Mingshi 茗史

Mingshi 茗史 "A history of tea" is a book on the compiled by the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) scholar Wan Bangning 萬邦寧. He came from Fengjie 奉節, Sichuan, and obtained his jinshi degree in 1622. The 2 juan "scrolls" long Mingshi does not talk about the harvest or production of tea but quotes from ancient encyclopaedias statements about tea. Yet these are very selective and do not cover all aspects of tea culture or the tea industry in their wide range. It was presented to the compilers of the imperial reprint series Siku quanshu 四庫全書 by the governor of Jiangsu, but was not included in this collection and is rarely to find elsewhere.