On November 20th 2025, Chinese teacher of the Confucius Institute of Artois Qiu Shuzhen was invited to Raymond Queneau High School in Lille to conduct a Chinese tea ceremony workshop. The three-hour activity was attended by 41 Chinese learners of the school.
The workshop comprised two parts: an introduction to tea culture and a tea tasting session. First, Ms. Qiu began by discussing the Western translations of the Chinese character for “tea,” leading into explanations of the “Silk Road” and “Maritime Silk Road,” and then elaborated on the global dissemination of Chinese tea. Next, the students learned about the names, characteristics, and cultivation regions of China's six major tea categories. Finally, using specific examples, Ms. Qiu introduced the role of tea in the Chinese daily necessities of “firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea” and its importance among the refined pursuits of “music, Chinese Go, calligraphy, painting, poetry, wine, flowers, and tea ceremony.”
During the tea tasting session, Ms. Qiu presented two varieties of Chinese oolong tea and engaged students in a discussion about similarities and differences in leisure lifestyles between China and France. Additionally, Ms. Qiu designed some engaging questions to encourage student participation. Through the tea tasting process, everyone gained a deeper understanding of the tea tasting steps and learned practical tea ceremony knowledge—such as the phrases “Please enjoy the tea” in Chinese and the proper hand gestures for receiving tea—through hands-on experience.
The workshop invited the Chinese learners at this high school to appreciate the charm of Chinese tea, sparking their further curiosity and interest in Chinese culture. It was warmly welcomed by the school's Chinese teachers and students.
