Almost time to harvest the spring tea and to plant new tea! Across different parts of China, tea plantations have been holding the customary "Mountain Calling" ceremony. And this year, something new and special happened! Friends from abroad were invited to the Jingshan tea plantation in Hangzhou to participate in this ancient tradition.                         

The ritual known as 'Mountain Calling' is a profound prayer for blessings that extends over a millennium. Tea farmers believed a long while ago that they could communicate with the gods of tea and mountain by yelling to the mountains, thus ensuring a bountiful harvest of tea. Come early spring, farmers of tea would gather to perform the equivalent of a multi-deity, pre-battle speech. They would set the scene by offering incense, tea, and other items to invite the deities to the pantheon that includes the gods invoked during the 'Huan Cha,' or 'Scented Tea,' ritual. And then, in good tea-farmer spirits, they would call to the mountain, asking with their best and loudest voices for nice weather and a bountiful harvest.                                                     

This year, a group of international students in Hangzhou participated in Jingshan's 'Mountain Calling' ceremony. These students hail from cultures where tea is consumed in a much more simplified form. They typically make tea using tea bags. But prior to Jingshan's Mountain, what these students probably knew about Chinese tea could hardly fill a teacup. Yet, on the day of the event, they ventured out of the classroom and into the nearby tea fields to experience firsthand the lushness and liveliness of those terraced hills. They tasted real Chinese tea, and some of them even gave the ancient art of tea whisking a try. The highlight of the event? Joining the Jingshan Farmers in the ceremonial shout. At that moment, they grasped the understanding that tea in China is so much more than a drink.