Chinese centre for eco-tourism. Above all, though, it is Hangzhou's own 6 sq km West Lake that lures visitors with its pavilions, temples, bamboo forest paths, tea plantations and ten signposted “scenes”, such as Lingering Snow on the Broken Bridge, Orioles Singing In The Willows or Evening Bell Ringing at Nanpinghill.#p#分頁標題#e#
  中國的大運河流經杭州，向北一直蜿蜒至北京，沿著空曠的杭千高速公路行駛兩個小時，就可以抵達占地580平方公里的千島湖。千島湖的確可謂是世界上最美麗的水庫，也是中國生態旅游中心。不過，杭州市內面積6平方公里的西湖，以其亭臺寺院、竹林幽徑、茶園以及斷橋殘雪、柳浪聞鶯和南屏晚鐘等西湖十大美景，吸引著慕名前來的游客們。

  The quality of the tea served at the Dragon Well itself (called “Tea Enquiry at Dragon Well” on tourist maps) is outstanding and local tea mania is such that even the water used to make it is prized, fetched from a source two miles away called “To Dream of the Tiger-Pawing Spring”. Tea, as you see, draws out the poetry in the pragmatic Chinese. An evening in a Hangzhou tea house such as Charenchun or one of the three He Cha Guan (“Peace Houses”) proves, to any European who had previously considered moderate alcohol intake essential to a good night out, not merely educative but positively enlightening. The kettle stands nearby, bubbling gently; the glasses are constantly refilled; the table is kept supplied with watermelon and lychees, with pumpkin seeds, with dried fish strips, with lotus-paste cake, with sesame wafers.
  龍井供應的茶葉（旅游地圖上稱“龍井問茶”）質量上乘，當地茶迷對泡茶所用的水頗為講究，要從兩里以外的“虎跑夢泉”汲水。正如大家所見，茶能帶出務實中國人性格中詩意的那一面。對于那些曾經認為適度飲酒能讓人在外度過一個美好夜晚的歐洲人來說，在杭州的茶坊消磨一個晚上，例如“茶人居”或“和茶館”三家店中的一家，不僅能學到許多茶的知識，還可以讓人得到積極的啟發。身邊茶壺中的水緩緩地燒開；有人不時為你斟上水；桌上不停供應著西瓜和荔枝等水果，以及南瓜子、干魚條、蓮蓉蛋糕和芝麻餅干等小點。

  Sipping great green tea is like sipping springtime itself – it brings an entirely sober elation, and the sense of cultured elegance is heightened further by the traditional furniture, decorations and costumes of those serving and (if you're lucky) by the music, too. If you're not and it's gone schmaltzy, return to the lake, where traditional musicians play together on the warm evenings, for nothing but the fun of it, as the moon rises.
  品嘗上等的綠茶，如同品味春天的感覺——它帶給你完全放松的心情，而茶室里古典的家具、傳統的裝飾和服務員的服裝，以及繚繞室內的音樂，使這種文雅精致的感覺更為強烈。如果你找不到這種感覺，可以回到西湖邊，在怡人的夜晚，月亮升起的時候，傳統音樂家們會聚在一起演奏，享受音樂。

  The greatest wall of China hides inside the human mouth: nothing is more insurmountable to travellers and residents alike than the hurdles of two vastly dissimilar languages. Dozens will call a cheery “Hello” to you as you walk past but any attempt at conversation in English swiftly dissolves into laughing incomprehension and even those who might be expected to have some English (such as hotel desk staff) are often still monoglot.
  中國最大的障礙在于語言：對游客和本地人來說，再沒有比兩種截然不同的語言更加難以逾越的障礙了。當你在路上走過時，許多人會歡快地以“Hello”向你打招呼，但你要想以英語與他們交談時，他們很快會笑笑表示語言不通，即便是那些應該掌握一點英語的人（例如酒店柜臺職員）通常也只會說中文。

  Guide books in English are rare and the heroic calamities of Chinglish will amuse even where they fail to inform. (Among my treasures is the airline towelette called Hygiene Wet Turban Needless Wash.)
  英文的導游書非常罕見，四處泛濫的中式英語表達令人發笑，讓人摸不著頭腦。（我記得最清楚的事之一是，飛機上的濕紙巾被翻譯成“Hygiene Wet Turban Needless Wash”。）

  Those Chinese who do have some English often find comprehension easier if words are written out carefully. Phrase books are very helpful on the same basis, in that the relevant Chinese characters can be shown. Not everything is difficult, though: dual language road signs are ubiquitous and China's airports and internal flight network is hugely impressive, as are its free-flowing toll roads. City travel is easiest via China's cheap taxis (whose drivers happily do not require tipping), though driving styles are cavalier.
  那些懂得一點英語的中國人通常會發現，如果把英語單詞仔細寫出來的話，溝通會更容易一些。因此，英語習慣用語書籍非常有用，因為書上會相應地標明中文。不過，并非事事都是那么困難：雙語路標比比皆是，中國的機場和國內航線令人印象深刻，其通暢的收費公路亦是如此。在中國的城市，便宜的出租車是最便利的交通工具（令人高興的是，中國的出租車司機不會向你索取小費），他們開車也很有風度。

  Eating out in restaurants is low stress, too, since many of the largest work on the principle of a vast bank of fish tanks full of live fish and shellfish (as well as sea snakes), glass boxes full of doom-laden chickens and, on occasion, cages of miserable, jaw-clamped alligators, as well as simpler dishes whose raw ingredients are already assembled and then cling-filmed, or cold dim sum piled high ready for steaming. Menus are entirely unnecessary. You point; they kill; you eat.
  外出去餐館就餐也不用擔心，因為許多大餐館的經營之道是，在店里陳列裝滿新鮮魚和貝類（以及海蛇）的巨大魚缸，以及裝著雞的玻璃箱子，偶爾還有可憐的、嘴巴被夾住的鱷魚的籠子，以及放著原材料、然后覆上食品薄膜的簡單菜品樣盤，或是堆得高高的、等待上籠蒸熟的冷糕點。因此點菜完全不需要菜單。你指向哪道菜，他們就為你做什么。#p#分頁標題#e#