A Dedicated Land Caretaker

Our ecological spirituality tour included a two-day visit to Shifan Tea Plantation in New Taipei City. There we enjoyed the experience of tea picking, tea processing and making delicious snacks with tea. Above all, we learned a lot about land use and ecology from Mr. Chan Ding Hong, the owner, who, as we all agree, is a lover of Nature and a dedicated caretaker of land.

Guided by Mr. Chan, we had a try of tea rolling, one of the steps of tea processing. It involved rubbing a number of fresh tea leaves between our palms. After some time we were amazed to find on the palms an oily film which gave out a very good tea fragrance. This, according to Mr. Chan, was the sap that had oozed out. Then Mr. Chan knelt on the floor and demonstrated the proper way to do it. As if performing a magic trick, he threw on the flat-bottomed basket a big heap of tea leaves, ten times the amount we had dealt with, and kept rolling it back and forth until it became a moist ball. We were then told that the purpose of the rolling action was to enhance the taste of the tea. All our tea leaves were then put into a glass bottle, and, one by one, we were invited to pour water into it. This was the tea brewing process and the tea was expected to be ready for consumption in a day’s time.

The visit to the tea field later that afternoon was another experience of novelty and interest. Equipped with the pickers’ straw hats and baskets, we were shown to a part of the field where there were neatly aligned tea bushes less than a meter high. As instructed, we took great care to pick the top leaves, three at a time, leaving the tiny, tender ones to grow to a proper size. It being a labour-intensive process, as we came to know, a lot of seasonal workers are hired in due time, helping out in one field after another.

On the tour round the plantation, Mr. Chan told us his story about giving up his professional expertise in civil engineering all because of his love for organic farming. He had decided to come back to take care of the plantation which his father had founded. He stressed the importance of land conservation. In his opinion, land does not belong to any special person. In ancient China, the Emperor owned all the land in the country but now not one of his descendants has a chunk of land to his name. In fact, every one of the inhabitants on earth has the right to the land. He, therefore, appealed to us to take good care of the land lest we should deprive our future generations of usable land, which is their right. It is important to maintain soil health so that it can continue to sustain biological productivity. Genetic engineering to improve quality and productivity of crops could pose a threat to the soil condition and should, therefore, be banned. We were so much inspired by his sharing that we even had it video-recorded to remind ourselves and others of the importance of land conservation.

In Mr. Chan I see a person of lofty aspirations. And, though he is not a Christian, what he has been doing is reminiscent of a message from Pope Francis’ encyclical letter “Care for Our Common Home” - The best way to restore men and women to their rightful place, putting an end to their claim to absolute dominion over the earth, is to speak once more of the figure of a Father who creates and who alone owns the world (57). 

Now whenever I am enjoying a cup of tea, I think of a friend who shows us with his own exemplary deeds how we should respect  and treasure land as part of God’s creation.