In an office on Kankou Street (甘育街) in Taipei's Tatung district, Wang Tuan-kai (?y景Y渤Z) gazes at the solemn and peaceful face of a wooden statue of Matsu (鈇敞? -- the "guardian angel" of his business.
"The tea business is different from other businesses, you know," he says. "We don't worship Matsu on her birthday, which falls on March 23 on the lunar calendar. Instead we celebrate it on Sept. 22, when the tea season ends and tea merchants have more time to take a break and pray."
Wang, a tea merchant himself and executive administrator of the Taipei Tea Merchants' Association (
The 80-year-old statue is one of the many items to be displayed during the event. Also on display will be different kinds of export tea containers during various periods, member directories, trading documents, certificates and posters dating back to the Japan-ese colonial period.
The event will open to the public at 2pm, with riddles testing participants' knowledge about tea, followed by a walking tour of eight old tea shops in Tataocheng (
Wang said there is a very good reason for Taiwanese tea merchants to pay homage to Matsu.
"Early tea merchants had to travel cross the Taiwan Strait to do business during the tea season, which runs from May to September. Because Matsu is the goddess protecting fishermen and rice farmers, tea merchants pay divine honor to her, hoping they can also be guarded by the mercy of the goddess," he said.
Tsai Ah-tien (
"My grandfather was so afraid of being poor that he thought why not growing tea and yams, two of the most profitable crops at that time," he said.
For readers interested in more information about the event, please call: (02) 2555-7598 in Taipei.
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