willbrewstea

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Tea as the way of gift-giving and forming social connections among the De'ang community

"He is giving something of himself, his time and his life. Thus he wants recompense, however modest for his gift" (73).

According to Mauss, beyond the simple exchange of receiving or delivering a gift underlies an intricate social phenomenon involving status, identity, and relationship building. Gift-giving may seem voluntary, but they are repaid under obligation. As a student of tea culture, I have often exchanged gifts of teas with other tea drinkers in the community to establish social connections and to learn more about tea culture with those in the community. Unaware at the time of Mauss's theory on gift-giving, I think there is much truth to the mechanism of gift-giving, in that, the act of gifting creates relationships and obligations that serve as a kind of social glue. As Mauss noted, gifting is more than economic behavior, it contains values which are emotional. In my case, the value of gifting tea to a more experienced tea drinker is to have the opportunity for us to taste the same teas together and to learn how to discern qualities and tastes of different kinds of tea– to expand my knowledge base of tea.

Apart from my own experience with tea as a way of gift-giving to further my "tea journey", there are communities that grow tea, process tea, and depend on tea for their livelihood. The De'ang are an ethic minority who live in the border areas of southwest Yunnan (province in China) between China and Myanmar. De'ang people are a group of tea planters, best known for producing and selling tea (Li, 61). To speakers of Mandarin, they are praised as "the old tea planters" as they have a long history in the production of tea in the region. Furthermore, the De'ang worship tea as important ritual good in their religious and social ceremonies, drink tea as their go-to beverage, eat tea as a dish in their daily lives, and sell tea in the markets. Nonetheless, tea is used as a gift to express their identity and make important statement about their relationships with themselves and others. Tea in the De'ang community is regarded as something more valuable than money (Li, 62).

In Mandarin, Xinyi or, the "spirit of the gift" is a popular term used in gift-giving. The "spirit of the gift" or xinyi is an important note to make because the De'ang community often interact with Mandarin speakers through gift exchanges, in which they will link tea with their xinyi. This distinction is also important because De'ang people will have different ways of gifting tea depending on the receiver's identity; if they are an outsider such as Mandarin speakers, they will refer to using xinyi whereas, if it's people of their own group, the term will not be used rather, and it will be communicated in their own language, Mon- Khmer. Thus, when non-De'ang guests visit, the De'ang host will offer tea to drink and will prepare tea as a special gift to give (Li, 63). Among the De'ang people, tea gifting is not common as every family grows their own tea however, when they visit each other to further develop their internal socials, tea will be served and small bags of tea will be offered once the guest leaves.

The inseparable connection between gifts and their givers creates obligation to give, receive and repay between gift-givers and gift-recipients in exchange as Mauss noted, "the gift not yet repaid debases the man who accepted it" (66). For the De'ang, tea giving would be a way of expressing the identity of givers and their wish to form friendships with outsiders. What is hoped for in return, as part of their xinyi, is future friendship and mutually beneficial relationships. Likewise, as Mauss described for the Kula "mwasila" containing "spells and symbols which the man who want to enter into a contact seeks above all profit in the form of social" (72), has a spiritual strength implying something of return. The expression of tea and linking tea to the "spirit of the gift" to outsiders in the moment of gift exchange implies recognition of the De'ang's value of their tea and identity.

Going back to the initial quote from Mauss in the first sentence, "He is giving something of himself, his time and his life. Thus, he wants recompense, however modest for his gift" (73), the gifting of tea from the people of De'ang is not solely just a beverage, it is giving part of their identity and the time they have put into cultivating and growing tea.

Reference:

Li, Quanmin. “Tea, Gift-Giving and Social Relationships' Production of De'ang People in Southwest China.” Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry. Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry, November 4, 2015. https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/cpi/index.php/cpi/article/view/25951.