Writes of Passage

One of my classmates from Beijing has a tea farm in Georgia, the country. We’ve been talking casually to go there but when I asked her where her tea farm is, she never replies.

According to 中国茶经 (1991; The Chinese Tea Classic), China 我国是世界上最早发现和利用茶叶的国家 China is the first country in the world to discover and utilize tea.

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Georgia had long history before becoming part of Soviet Union (USSR) in 1921, left USSR in 1991 and the current constitution began in 1995. Their capital and largest city is Tbilisi; the population of the country is 3,914,000 (2024 census). It’s part of Europe, bordering Eastern Europe and West Asia, on the Black Sea.

SGS.com and SGSonline are professional third-party testing, inspection and certification agency (专业第三方测试、检验和认证机构). What kind of credential does this SGS have? Where are they located?

Pu’er (Pu Erh 普洱茶) is native  to Yunnan Province, that is made from the leaves of the 大叶种晒青毛茶 (Camellia sinensis var. assamica). It’s fermented, nether green (绿茶) nor black (红茶).

Maimai St, 40号香山公园内 邮政编码: 100093
Haidian District, Beijing

… more old pix here

One of the parks I went often: taken there by family members; on school outings; going there with friends and schoolmates. The foliage is particularly enchanting. It’s also known as Fragrant Hills, Western Hills.

It came from an imperial garden (1186) at the foot of the Western Hills in the Haidian District, not far from Wanan Cemetery.

Nowadays, people mountain people sea 人山人海. The last time I was in Beijing, shortly before outbreak of Covid-19 (2019) and saw the tour buses lined up the narrow streets when I went to visit my ancestors at WanAn Cemetery.

A few places I still remember:

• 香山碧雲寺
• 鬼见愁, the main hill 香山的主峰,又叫香炉峰,海拔557米

We usually went to have lunch at Moscow Restaurant, either before or after visiting the Zoo.

By Aileen Wang

No.1 Zhongguancun South Street
Haidian District 1/F,
Beijing Youyi Hotel,
Beijing 100873 China

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This was the old imperial family home where emperors had ruled since 1420. It’s the center of Beijing (east of Zhongnanhai 中南海), flanked by Jingshan Park, Beihai Park, Zhongshan Park and Imperial Ancestral Temple 太庙.

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The park was a former imperial altar, that is southwest of the Forbidden City in Beijing.

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44 Jingshan W St, 景山 Xicheng District,
Beijing, China, 100009

This park is north of Palace Museum and east of Beihai Park in the heart of Beijing.

福利楼 fulilou in Zhongguancun also housed a bakery, 中关村茶点部. I took the first photo during my visit in 2014. The rest were taken by Aileen, thank you.

• Lilac’s bread

Someone wrote about it in 2017.

Photos are from my first grade classmate Yan Dee -:)