Tea meets wine as Chinese Language Day marked

An educational partnership between China and South Africa on April 19 brought Chinese tea culture to Cape Town's Groot Constantia, the oldest South African wine farm, to promote exchanges of cultures and celebrate the International Chinese Language Day.

Making tea and wine share similarities in that they both need dedication, hard work and craftsmanship, therefore the Confucius Institute for Chinese Medicine at University of the Western Cape held a tea event at a winery to boost exchanges between the two cultures, said the institute's director Zeng Liren, while making Chinese green tea for visitors.

The International Chinese Language Day is observed on April 20 every year since 2010, celebrating the language's contribution to the world while encouraging more people to learn it. April 20 marks guyu, "grain rain "or "rain of millet" in Chinese. Guyu is the sixth of the 24 solar terms in the traditional lunar calendar, the day when farmers start sowing.

Zeng, who is also a tea expert, explained that tea farmers in China produce one of the highest quality green teas around "grain rain", which is another reason for the tea event. The organizer provided Chinese tea of five major categories, including fresh green tea, and also introduced tea knowledge and the programs the institute offers. Ethnic costumes were also showcased during the event.

"You can taste tea here today or go for lovely wine tasting, or have lovely food pairing here, so it just adds to culture experience. I think it is a good idea," the winery's marketing assistant Karen Woodcock said.

It was a lovely culture event, she said, adding that the linkups between the East and the West, as well as South Africa and China, stretch back centuries.

The long-serving staff member of Groot Constantia said the wine farm, established in 1685, wants to keep itself authentically South African, but would like to add knowledge of Chinese culture, which is part of its history, as its manor house has a lot of Chinese furniture and artifacts.

She also hoped more wines from the winery will be exported to China.

"During (tea) tasting they told us about additional values, quality, background history and I found it was very interesting. And I think it reflects everything on Chinese culture as well, so I must say the whole experience, the tea tasting, is lovely, absolutely divine," said 21-year-old Dylan Matthew Smith from Stellenbosch University, outside Cape Town.

Across South Africa, various activities had been planned for this year's International Chinese Language Day. They were hosted by the Chinese embassy in South Africa and organized by Chinese-language organizations.