Why Chinese Tea Culture is Important
This week I want to have a deep dive into my capstone project idea about the big why behind spreading traditional Chinese tea culture.
The biggest purpose behind my project is to bridge the culture gap. In the last decade, China has become the world’s second-largest economic power. Despite this growth and development of China, many people around the world, know very little about China, the Chinese people, and Chinese society. The lack of knowledge and unbalanced relationship may lead to misunderstandings between the cultures and biased news about China. I think understanding different cultures is a way of building bridges between countries because culture is what informs our way of being, it helps to shapes our beliefs and values and influences our behaviors.
Tea Culture is a treasure of China, tea tasting and entertaining guests with tea are elegant entertainment and social activity in China. My home Fujian is one of the traditional tea regions in China. Making tea is not only for the tea itself, or for its health benefits, but more in pursuit of self-cultivation and soul satisfaction. Harmony is the core value of Chinese tea culture. It emphasizes harmony with nature, soul, and peace of mind. Tea drinking also becomes a tradition that brings people closer together, tea has become a tool to strengthen relationships.
For my capstone, I want to focus on Fujian tea because Fujian is a big tea production province enjoying a long history in China as well as my comprehensive knowledge about the culture where I have grown up. I want to help my audiences who are tea drinkers or interested in Chinese culture to better understand Chinese tea histories, stories, traditions, and different ways of tea drinking/brewing, encouraging the promotion of mutual understanding and friendship with countries and regions around the world. It could be an interactive website that introduces the tea stories and traditions or a packaging design that showcased traditional Fujian tea features on the package and contains an info booklet inside to tell the tea stories and brewing methods or tea drinking methods. My goals are to raise the awareness of cultural diversity and break the barrier, helping my audiences to have a better knowledge of Chinese culture and society through the understanding of in-depth tea culture, enhancing their communication with Chinese people, and appreciation of cultural diversity.
