A Taste of China Ep. 3: Fujian’s Mountain Teas and Cuisine (Event #50)
Tea connects the billions of Chinese who consume it today in much the same way as they have for centuries. In recent years, ancient ceremonial traditions have been revived by Chinese seeking deeper connections with the past.
On December 15, travel live with us to Fujian, the coastal province that serves as one of China’s most important tea-producing hubs. The province’s cuisine, famous for its fresh seafood dishes, is one of China’s eight great culinary traditions. This event is co-hosted with the China Institute.
SPEAKERS:
Cindy Chen
Originally from Guangdong and from a family of tea growers, Cindy Cheng created WuyiOrigin, a tea company that sells tea wholesale to tea shop owners across China, together with her husband. She grew up in a small village in Wuyi County, in a family of tea farmers who have been making tea for generations. Her husband, who comes from Raoping County near Guangdong’s Chaozhou City, comes from a tea family that produced Phoenix Dan Cong tea. Their goal is to eventually sell to tea drinkers all over the world. At present WuyiOrigin only sells teas that are processed by the family’s processes, so Cindy knows the background of our teas from ground to leaf to cup.
Carolyn Phillips
Carolyn Phillips is an author, artist, and food scholar, who serves on the James Beard Award’s Book Awards Committee, after being twice nominated. She is best known for her two books on China’s cuisines: All Under Heaven: Recipes from the 35 Cuisines of China and The Dim Sum Field Guide: A Taxonomy of Dumplings, Buns, Meats, Sweets, and Other Specialties of the Chinese Teahouse. Her upcoming memoir, At the Chinese Table: A Memoir with Recipes will be published by W. W. Norton in June 2021.
Shunan Teng
Shunan Teng is the founder and CEO of Tea Drunk, a New York City based tea house that has become a destination for those seeking exceptional tea and tea knowledge. Shunan is known for her relentlessness in-the-field pursuit of tea knowledge and her work in preserving Chinese tea traditions. She travels to historic tea mountains in China every year to harvest and make tea alongside the heritage farmers. She is an avid educator on tea and has spoken on the subject matter at many companies and institutions including Yale University, Christie’s, Van Cleef & Arpels, World Tea Expo, and Stony Brook University. Teng collaborated with the Metropolitan Museum of Art to execute a temporary Chinese tea house in the museum and is the educator for TED Ed lesson – The History of Tea.
Brought to you by WildChina & China Institute
Hosts
Dorinda ElliottDirector of Programs and Center for Business at the China InstituteDorinda Elliott is the SVP, Director of Programs and Center for Business at the China Institute. Before joining China Institute, Elliott worked as editorial and communications director at the Paulson Institute, which promotes U.S.-China relations and sustainable growth in both countries.
Elliott worked as a journalist for some 30 years, with a deep background in China. She wrote for the BusinessWeek magazine, then served as Beijing bureau chief for Newsweek magazine. Elliott later lived in Hong Kong for a decade, traveling and reporting across China. Elliott was Newsweek Bureau Chief in Beijing, Moscow, and Hong Kong, then Asia Editor. As Editor-in-Chief of Asiaweek from 2000-2001, she relaunched the magazine with a new focus on China and business. Elliott was later an Assistant Managing Editor at Time magazine, then Global Affairs Editor at Condé Nast Traveler, where she wrote about China, global issues, and corporate social responsibility. Elliott graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in East Asian Studies.
Mei ZhangFounder and CEO of WildChinaMei Zhang is the founder and CEO of WildChina. Under her leadership, WildChina flourished from a small Hutong operation into an award-winning business. Mei’s own expertise has led her to win a number of personal awards, including Travel and Leisure’s A-List of Top Travel Advisors, Condé Nast Traveler’s Top Travel Specialist, and Wendy Perrin’s #WOW List of Travel Experts. Mei is an Aspen Institute China Fellow and currently serves as a member of Harvard Business School’s Alumni Board.
