The event site.
Speaking of tea bonds across the Strait, people reunite as the moon rounds.
On September 8, the “Bond of Tea” Cross-Strait Tea People Exchange Meeting was successfully held at the Lao She Teahouse in Beijing. Continuing the theme of the “Bond of Tea,” the meeting again centered on the good life with tea—expressing affection through tea, speaking of its charm, forming friendships of gentlemen—and promoted the exchange and integration of cross-strait tea culture.
The event was jointly hosted by the China Tea People Friendship Association, the Beijing Tea Industry Association, the Beijing Association for Cross-Strait Folk Exchange and Promotion, the Beijing Zhongdao Foundation, the Beijing Xicheng Overseas Friendship Association, the Taiwan Tea Exporters’ Association, the Chinese International Wu-Wo Tea Promotion Association, and the Taiwan Chinese Tea Culture Society. Huo Guangfeng, director of the Beijing Municipal Taiwan Affairs Office, and Liu Xianchuan, deputy director; Wang Bo, member of the Standing Committee of the Xicheng District Party Committee; Sun Wei, secretary-general of the China Tea People Friendship Association; and more than 80 guests, including representatives of over 40 associations from both sides of the Strait and tea enterprise representatives from Beijing and Taiwan, attended.
Xiangsheng (crosstalk) performance.
As part of the Cross-Strait Associations Exchange Festival series, the meeting had been held three times before, gradually becoming a platform for cross-strait tea industry and tea culture exchange. Falling just before the Mid-Autumn Festival, this event promoted exchange between the tea industries and tea cultures of Beijing and Taiwan through a rich variety of formats: tea art performances, salon discussions, tea music appreciation, and whisked-tea (diancha) experiences.
Old Beijing jasmine tea art performance.
The event opened with classic Beijing-flavored xiangsheng and an elegant old Beijing jasmine tea art performance.
Yin Zhijun, general manager of the Beijing Lao She Teahouse, delivers her address.
Yin Zhijun, general manager of the Beijing Lao She Teahouse, as host—and also on behalf of Chen Fangjun, president of the Beijing Tea Industry Association, who was unable to attend—delivered an address. She noted that the tea trees on both sides of the Strait share the same roots and the way of tea the same source; each side’s tea culture has its own character and merits, yet “tea” has always been the meeting point of hearts for tea people on both sides, the bond that ties their livelihoods and feelings together. She hoped that through the cup of clear tea in our hands, the cooperative, mutually supportive “tea people spirit” would link the hearts of tea people on both sides more tightly, promote the flourishing of the Chinese tea industry, and pass Chinese tea culture down through the generations.
Sun Wei, secretary-general of the China Tea People Friendship Association, delivers her address.
Sun Wei, speaking on behalf of the hosts, said the event’s timing on the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival embodied the kinship of both sides of the Strait as one family, connected by common ancestry. Integrated development, interactive win-win cooperation, and building the tea industry bigger and stronger are the common goal and wish of tea people on both sides. The exchange meeting, held for three consecutive sessions, had gradually become a platform for cross-strait tea industry and tea culture exchange. It had deepened the friendship of tea people on both sides and promoted cooperation between them; she looked forward to more tea people forming bonds through “tea” and advancing integration with “tea,” jointly promoting high-quality development of the cross-strait tea industry and diversified exchange of tea culture.
Right: Cai Rongzhang, founder of the Chinese International Wu-Wo Tea Promotion Association
Left: Xie Jianyu, chairman of the Taiwan Tea Exporters’ Association and the Taipei Tea Merchants’ Association
Left: Fan Zengping, chairman of the Taiwan Chinese Tea Culture Society
Owing to the pandemic, the hosting guests from Taiwan could not attend in person and sent their blessings by video. Xie Jianyu, chairman of the Taiwan Tea Exporters’ Association and the Taipei Tea Merchants’ Association, said in his video address that he looked forward to the pandemic ending soon so that cross-strait economic, trade and cultural exchanges could return to normal. Cai Rongzhang, founder of the Chinese International Wu-Wo Tea Promotion Association, said in his video address that he hoped tea people on both sides would join hands to hold more exchange activities. Fan Zengping, chairman of the Taiwan Chinese Tea Culture Society, said in his address that tea is the common beverage of the Chinese nation—people of every ethnicity, region and province drink it, and all compatriots who drink Chinese tea share one common wish: that China must achieve peaceful reunification, that there is only one China in the world, and that we build a prosperous, strong, healthy and happy China. This is “two shores sipping tea, one flavor, one heart.”
“Bond of Tea” themed salon.
In the themed salon, Liang Chunzhi, editor-in-chief of Taiwan’s Five Elements Books; Wang Xingjie, general manager of Taiwan’s Qianxi Zhenpin Teahouse; Zhang Dong, executive deputy commander of the Maliandao Tea Headquarters; and Leng Shuai, cultural director of Beijing Tenfu Tea, shared and exchanged around the “Bond of Tea” theme.
Tea friends from Taiwan, though unable to attend in person, also sent blessing videos sharing the fruits of cross-strait tea exchange.
The gathering was rich in program and constant in splendor. Image ambassadors of this “Cross-Strait Exchange Festival,” Wang Zhexin and Xie Qijun, sang “May We Live Long” (Dan Yuan Ren Chang Jiu); the Lao She Teahouse and young Taiwan performers presented a joint piece—an erhu and “big bowl tea” instrument ensemble of “Front Gate Feelings, Big Bowl Tea”; there was also a lively and joyous guzheng solo, “Blooming Flowers and Full Moon.” Teacher Wang Zihan, founder of the Liao-Jin-Song Whisked Tea Culture Communication Center, and her students gave a whisked-tea demonstration and guided guests in trying it themselves. In addition, the Lao She Teahouse prepared old Beijing specialty mooncakes as tea refreshments, paired with Alishan oolong specially provided by Beijing Tenfu Tea.
Whisked-tea demonstration piece: the whisked picture at center symbolizes “bamboo announcing peace, bright moon of reunion”—the bamboo carrying blessings of health and safety, the bright moon standing for family reunion; the characters “tea” and “bond” whisked at the two sides embody the event theme of “promoting integration through tea, promoting integration through bonds.”
Cross-strait tea culture exchange has grown from nothing, from small to large, becoming an important stage for exchanges between the two sides. As part of the “Cross-Strait Associations Exchange Festival” series, the “Bond of Tea” meeting has been held for four consecutive sessions and is an important platform for cross-strait tea industry and tea culture exchange, playing a positive role in advancing exchange among tea people and the industry, and in promoting cooperative, win-win development of the tea industry and culture.
Before the meeting, the opening ceremony of the “Cross-Strait Associations Exchange Festival,” themed “Associations Linking · Exchange Promoting Integration,” was also held, with enthusiastic participation from associations on both sides—43 organizations in total took part in hosting and co-hosting.
Produced by: China Cooperation Times · Tea Weekly All Media
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Author: Lam Sam (LamSam), the Old Tea Head
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