On August 29th, the Confucius Institute at the University of New South Wales hosted a Chinese tea tasting event for employees of Country Garden’s Sydney office. Fang Jun Ge, a Confucius Institute Student Ambassador and a senior tea artist, introduced Chinese tea culture to the local staff. Country Garden’s Human Resources Director, Mr Shi Lei, attended this event and talked about how tea culture is a very important aspect of Chinese culture. Understanding how to prepare tea and what kind of tea to drink for various occasions is necessary as the process has deep cultural significance and holds certain connotations.
The event covered three key topics: the history and culture of tea, the identification of tea types, and tea tasting and tea ceremony. Fang Junge explained the history of tea and tea ceremony and then showed the staff of Country Garden some samples of the six major teas. The student ambassador taught the staff how to distinguish different types of tea from their specific colour, shape and scents. The employees enthusiastically participated in the event and commented that they would definitely show of their new-found Tea Ceremony skills to their friends.
The Confucius Institute not only focuses on promoting Chinese culture and language learning through various activities on campus, but is also involved with the local businesses and community. This event was the first attempt for the Confucius Institute to create a link for Chinese cultural education towards local companies and it was well received. The Institute looks forward to creating more events like this in the future.
The Confucius Institute has been offering language and culture courses to local staff of Country Garden in Sydney since the beginning of 2018. The course is taught by the Confucius Institute’s Senior Education Program Officer, Miss An Na, and classes consist of the combination of language learning and cultural experiences.
