Is the habit of “rinsing mouth with tea” in “Dream of Red Mansions” good or bad?

□ Tong Yun

Cao Xueqin wrote in Dream of the Red Chamber that "after the meal, each maid brought tea on a small tea tray." The clever Daiyu naturally "followed the example" and rinsed her mouth with the bowl of tea, spit it into the gargle brought by the maid, washed her hands, and then began to drink the tea brought by the maid again. From this, it is not difficult to see the process of drinking tea after the meal in the Jia family, that is, rinsing the mouth with tea, washing hands, and drinking tea.

Anyone who has read Dream of the Red Chamber will smell the fragrance of tea on the pages of Cao Weng's wonderful writing. A bowl of daily mouthwash after meals also reveals the profound cultural heritage of the Jia family's tea-based health preservation.

In fact, the good hygiene habit of gargling with tea has a long history in my country. As early as the Sui Dynasty, Chao Yuanfang's "Treatise on the Causes and Symptoms of Various Diseases" recorded that "gargling several times after eating, otherwise, people will suffer from tooth decay." Before the invention of toothbrushes, the common gargling method used by ancient people was to use strong tea as a mouthwash. Gargling with strong tea after a meal can eliminate the greasy feeling in the mouth, make the spleen and stomach naturally smooth, and digestion naturally good, and it can also freshen the breath. Especially after eating meat, the muscle fibers stuck in the teeth can be rinsed out by gargling a few more times, without the need to pick with a sharp toothpick. Imagine that in public, if you have a tooth stuck, you only need to elegantly ask the waiter to make a cup of strong tea, and then "hardly" spit them into the tea bowl after drinking it, instead of putting a toothpick in your mouth in front of everyone and awkwardly picking out the "shredded meat" that is unwilling to leave your teeth anyway.

When people talk about health, the first thing they think of is being healthy and energetic, but they don't pay much attention to the state of their mouth. Many people have serious bad breath and other problems, but they don't think they are sick. It is not difficult to find that some people give people a fresh and clean feeling, making people willing to communicate with them, while some people make people stay away. This may be related to a person's "breath".

It is recorded that Song Zhiwen, a Tang Dynasty scholar who wrote "I am even more timid when I am near my hometown, and I dare not ask the visitors" ("Crossing the Han River"), lost the opportunity to serve Wu Zetian because of his bad breath, although his poetry was praised by Wu Zetian, saying "This person is indeed a rare talent", but he lost the opportunity to serve Wu Zetian because of his bad breath. So when the opportunity comes, success or failure is just a matter of opening and closing your mouth. Imagine if Song Zhiwen, who came from a common family, had a better character, then his close friends would definitely suggest that he use mouthwash tea to get rid of bad breath.

Success and luck often favor those who are well prepared. Maybe you spend a lot of money to buy new clothes and spend time on new makeup for a meeting, but when the meeting comes, your "anger" makes you fail, and you may not even know the reason for your failure.
If we say that in history, people like the Jia family used tea to rinse their mouths after meals as a way of health preservation that has been passed down from generation to generation, today, people have clearly analyzed through scientific means that one of the causes of bad breath is the odor produced by the decomposition and fermentation of food residues by saliva, and the chlorophyll in tea contains aromatic components that can eliminate bad breath. What is even more fascinating is that this aromatic component in tea can not only eliminate bad breath caused by food residues after meals, but also eliminate bad breath caused by gastrointestinal disorders.

In recent years, more and more people like to eat garlic, leeks and other strong-flavored vegetables. After eating these foods, it is inevitable that the mouth will have an unpleasant taste. So, use a bowl of tea to keep your breath fresh and clean! When you talk to people, you don’t have to worry about the embarrassment of opening your mouth and cover your mouth with your hands; when you take the bus or subway, you don’t have to chew gum and feel uncomfortable...

Today, tea drinking is very popular, and a cup of mouthwash tea is readily available. You don't have to stick to the type of tea, just focus on the word "strong". I believe that it won't take long for you to experience the confidence of Lu You's "sip it gently, and the fragrance will be refreshing on your lips and cheeks" and Yuan Mei's "I can't help but try the green tea bowl, and the fragrance will first come to my teeth."

(The author is the deputy editor of China Agricultural University Press and a member of the Agricultural Science Creation Professional Committee of the China Science Writers Association)