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From a Westerner's point of view, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is old fashioned and perhaps even obsolete. The methods are usually different from Western Medicine and can often seem like they come from fantasy novels. A closer look, however, can show someone with an open mind that some of the practices make a certain amount of sense.
The first thing to understand with TCM is the ways it differs from Western Medicine. The two main ways it differs are in diagnosis of ailments, and treatments. In Western Medicine, doctors often use symptoms as a means to isolate the organ that is causing problems. This approach can be short sighted, in that a medication that fixes a problem in one organ, can cause another organ to have problems. This can result in patients either taking a bunch of medications to fix the side effects of the first medication, or having to decide which symptoms and side effects they can live with. In TCM, symptoms are seen as an imbalance in the body. Medicines are given to return the body to balance. Looking at the body as a whole allows the practitioner to lessen symptoms while creating minimal side effects.
Treatments in TCM are where Westerners start becoming skeptical. Instead of a pills, syrups and injections, TCM focuses on herbal medicines, food cures, and massage. While certain things can be easy to accept (ie, such and such herbal tea contains anti-oxidents, therefore it's good for treating certain symptoms), Westerners usually remain skeptical because of some of the more extreme medicines used in TCM (ie, powdered seahorse, rhino horns, shark fins). This is where my theory regarding TCM comes into play. Do research before trying a TCM treatment and use only the ones you are comfortable with.
I personally drink certain herbal teas because I either know their properties or can believe that their reported properties work. Certain teas are helpful to your body and that can be proven. Food cures can be similar to what a Western nutritionist will tell you. And who is going to argue that a massage isn't good for most people? Take the herbal medicines and food cures that seem right to you and refer to Western Medicine for any symptoms you can't treat with TCM. I will be posting articles on certain teas and herbs that can be used to help keep your body in balance over the next few weeks. I hope you come back to read them and give them a try.
 In China, there are seven daily necessities: firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and, yes, you guessed it, tea! The tea culture in China is a vital part of Chinese history and its culture. China’s tea culture differs from that of other countries such as America or even Europe.
I’ve seen your avid tea drinkers—you know, the ones who routinely set up shop in cafés like Starbucks and gulp their tea while typing on their laptops.
In China, it’s a little bit different, though. OK, it’s a lot different. Tea in China is not always served as a beverage. There is tea drinking and tea tasting.
Tea drinking is like drinking Coca-Cola only with more culture and tradition. Tea drinking is also served for healing purposes when someone has fallen ill. Tea tasting, however, demonstrates the Chinese culture in that of humanity and nature must unite. Tea and the tea utensils must compliment the atmosphere that one is in.
While reading on the tea culture in China, I discovered many customs for tea.
A Sign of Respect
As many of us know, the respect level in China sits on a high platform. The younger generation always serves their elders by offering them a cup of tea. As a conventional activity, on many holidays, the younger generation not only invites their elders out for tea, but pays for it as well.
A Sign of Apology
In China, pouring a cup of tea for someone who you’ve hurt is equivalent to saying, “I’m sorry.”
Weddings
In habitual Chinese wedding ceremonies, the bride and groom kneel before their parents and present them with tea as thanks for their upbringings. The bride also presents tea to her parents-in-law which symbolizes her becoming a part of their family.
Family Functions
Once married, the sons and daughters occasionally visit their parents which is why going out and drinking tea with their parents is vital. Therefore, on Sundays, you can find many Chinese restaurants packed with families.
The tea culture doesn’t solely stop at indulging it. Tea is of such high importance that it appears in many art works and writings. Yet, the tea culture differs in many parts of China. Despite the differences that may occur, it is agreed that tea in China, from the rich to the poor, is very spiritual, appeasing and hold high values.
In the history of tea, it’s a long one. And as for its birthplace in Yunnan, China, I couldn’t think of a more idyllic one.
As I posted earlier, I recently visited tea’s historic roots, both physical and mythical, in Yunnan. A unique province, for sure, Yunnan is tea central for any tea buyer, casual drinker or coinsurers. And as for the traveler, it’s a prized gift-buying paradise—tea—something people back home will actually use.
 Pu’er. Dian Hong. Words worth gold in the Chinese tea world, both are notable revered specialties of Yunnan. You’ll find each and more in any teahouse in the region. And as a traveler, I tried them all.
Here’s what to know:
The first, Dian hong, is more readily known in English as “Yunnan Red”. Despite its name, Dian hong is a Chinese black tea that is defined as different from other teas by its elements, which include fine leaf buds also called golden tips that appear in its final production. It’s a high-end tea that finds company in the fermentation process with lychee, rose and more. Its flavor profile perhaps states it best; sweet, gentle with little bitterness to follow. It falls under three varieties, the best two being Golden Yunnan or Yunnan Pure Gold.
Pu’er, known as a dark tea, comes in many varieties, grades and age. Differentiated in simple terms as either raw (sheng) or ripened (shou); Pu’er, also spelled as Pu’erh, is a tea like a wine, it becomes better with age. Its merits are many, among taste, but most factually, its health benefits are the easiest to flout. Pu’er has scientifically been proven to reduce blood cholesterol, and its thousand year roots in Chinese medicine also lay claim to more: it aids digestion, facilitates weight loss and detoxifies the body. In Yunnan, you can find it compressed in many fashions, including pillars, bowls, bricks, even hollow bamboo shoots, but most commonly, it’s sold in a round saucer form, making it perfect for a package overseas.
Check out the link below to purchase Yunnan’s specialties closer to home.
California Tea House Yunnan Tea Collection
 I've always wanted to visit Yunnan, China's southern-most province. A place named for its clouds, but more notably known for its immense mountains, it's easy to like. And as you learn by living in China, you become the envy of any Chinese national just by spending a day there.
Once I arrived, I knew just why; besides lush valleys and mountains, Yunnan holds much more—tea—some of the world’s best too.
Admittedly however, tea had only been an afterthought in my original plan. I was there to hike China’s most famous trail, Tiger Leaping Gorge, a legend of a name for the wise tiger that leapt across the Yangtze in what has been called the world’s deepest gorge.
Yet, as I hiked and traveled through Yunnan, I  discovered I was following another trail, a lesser-known Silk Road: the Tea-Horse Caravan, or at least the reminisces of it.
Simply named, it involved, the prized exchange of tea from Yunnan and warhorses from Tibet, with some trade even extending into the upper reaches of India and beyond. For a thousand years until shortly after WWII, the caravan persisted.
Today, the stories and its remnants still thrive in Yunnan. Along the Tiger Leaping Gorge trail, one of the guesthouses bears its name. An abandoned donkey stall still stands in one of the key trading towns. And indeed, inside the teahouses I saw the traces of the tea caravan, its history actually sketched on a compressed round of tea.
The ancient tea trade may be gone, but its taste certainly isn’t. If you get a chance to go to Yunnan, go! Tea awaits you at every door and if the outdoors beckons, Tiger Leaping Gorge is unforgettable. Of course, if tea is really what you’re after, the guesthouses on the trail offer a free cup after a long day’s trek, sometimes even with a nip of fresh mint, my favorite.
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I’ve never been great at origami, but if it means not slaving over keigo (敬語), honorifics, or memorizing hundreds of kanji ( 漢字), Chinese characters, in Japanese class – I’ll try it!
In Iowa, high schools and colleges joined together to make 1 million cranes to send to Japan to show support. And so, our sensei (先生) taught us how to make paper cranes.
Mine didn’t turn out so well... but I am still proud of it!
I previously wrote on the safety of Japanese imported tea after radioactive contamination fears. In my research, the affected areas of Japan were not the major tea growing prefectures.
So which ones are?
Japan has 47 prefectures – three of which grow the majority of Japanese green tea – Shizuoka, Kagoshima, and Mie.
Shizuoka is located between Mt. Fuji and the Pacific coast west of Tokyo. This area actually accounts for 40% of Japan’s commercial production each year!
Kagoshima is located in southern Kyushu, in the far southwest of Japan; this area produces around 20% of tea leaves. Lastly, is Mie, which is located in central Japan.
Japan was influenced by China’s culture, and created their own tea culture, now Japanese sencha (煎茶) is a major mainstay tea in Japan and in America as well.
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