School brings ancient tea culture into the classroom
Students learn Apo tea culture.
Over the years, the Shangta Primary School in Qingpu District has promoted the culture of Apo tea, or grandma's tea.
Grandma's tea has long played a significant role in local rituals. It is served on occasions like weddings, engagement parties, birthdays, baby showers, college exam success, Chinese New Year and the ceremonies celebrating the building of a new house.
The school has set up an exhibition hall to promote this special local culture.
Entering the exhibition hall, visitors will be immediately attracted by a rural-style stove, as if people instantly traveled back to the 1980s when grandmas boiled water and prepared the tea.
The school has given the ancient culture a new appearance through establishing a grandma's tea culture research association and inheritance base, cultivating a tea community, developing a tea instruction course, holding a tea-culture festival and conducting themed educational activities.
There are many legends associated with the origins of grandma's tea.One involves a mysterious grandmother who planted tea trees on a mountainside and always shared her tea with villagers. In memory of her, the villagers named the tradition of having afternoon tea after her, and it was passed on down generations.
Another popular legend has it that Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) once visited Shangta on a scorching day, flanked by bodyguards. Thirsty and tired, the procession came upon a group of elderly women sitting around sipping tea together and eating sunflower seeds.
Longing for a drink and using the word for "granny," the emperor cried out, "Apo, tea!" The women, not knowing his identify, provided him with drink, and he thanked them profusely.
