The Shennong legend, and the date attached to it
The best-known origin story in tea, and a date — 2737 BCE — that is quoted in more places than almost any other in the subject and rests on nothing an archive could be asked for.
Traditionally 2737 BCE
A traditional date. A date carried by tradition rather than by evidence. It is recorded because it circulates widely, not because it is thought to be right.
The figure appears in later compilations attaching a reign to the mythological Divine Farmer, not in any contemporary record — there are no contemporary records, because writing in the region postdates the date by well over a thousand years. It is a traditional date and TeaHQ records it as one.
Widely repeated legend. Repeated very widely and not evidenced. Recorded because the story is itself part of the culture, not because it happened.
The version that circulates
That tea was discovered in 2737 BCE by the Emperor Shennong, stated as a historical fact with a precise year.
What the evidence carries. That the story is old, widely told, and attached to a mythological figure. Nothing dates the beginning of tea use to a year, and the archaeological evidence for tea consumption is very much later and does not point at a single moment.
What happened
In the story, leaves blow into a pot of water the Divine Farmer is boiling and he drinks the result. Versions vary: in some he is testing plants and tea is what settles the effects of the others. The tale is attached to a figure who also receives credit for the plough, for herbal knowledge and for agriculture in general, which is what culture heroes are for.
Why it matters
It is worth a record not because it happened but because it is the single most repeated sentence in tea writing, and because the number bolted onto it has acquired a spurious solidity through repetition. A reader who meets 2737 BCE on four websites has met one claim four times.
Who was involved
Shennong (the Divine Farmer)
personThe mythological culture hero to whom agriculture, and this story, are attributed
Connected events
- From before the written record to roughly the eighth century CE — Tea eaten and boiled before it was infused
- Around the second century BCE — The earliest physical tea anybody has dug up
What this touches
Compiled from published sources by people who are not historians of this region or period. Where accounts conflict the disagreement is reported rather than settled.