What's the tea at Tea City?

Student Blog by Isaac W., Nicholas P., and Fiona L.

This week, the Shanghai Language and Cultural students took a trip to Tea City.

Tea City (茶城) is known for being THE pleace to drink and buy special teas. Tea is a very big part of both traditional amd contemporary Chinese culture, so it makes sense that there would be a place dedicated to tea. I sampled a variety of teas from black tea (红茶) to Jasmine flower tea (茉莉花茶) to even fruit tea (水果茶). Personally, I really enjoyed drinking 茉莉花茶. Nick liked fermented black tea and Fiona loved ginseng tea. In the CIEE Language and Culture programs, we have a daily assignment called "Cultural Connections" (CC), which involve asking locals a few specified questions in the country's native language. These assignments are really helpful for becoming more comfortable in the country's native language and 茶城 was a great place to complete them for the day. The shopkeepers (老板) were especially friendly and inviting. During my time at Tea City, I was given the opportunity to engage in a cultural exchange across the friendly field of a tea table. The woman put her tea making skills in action and demonstrated how she earned the title of 老板.

Here's a photo of me with her:

I always enjoy speaking chinese with locals because it's a great way to improve my language skills as well as make new relationships.

If you plan on traveling to Shanghai, I'd definitely recommend going to 茶城！

And that's all the tea on our trip to 茶城! Thanks for tuning into to this student blog.