In the Moxa workshop at Dr. Tao’s clinic in Antwerp this week, not only we have a chance to know how Artemisia argyi looks like so we can identify the herbal plant in the nature in the future; we also learn to plush the dried leaves with hands. the fraquence from the plush is much stronger than the fresh leaves.
We can also perform the moxa treatment with plush on top of thick sliced fresh ginger on specific meridian point. Adults can best learn by doing, during the workshop I showed how to use the moxa stick to perform the moxa treatment with moxa stick.
The essence of that day goes beyond promoting tea but emphasizing the promotion of social culture, health and respects in humanity through tea serving. Since the migration of tea started with via the first trade route from China with the West via the Grand Silk Road in 2 century before Christ, tea has been integrated in different cultures and today there are many interesting tea cultures in the world.
In China we name 21/5 as “International Tea Serving Day”, because we strongly believe with the tea serving culture we can improve the social contacts / relationships and harmony in the social integration process for world peace.
Even though right now the Corona infection number in Belgium is still high, but people are getting tired and we all hope to get the life back as soon as possible. In the time when people are still coping with stress from the pandemic, the fear for international conflicts is mounting, we really need to promote more hopes, dreams and positive energy by stimulating the social economy and prosperity growth in the future.
Our concern is what and how to help many KMO or shops in Antwerp to get their feet on the ground by getting customers back, as elsewhere in the world.
However, for this project in Antwerp, in Flanders or in Belgium, we need to overcome some basic obstacles:
Right now the rules and the ‘normal logical thinking’ about free-of-charge serving tea can be considered as “abnormal”:
First of all, it is not a business promotion event, but a culture & social culture promotion event. But with the free tea serving, it does can help to stimulate the customer relationships that hopefully can stimulate the business growth indirectly.
It is not about tea or Chinese tea culture; we actual encourage the promote of various tea culture from the world; it is about the humanity and respects in the world culture as one.
Whoever are willing to participate this social culture event, must understand and agree that day is to serve tea for free. The whole idea is promoting relationship with customers and citizenships.
The challenge that we are facing are food safety regulations and taxation which could put off the willingness to participate this culture & social promotion event.
21/5/2021 is Friday, considering there will be more people come to Antwerp for shopping on Saturday, therefore we propose to make this Free Tea Serving event as 2-day culture social promotion event in Antwerp.
Belgium Chinese Tea Culture Association is a non-governmental and not-for-profit culture association.
Our mission is to promote peace, harmony, respect to the ECO nature and humanity in society through tea and tea serving.
First of all, we would like to clarify that we do not expect subsidy from the government or participants. We do need the permission from the government and understanding from the authority.
On the contrary we are willing to support non-tea shops who are interested to participate this culture promotion event with 100gm of tea to not-tea shops in Antwerp of their choice, free-of-charge, so they can organize the free tea serving stand in their own way.
Why I want to organize and promote this event in Antwerp? Answers are very simple
The world needs peace but not conflicts; Antwerp is a unique centre in Europe for its cultural diversity where we need to promote more positive energy and more collateral harmony in our society to overcome stress from the pandemic and to build a better future for our younger generations.
ik ben een Antwerpenaar en Antwerpen is mijn 2de “thuisland” . Promoting health in body & mind, positive energy and harmony in our society is something I can do and I love to do.
I do hope to have your participation and support on this meaningful project. If you have any question, please feel free to contact me:
4th April is a very import traditional festival day, Qing Ming (清明) in Chinese culture, it’s the Tomb Sweeping Day. It’s the day when we show our appreciation to those efforts from our ancestors and the accumulation of wisdom we can inherit today; meanwhile for us to examine our efforts today so we can build a sustainable correct path for the future generations to continue with a brighter future. Qing Ming is also a very period to introduce the beginning for the fine quality of spring teas.
This Sunday, 4/4/2021, various tea regions in China will organize tea memorial ceremony to pay tribute to the Cha Zhu, including Tea Holiness, Lu Yu. Tea & tea culture began from China thousands of year ago, Lu Yu was a great tea master in Chinese history, but tea is a world drink today and tea has integrated in various cultures in the world beautifully; showing our respects to the historical wisdom, knowledge, sustainable humane values and eco-balance in environment is a collective responsibility of all tea lovers in the world today.
It is our pleasure to invite Hubei tea expert, Mr. Lin Mou who organizes the tea memorial ceremony at the Lu Yu Temple in TianMen, Hubei to join the 1st international online Tea Memorial Ceremony via Zoom meeting.
In the situation when we are not surrounding by ancient tea trees or wild forests, without Lu Yu status so our online memorial tea ceremony will not be the same as they organized in China, instead it will a online tea meditation event when we give ourselves a chance to reach the inner peace through tea and to enjoy a peaceful tea time to appreciate the serenity in mind.
This is a free of charge online memorial tea ceremony event for all tea lovers in the world.
Here is the link of Zoom meeting room:
Host Mei Lan Hsiao
Chinese Tea Master, Belgium Chinese Tea Culture Association
Co-Host Lin Mou
Lu Yu Culture Ambassador, Radio host of Hubei TV & Radio
We do apologize for the last minute invitation, this is the first time we organize such event online, but you can be rest assured it will only be a beautiful begin.
2-days workshop with Chinese Tea Master, Mei Lan Hsiao, in Berlin, Germany
Even though
there are more than 50 countries growing tea worldwide, but China remains as
the home of all tea types today. Among the 6+1 tea types, Oolong (Qing Cha 青茶) probably does not have the longest history but is the tea type that
has most attractive characters with complex multiple layers of flavors and
tastes.
Oolong tea,
in general, is known as semi-fermented tea, however there are more regional
factors influence the best suit for Oolong tea. Type of tea leaves used from which unique tea
tree cultivars in which season create different flavors and tastes. Also Oolong tea has higher quality demands on
MaoCha and the later roasting process.
Tea tree cultivar
can be migrated, and production processes can be learned or copied, but Oolong
tea can not be duplicated , Good quality Oolong tea demands not only diligently
production control, it requires good quality tea leaves from healthy tea trees;
and healthy tea trees relies on an eco-balanced growing environment and
conditions.
There are vase choices in Oolong tea and there are amazing stories about the Nature and people behind each tea leaf. The WKP Natural Eco-Tea Garden definitely is an interesting one for Oolong tea lovers.
In this
2-days Oolong Tea Workshop in Berlin, you will not only have more information and
also learn-by-tasting Oolong tea from Fujian, Canton and Taiwan in depth.
2-Day
Workshop Program Outlines:
What make Oolong tea unique?
How organic is true organic?
Difference in Eco-tea garden vs. organic tea garden
Critical production processes influence the flavors and tastes
Adaptable tea brewing for light- vs. traditional oxidized fermentation
oolong
Tea, philosophies and enlightenment practice through tea cover all aspects to reach peace and harmony in body and mind through continued self-discipline and act on morals are critical principles in the mental and health cultivations in Chinese tea culture for Way of Tea (Chinese Cha Dao 中華茶道). The emphasis in Chinese tea culture is not limited to health, in fact, it covers much broader in the social cultur level and the spiritual civilization level in depth.
Wu-Wei (無為) is based on ancient Taoism philosophy, it literally means “inexertion”
or “inaction” that commonly referred to an ideal form of leadership. The concept of Wu-Wei (無為) emphases respecting to the Nature, the behavior modification and
corrections in mentality and behaviors, starting from self before imposing on
others. Inaction sounds passive, but actually it sets higher standards for
proactive thinking and behaviors.
In the time
when we have great concern about the ecological balance in the Nature and how
it affects our life, perhaps we should try to understand the level of
interactive relationships and responsibilities behind the philosophical text
written by the ancient Chinese political and philosopher, Guanzi:
The heaven dominates the righteous, the earth dominates the peace and man dominates the calmness
天主正, 地主平, 人主平靜 .
These two Chinese characters, Wu-Wei 無為, are easy to translate individually but difficult to implement in reality two words together without comprehending the meaning of Wu-Wo 無我 (Selfless).
The “I” is not in “Me”, but in “Everyone”
The
philosophy in Wu-Wo Cha Dao 無我茶道 is not limited to
how to perform the Chinese tea ceremony. The aim of Wu-Wo Cha Dao workshop aims
to build and to correct the potential learning blocks through shaping behaviors,
enhancing morals, enlightening calm and peace in body and mind.
形不正, 德不來; 中不靜, 心不治. 敬除其捨, 精將自來.
Each Wu-Wo Tea Gathering is an unique opportunity for tea
lovers to get together when to share a moment of peace and harmony through tea.
一期一會
In the
Wu-Wo Cha Dao Workshop we start from the learning on how to prepare, to brew
and to serve tea, meanwhile it goes far deeper to examine the wisdom in water, the
practice of peace and harmony through self-disciplinary processes and social
behaviors, and implementing the undifferentiating attitude through a circle of energy.
2-Day
Workshop Program Outlines:
What is Dao
Enlightenment through Tea
Wisdom in Water
Alignment in Body and Mind
Incorporate with Breath Exercise
Meditation with Tea
Tea Setting for Wu-Wo tea ceremony
Rules and principles to follow in Wu-Wo Cha Dao
Building a Peaceful Circle of Tea
Remarks:
The program emphases Leaning-by-Doing, therefore lots of intensive
exercises, reflections and exercises
Dressing code: Loose and comfortable
We will provide tea during the workshop, but the final exercise we encourage
participants to bring their own tea and tea ware
Participants should bring:
Yoga mate and
meditation cushion
Tea ware (Gaiwan or
small teapot)
For the final exercise, participants should bring:
The original meaning of Wu-Wo 無我 meant to vent the self-ego, therefore, the appropriate translation of this look-as-if simple but actually is very deep and complex wisdom that respect highly in Buddhism and Daoism. One who tries to understand it would understand it looks simple but actually requires a lot of disciplines, learning and practices in life.
How to translate such complex wisdom in simple words is not an easy task. In case much translate it into other languages, personally will choose to use :
“Venting Self” in English
“Sans Moi” in French
“Zonder Mij” in Dutch
Of coruse, Wu-Wo 無我 is still my personal preference, because there are much richer and deeper wisdom from Chinese traditional Taoism, Buddhism and teachings from Confuscianism for us to learn how to make this world a better place.
Before either organizing or participating such tea gathering event, participants should understand the necessarity of attending series of workshops before can possibly enjoy a peaceful zen moment in an opened environment.
Please consult Mei Lan Hsiao for more practical information and advise
Erhu is a classical Chinese musical instructment. It looks simple with two strings but it can touch the deepest feeling in heart and enlighthen the emotion in life.
This is our pleasure to have Ms. Wang Ying-Chieh and Ms. Adilia Yip to perform an unique music concert of Erhu in our centre.
This is a close encounter with Erhu, a moment of Ch’an (Zen) and tea.
The program includes not only classical musical performance of Erhu, we also practice meditation while enjoying music and then close with a Chinese tea ceremony.
Wind passes without leaving a trace and time won’t stop.
The parents are growing older every minute with your growing;
don’t wait too long to show your gratitude to your loving parents. because time won’t wait.
15 August is the “Mother Day” in Antwerp.
Sharing a moment and serving a cup of tea to your mother is the most inexpensive and priceless gift to show your forever gratitude.
As a migrant to Belgium because of marriage, Mei Lan left her most dearest parent behind. She chooses to show her gratitude and love to her mother and father by honoring the fundamental Chinese traditional moral teaching – 孝 (Xiao) filial – that she learnt from her parent in the childhood upbringing by sharing the wisdom from the Chinese traditional tea ceremony with Belgian and/or international children (young and/or old) with their parents.
Children at different age learn how to show their gratitude and love to their mother (or father) with a cup of tea. Feel the flow of love without speaking a word.
Of coruse, Wu-Wo 無我 is still my personal preference, because there are much richer and deeper wisdom from Chinese traditional Taoism, Buddhism and teachings from Confuscianism for us to learn how to make this world a better place.
