Webinar on Tea Culture themed “meeting friends with tea drinking” was held on July 15. The event was hosted by the Beijing People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Xicheng District People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, Junior Chamber International Tokyo, Association for Sri Lanka China Social and Cultural Cooperation, FALCON Association, and the Ireland China Science and Technology Association. Friendship organizations, representatives of tea companies, and tea culture lovers from China, Japan, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, and Ireland met online to develop friendships under the theme of tea drinking.
The event was attended by more than 100 people, including Zhang Qian, Executive Vice President of Beijing People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries; Chen Wen, President of Ireland China Science and Technology Association; Manoj Seeborun, President of FALCON Association; Indrananda Abeysekera, President of Sri Lanka China Social and Cultural Cooperation; Lyu Yaqiang, Vice President of Policy Planning Department, Junior Chamber International Tokyo, China-Japan Friendship Association and other Chinese and foreign guests, as well as representatives of tea companies, and tea culture lovers.
Zhang Qian delivered a speech at the event, saying that tea has been an important vehicle for Sino-foreign trade and cultural exchanges since the Han Dynasty. Today, we hold this Webinar to promote the excellent tea culture of participating countries and build a platform for exchanges, mutual learning, and win-win cooperation regarding tea culture. We hope that through the vehicle of tea, we can foster exchanges with different countries and regions, and promote people-to-people friendships and regional cooperation.
In her speech, Du Hui, Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Xicheng District People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, introduced the development of the Xicheng District, especially the Maliandao Tea Culture Sub-district, and shared the idea of the Maliandao Sub-district upholding “diversified development featuring tea” and building a tea culture center and an international tea-based exchange center. Du Hui expressed the vision of carrying out friendly people-to-people exchanges with foreign-friendly organizations across multiple channels in more areas and at multiple levels.
In the session on tea culture sharing, Chinese and foreign tea experts introduced their local tea cultures. Zhang Xuan, General Manager of Beijing Mantangxiang International Tea Culture Co., Ltd., introduced the history and categories of Chinese tea. Representatives from Japan, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, and Ireland talked about the tea culture of different characteristics about Japanese tea ceremony, Sri Lankan black tea, Irish afternoon tea, and so on. They gave a deep interpretation from the perspective of Chinese and foreign exchanges about tea culture.
During the event, Ms. Li Zan, a tea master from Beijing Mantangxiang International Tea Culture Co., Ltd., put in a professional and elegant tea art performance. The guests were intoxicated by the overflowing fragrance of tea.
In the session of enterprise promotion, Cai Hua, Sales Manager of Beijing China Tea King Co., Ltd.; Velagoda, Capilla Yakandawala, and Chamas Hetiarac, corporate representatives of Sri Lanka China Social and Cultural Cooperation, promoted their companies and high-quality tea products. After the product introduction, Chinese and foreign guests had a lively exchange event.
As one of the world’s three major types of beverages, tea is loved by people all over the world. Since the Silk Road in the Han Dynasty, tea has become an important vehicle for interaction between Chinese and foreign cultures. This tea cultural exchange event is aimed at fostering international friendly exchanges, spread China’s excellent tea culture, and help Xicheng District promote the Maliandao tea culture brand.
The event was still in full swing as it was drawing to an end. The heads of the four friendship organizations, namely Manoj Seeborun, President of Mauritius Falcon Citizen League; Chen Wen, President of Ireland China Science and Technology Association; Aruna Kulukurasuri, Secretary-General of Sri Lanka China Social and Cultural Cooperation; Lyu Yaqiang, Vice President of Policy Planning Department, Junior Chamber International Tokyo-Japan Friendship Association, gave brief remarks to express warm congratulations on the success of the event, and the good wishes of all countries to foster cooperation and seek common development.
Su Bensheng, the first-level inspector of the Beijing People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, hosted the Webinar. He said that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, our friendship and joint efforts to fight the epidemic had always remained, and we always had a good vision of working with friendly organizations from various countries for a bright future. The Beijing People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries looked forward to the face-to-face communication at Maliandao and to savoring tea together when the epidemic ends!
