The seven necessities stem from the phrase "Firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea are the seven necessities to begin a day". The items were known as early as the
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...
travel book, ''
Dreams of the Former Capital''.
The Chinese phrase "seven necessities" literally means "開 open 門 door 七 seven 件事 items" when translated, which is an old Chinese saying. They include firewood (柴 chái), rice (米 mĭ), oil (油 yóu), salt (鹽 yán), sauce (醬 jiàng), vinegar (醋 cù), tea (茶 chá). The seven necessities were made popular in modern
tea culture due to the fact the beverage was mentioned as one of the seven necessities of Chinese life.
References
External links
Chinese Culture Institute
* {{cite web , url = http://ketang.dict.cn/item/4e981f95acf0a3c9df000098 , title = Notes on Chinese Culture- Food and Drinks (08) – Chinese Tea , website = dict.cn , access-date = 2012-01-09 , url-status=dead , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120804163552/http://ketang.dict.cn/item/4e981f95acf0a3c9df000098 , archive-date = 2012-08-04
Chinese tea culture
Chinese proverbs