Abstract
The afternoon tea plays an important part in British people’s daily life. It has long been blended into the blood of the British people. The afternoon tea is also an art that reflects the traditional cultural connotation of the entire nationality. The traditional British Victorian afternoon tea is the representative of the British tea culture, which well reflects the characters of conservation, humour, modesty and nobility of the British people.
The study aims to analyze the relationship between British culture and the afternoon tea, and the relationship between British national characters and the afternoon tea. The research procedures demonstrates the following findings: (1) The British afternoon tea is deeply influenced by its traditional culture. At the meanwhile, the traditional culture is also highlighted by this kind of afternoon tea and forms its unique tea etiquette. (2) The British afternoon tea shows its national characters like conservation, preciseness and kindness.
The study consists of four parts. Part one is a brief introduction about the British afternoon tea, which includes the origin and development of the British afternoon tea. Part two introduces the Main characters of British people and their historical causes. Part three connects the British afternoon tea with its traditional personalities so as to discover the profound cultural connotation of British afternoon tea. Finally, the paper summarizes the significance and gives suggestions for the cultural development of our country.
Keywords: British afternoon tea; National characters; Conservation; Preciseness; Kindness
Contents
Introduction 1
1. The origin and development of British afternoon tea 2
1.1 The origin of British afternoon tea 2
1.2 Mrs. Anna’s afternoon tea 3
1.3 Widespread afternoon tea 3
1.4 The cultural atmosphere of afternoon tea 4
2. Main characters of British people and their historical causes 4
2.1 Main characters of British people 4
2.2 Some historical causes for British national characters 5
3. National characters reflected in the afternoon tea 6
3.1 Conservation 7
3.2 Preciseness 8
3.3 Kindness 8
4. The inspiration of the British afternoon tea on the development of Chinese tea
culture 9
Conclusion 10
Bibliography 11
Acknowledgements 12
