Every year May 21 is celebrated as International Tea Day. It is organized by the United Nations. In fact, the proposal to celebrate this day was given by India in the meeting of the International Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) intergovernmental group held in Milan 5 years ago. In order to make people aware about the contribution of tea in the rural economy, in the year 2019, the United Nations announced the celebration of International Tea Day on May 21, stamping this proposal of India.
Tea in India is not only a beverage, but it is also a part of the country’s culture. Welcoming the guests who come home with tea is one of the Indian civilization. Not only in India, but in many countries it is customary to serve tea. On the other hand, if we talk about India’s neighboring country China, then tea is one of the most needed things in the everyday life of the Chinese. Currently China is the largest exporter of tea in the world. At the same time, India is the largest tea consuming country in the world.
The history of tea drinking in China is about 4 thousand years old. The importance of tea is also evident from the fact that tea is also one of the seven basic requirements of Chinese people’s life. In China it is customary to serve tea to guests. The guests and the host can often be seen sitting in the living room drinking tea and chatting. Along with drinking tea, a good atmosphere is created for conversation.
special culture of tea
Tea in China is not just a thing to drink, but also a special cultural trend. From ancient times to the present day, restaurants and teahouses have existed in various places in China to serve tea. Many teahouses are visible along the most prosperous Qianman street in Beijing, the capital of China. People there drink tea, eat food and relax while watching the performance.
On the other hand, there are also such teahouses in southern China which are specially built in places with beautiful scenery, so that tourists can enjoy the beautiful scenery while drinking tea. But tea drinking habits are different everywhere in China. People of different places like to drink different varieties of tea. For example, Beijingers like to drink flower tea. But the people of Shanghai love to drink green tea. In the Fujian province of southern China, people are fond of drinking black tea.
People in the Hunan province of southern China have a habit of adding salt to their tea. Apart from salt, they also add ginger, soybean and sesame seeds to the tea. After drinking tea, he likes to chew all these things by keeping them in his mouth. That’s why there is a trend in these areas to say not to drink tea, but to eat tea. There are different ways of making tea in China. People in eastern China keep tea in large pots. When guests come home, the host boils the water with the tea in the teapot, placing it over the fire, and then they drink the tea from small cups. In other regions of China, the way of drinking tea is somewhat different. People in the Fuchan province of southern China drink a tea called kunfu. But this Koofu tea is completely different from the Koofu shown in the movies. In fact this place is known to have a special art of Kufu tea drinking.
tea ceremony
The customs of drinking tea also differ in different regions of China. In the capital Beijing and some regions of northern China, if the host comes to hand the tea to the guest, the guest should immediately stand up and hold the tea cup with both hands and say thank you. In the Kwangtung and Guangxi provinces of southern China, guests thrice thump their fingers on the table as the host pours tea into their cups in honor of a guest. In other areas of China, if the guest wants to drink more tea, he leaves some tea in his cup. If this is not done, the host will understand that he does not want to drink more tea, so he will not put more tea in his tea cup.
(Akhil Parashar, China Media Group, Beijing)
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