Together with Germany's Elbe-Elster District Museum Association and Historic Museums Hamburg Foundation, the Cultural Division of the Taipei Representative Office in Germany will organize the "Formosa Tea Festival 2022 (2022福爾摩沙茶文化節)" in the Elbe-Elster district, Germany, from March 24 to June 6.
As part of Germany's local literature festival "Litera Tour," the event introduces Taiwanese tea culture revolving around the theme of "Folk Literature of Taiwan's Tea Gardens—Sio-Po-Kua (臺灣茶山俗文學—相褒歌)."
Unique to Taiwan, sio-po-kua are traditional mountain songs that were chanted among the tea farmers of Pinglin, a mountainous area in southeastern New Taipei City famous for its Baozhong tea, while they picked tea leaves during the harvest season.
Besides featuring the photography work "Folk Literature of Taiwan's Tea Gardens – Singers of Sio-Po-Kua (臺灣茶山俗文學─相褒歌者群像)," taken by Taiwanese photographer Sim Chang (張哲榕), which shows people of all ages singing the "Sio-Po-Kua song" and the tea mountains that are mentioned in the songs, two rounds of tea ceremonies will be performed in Taiwanese-language and translated to German. In addition, the event will use Taiwan's unique tea tasting method to present the aroma and flavor of Baozhong tea from the northern tea region in Taiwan.
In October, the Formosa Tea Festival 2022 is scheduled to present the history of the interaction between Taiwan's tea region and Europe's largest tea processing port, Hamburg, at the Hamburg Museum of Work. Furthermore, the Museum of Arts and Crafts Hamburg, which is an indicator of exquisite craftsmanship, will hold an exhibition evaluating Taiwan’s fine tea.
Formosa Tea Festival 2022
Exhibition Date: March 24 － June 6
Exhibition Venue: Central Germany Marionette Theater Museum, Germany
Sio-Po-Kua sessions:
1. Date: March 24 at 19:00
Venue: Central Germany Marionette Theater Museum Bad Liebenwerda
Website: https://reurl.cc/mGKyZM
2. Date: March 25 at 19:00
Venue: Singer and Merchant Museum Finsterwalde
Website: https://reurl.cc/oeEyZj