Harmony, Respect, Purity, Silence——The Essence of GDUFS’s Tea Club

It is hard to find the tea room hidden somewhere in the lawns, on the first floor of the 5^th Teaching Building, an inconspicuous building. But when you find it, you’ll discover something special.

The tea room adopts the architectural design of a traditional Japanese tea room. Following the tenet of “Harmony, Respect, Purity, Silence”, it uses logs without any decoration to give people a sense of intimacy and humility. The floor near the entrance of the tea room is wooden, and tatami inside. Only people wearing white socks are allowed on the tatami. This is not only to avoid dirtying the tatami, white symbolizes purity. People entering the tea room are expected to leave all the clutter of life, and just enjoy the way of the tea.

In addition to having to wear white socks, there are tons of rules in tea room. People entering the tea room must tie up their hair, wear knee skirts or trousers, and mustn’t wear any jewelry including wrist watch. Many people will ask “What’s the point of doing this?” But in the tea room no one will give you a standard answer. You can only experience the meaning of “Ichigo Ichie” (The people you meet today may be gone tomorrow, so cherish the time while you have it.). And within the tea room is a place of special significance – the tokonoma, a simple flower arrangement and a hanging axis. But each selection has its own special meaning to be reflected in, the theme of each activity.

The delicate hanging arrangement of flowers

The Tea Club is staffed mainly by teachers and students from GDUFS’ Japanese department: a relationship built on harmony, support, and mutual respect. The Tea Club is divided into five groups: the flower group, sweets group, film group, kimono group and handcraft group. They hold a Tea ceremony every week, using the tokonoma to convey its particular theme. Before the Tea ceremony, the flower group picks the appropriate flowers for the meeting - but they can’t buy flowers at the florists or invade someone’s garden. They will seek every corner at GDUFS just to find the desired flowers such as jasmine and snow azalea. These help to create the perfect atmosphere for drinking tea, along with Japanese sweets brought by the club’s sweets group.

College juniors preparing for their Retirement Tea ceremony

The Retirement Tea ceremony is among the club’s most important activities – an ending celebration, prepared mainly by the Junior Students, of their departure after two years in the Tea Club. It will be divided into two days: one day for the teacher they want to be grateful to, and the other day for the family members and friends they want to invite. Between these two days they will hold a reflection session. The Retirement Tea ceremony is a perfect opportunity to prepare tea for guests, and show the skills they’ve learned over these three years.

In Tea Club, everyone immerses themselves in contemplative, relaxed atmosphere. They feel the “Harmony, Respect, Purity, and Silence” of the way of the tea, cherishing everything they meet and all the moments they have together.