Home / Life
A tea culture salon, on Beijing’s Maliandao Tea St, on June 22, drew around 100 expats living in Beijing, including embassy staff members, chamber of commerce personnel, and students, a demonstration of a tea ceremony to get foreign visitors more interested in tea culture.
The organizer of the salon was Beijing‘s Xicheng district, Beijing This Month magazine, and the Beijing Foreign Cultural Exchange Center, as part of “Experiencing Beijing ”, a series of cultural activities that give foreigners a chance to feel the charm of the city’s unique culture.
On hand for this particular event was Jiang Liyan, a Chinese tea expert who was able to elaborate on the history, types, and production areas of Chinese tea for the guests.
Another specialist, Zhu Jinwu, gave a demonstration of the traditional tea ceremony, accompanied by the soothing melody of the guqin, a traditional Chinese musical instrument. And, since the salon was meant to encourage a DIY approach, the participants even got a chance to try their hand at the elaborate tea making process.
The organizers provided various types of tea, such as green, black and wulong for the guests to let them make some tea under the instruction of a master.
"Experiencing Beijing ” has a different theme every month, with the previous five focusing on Kunqu opera, the Lantern Festival, Chinese folk music, kite-making, and Chinese knot making, the organizers explained.
And it will continue this year with various other traditional culture and art activities, in such areas as calligraphy, Kungfu, and food, with the hope of showing more foreigners this fascinating field.
