Pei-kai Cheng, founding director and professor of the Chinese Civilisation Centre at the City University of Hong Kong and author of the recent two-volume publication, The Complete Annotated Collection of Chinese Tea Books, explores the cultural significance of tea drinking during the Tang period (618–907 CE). Cheng discusses the change and continuity of .

“The Way of Tea” (chado) from the Tang-Song period to the Ming-Qing period, revealing the cultural diversity of the tea-drinking ceremony as influenced by various social entities and institutions and by agronomical and technological advances.

The UCLA Asia Institute is pleased to sponsor the Fowler OutSpoken Lecture Series in conjunction with the exhibition Steeped in History: The Art of Tea, on view at the Fowler Museum at UCLA, August 16 through November 29, 2009.