As someone who grew up in China, the homeland of tea, and influenced by my family, drinking tea is an essential part of my daily life. Whenever I drink tea, its aroma always reminds me of spending time with my family. In the UK, drinking tea creates a connection with a home for me.

Most tea is produced in China. After planting, picking, and processing, tea is transported globally for sale. The migration of Chinese tea to Britain can be traced back to the 17th century. The British added milk and sugar cubes to tea, forming the style of afternoon tea based on black tea, and developed a unique British tea-drinking culture. However, in China, people prefer to drink pure tea and enjoy the bitterness of the tea itself.

Tea can represent the collective memory of a region and a community in China. In the UK, Chinese students are immersed in different cultures, but tea becomes the connection point between the two. The cross-cultural spread of tea made me curious about the associations of tea in different cultures, so for this project, I used tea as the main subject, looking at how tea drinking is associated with memories and culture. I produced a video showing the making and drinking of tea, intertwined with people telling personal and collective memories about tea to explore the relationship between people's migration and tea. The video also presents the voices of people from multiple cultures speaking about the ritual of tea drinking.