To celebrate the 114th International Working Women’s Day on March 8, the Tongji SEM Trade Union organized a tea party on the 15th floor of Tongji Building A on the afternoon of March 11. It was also the sixth special activity of the “Women’s Home” of Tongji SEM.

Ms. LIU Lina, a Shanghai non-heritage “tea culture” trainer, was invited to share her tea art course with the theme of “Full-blown Flowers in Four Seasons” in the activity. SEM teachers enthusiastically participated in the event and enjoyed a particularly meaningful “8 March” International Women’s Day tea tasting. 

At the beginning of the activity, Ms. DONG Bianlin, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Labour Union of Tongji SEM, extended her warm greetings and blessings to the female faculty and hoped that they would fully enjoy the festival.

The event began with a tea show, where everyone enjoyed the tea master’s demonstration of how to brew lotus tea, accompanied by meditative music. The tea master took a lotus flower and placed it in a transparent glass vessel. The bud slowly bloomed, curled up and smelled fresh.

Ms. Liu Lina also introduced the history and health knowledge of flower tea in detail. Led by the tea master, everyone experienced the brewing methods of different flower teas such as jasmine tea, lotus tea and white tea, etc. They tasted the fragrant tea, which was fragrant and had a long sweet aftertaste. While tasting the tea, everyone also enjoyed the traditional dessert of Song Dynasty, such as peach blossom pastry, and other Shanghai specialties.

Ms. Sophie SIMARD, Director of the International Development Department of Northern France Higher Business School, one of our partner institutions, was also invited to the tea party and experienced the Lotus Tea brewing process and enjoyed the unique charm of traditional Chinese tea culture with SEM teachers. She said that Chinese tea has deep cultural connotation and unique cultural beauty, from the production and brewing techniques to the matching tea utensils, and she was very happy to learn about Chinese tea culture with the staff of Tongji SEM.

During the tea party, each female teacher was given a copy of Blossoms Shanghai. At the same time, four male teachers and all female teachers were invited to perform the Shanghai version of the dubbing of the lines, recreating the classic scenes of Blossoms Shanghai. The lively and interesting performances won the applause of the audience, and everyone felt the cultural charm of the Shanghai dialect through laughter.

At the end of the party, each teacher received a tea bag, hoping that everyone can forget their worries, have a cup of tea, read and relax in their free time after work. In the future, the trade union of Tongji SEM will fully play its role, strengthen cultural construction, promote staff cohesion and contribute to the further development of SEM.