Most probably it's The Karate Kid, the martial art hit film starring Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita and Elisabeth Shue; but I saw that film in the 80s and that seems so long ago that I could be mistaken; perhaps it 's just another Hollywood movie that romanticized the ritualized Japanese tea drinking ceremony. I remember though that it surprised me tremendously to find tea drinking ceremony being associated with the Japanese. After all, it was the Chinese who introduced tea to the world and the truth is that there is a tea drinking ceremony in several aspects of a Chinese life. In Hong Kong triad movies for example, one may see scenes of people pouring tea to make apologies to triad bosses; indeed that's in Chinese culture that people pour tea for the people they have wronged and whom they are seeking apologies but when talking about tea drinking ceremony, I have always thought that it is the one practised in traditional Chinese marriage ceremony. Just the other day, I watched again an episode of the Taiwanese TV series, Mother's home in YouTube and there is this wedding scene. There should be a tea drinking ceremony here where the bride and groom kneel in front of their parents and other older relatives and serve them tea. The parents and relatives will usually drink a small portion of the tea and then give them an ang pow, a red envelope containing money or valuables.The tea drinking ceremony will be performed at the homes of both the bride and bridegroom and to both set of parents and ther respective relatives and the ang pow, in the house of the bride, is given by the bride's parents and other relatives to the bridegroom and in the house of the bridegroom, is given by the bridegroom's parents and other relatives to the daughter-in-law. In the wedding scene in Mother's home though, the bride and bridegroom are seen kneeling down and bowing but no tea drinking ceremony is depicted. Perhaps, there are variations to the tea drinking ceremony in Chinese wedding throughout the world. In Malaysia, for example, I don'tremember seeing the bride and bridegroom kneeling; they stand and serve the tea while the elders sit down. Anyway, have a look at this wedding scene from Mother's home and while you are at it, enjoy the Hokkien song! A Wedding Scene from the Taiwanese series, Mother's Home...
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