我和周小芳

    今天是我学习举世闻名的四川长嘴茶壶茶艺的第一天。既紧张又激动。

    最先走进一间茶屋，由一位年轻的师傅给我上课，据说他是这里技艺最好的一位。我昨晚看过他的表演，可以称之为“神奇”。他们经理告诉我，除了这位师傅，还会有一个姑娘来教我。这样的话，我就可以掌握两种不同的技艺了。到目前为止，我发现小姑娘表演时动作更为细腻流畅，而小伙子的动作则更像是展示中国功夫，干净利落！

    到了下午，胡经理带我来到另一间茶舍，没想到我的另外一位师傅竟然是周小芳！周得过的许多荣誉，远近闻名，不仅如此，她还经常为中外政要表演技艺，其中包括新西兰女总理海伦-克拉克。所以当我听说她几乎不收徒弟，但这次却破例来教我，简直是太开心了。

中国茶艺大师——周小芳

向师傅敬茶

师傅展示茶艺

    拜师的仪式是徒弟向师傅敬一杯茶，听起来很简单但做起来却并不容易。他们先教我如何向周晓芳敬茶，说实话，出于对茶文化的敬重，也明白这个仪式意味着什么，整个过程我都很紧张。当师傅喝了我敬的茶，还称赞说味道不错时，我真的很开心，毕竟这杯茶我是发自内心，尽全力沏的。接下来的时间，周师傅教授了我一些关于茶文化和茶起源的课程，还展示了她那段著名的茶艺表演，这也是我接下来需要学习的。这段表演是周结合道教开创的，尽管动作很舒缓，但我认为同长嘴茶壶茶艺表演相比，这种表演更为深刻。因为它来自内心，体现了更多深层次的内涵和文化。

    很奇怪，记得小时候我是很喜欢咖啡味的东西，但当时我妈妈认为咖啡不利于儿童的成长，所以偶尔才允许我吃一点咖啡味的糖果或冰淇淋。等我长大后搬回亚洲，尽管咖啡的风潮瞬间席卷了台湾、香港和中国大陆，但我却更加倾心于茶。我发现其实我在很多方面都很传统。所以我非常高兴能有机会在成都，沉浸在自己的中华茶文化中，了解它的历史以及各种茶艺之道。

Today was my first day of class learning the famous Sichuan “long-billed” teapot.  First I went to one teahouse and took a lesson from a young sifu who is the best male performer, so I have been told.  I watched his performance last night, and it was amazing. The manager of them told me that I will be training both from him and a girl as well.  That way I can master both techniques.  So far the difference I see is that girls are more delicate and flowy with their moves, where as guys adapt kungfu moves, being swift and direct.

Later in the afternoon, Manager Hu took me to another one of their teahouses and surprised me by letting me know that Zhou Xiao Fang, who is quite famous for her many awards from competitions.  Also she is known for performing for government officials both in China and foreign countries, one of them being for the Prime Minister of Helen Clark.  So when I was told that she rarely accepts disciples “tudi” I was very honored and flattered.  This “sifu” and “disciple” bond is sealed by a ceremony in which the disciple must make a cup of tea for the sifu.  Sounds easy but it wasn’t.  They taught it to me and I was asked to repeat it for Zhou Xiao Fang.  To be honest, I was quite nervous since I respect China’s tea culture and how much it means to them.  I was quite happy when my sifu drank the tea I made for her and commented that it was good because I had made it from effort and coming from the heart.  Afterwards, I was given a few lessons on tea and its origins.  Also, Zhou Xiao Fang performed her famous tea serving technique which they told me that I would learn as well.  It is a technique that she created combining Taoism.  Although it is quite slow, I realized that compared to the long-billed teapot, this performance/ritual is so much deeper because it comes from within, and represents and exemplifies so much more.

It’s strange, I remember when I was a child and how much I loved coffee flavored things.  Back then my mom would only allow rare occasions of coffee flavored candy or ice cream due to her belief that coffee is not good for the growth of children.  And when I got older and moved to Asia, suddenly there was this coffee craze in Taiwan, Hong Kong and now in China but surprisely  I prefer to drink tea.  I am discovering more and more my roots and that I am actually very traditional in a lot of ways. So I am very excited to be in Chengdu and have this opportunity to immerse myself in the Chinese tea culture and learn its’ history as well as the various techniques of serving tea.