Twins Stage Tea Shows for Olympic Guests

Twin brothers Cheng Xiaojun and Cheng Xiaoheng started performing a tea ceremony at the Today Gallery in Beijing at 2:16 pm on August 18th, 2008. Among the audience was Mr. Juan Antonio Samaranch, the former president of International Olympic Committee, and a group of Japanese athletes. The performance won big cheers from the audience.

The 19-year-old brothers are from Wuyi, a rural county in central Zhejiang Province. Upon graduation from a vocational school in the county, the brothers came to work in Beijing. Since August, 2007, they have been studying with Yin Hanqing, a prominent artist of the Taiji Tea Ceremony in the capital city.

The performance had been scheduled for the evening that day, but as Mr. Samaranch altered his schedule, the twins were notified to stage the show in the afternoon. So the master and two disciples rushed to the gallery. The gallery served as the venue of a promotion staged by a Japanese sporting equipment business that afternoon. VIPs invited to attend the promotion included Mr. Samaranch, some members of IOC and some Japanese athletes.

The brothers and their master went through security and checked into the gallery and waited about an hour before the promotion started. Mr. Samaranch made a 10-minute speech before the show started. The twins’ show was a combination of tea ceremony, Taiji boxing, dancing and stunts with the long-spout tea kettles. It was a visual wonder and wowed audience. After the successful performance, many foreigners came forward and took photos with the twin artists.

It was not the twin brothers’ only show during the Olympic Games. During the Games, they performed over 10 times at important venues such as the Olympic Village, the Bird’s Nest and the Olympic Reception Center. Although the brothers were not allowed to present cups of tea to athletes in the athletes’ village for the sake of security against possible doping hazards, the twin brothers did present a cup of tea to Dr. Jacques Rogge, president of IOC, at the end of their performance on the evening of August 28th, 2008 at the Olympic Reception Center.

And it was not the twin brothers’ first performance for Mr. Samaranch, either. They staged a different show at an Olympic activity held at the People’s University in September, 2007. Mr. Samaranch watched their show.

The twin brothers said that they were Olympic volunteers and all the shows were free of charge. The company which runs the tea art shows is a Wuyi-based tea business that markets organic tea produced in Wuyi through its national network.The twins said their boss was from Zhejiang and they were making contributions to the Olympic Games and promoting Zhejiang.

They felt gratified because they could take a lot of pictures before and after their shows. They had staged shows at the Great Hall of the People before, but were unable to take pictures there.