With the arrival of the Guyu solar term, the aroma of tea leaves filled an activity room on April 19th. The classroom transformed into a fragrant workshop where twenty international students and HMT students gathered to learn about the Grain Rain ("Guyu") solar term through a hands-on cultural journey – crafting tea soaps.

The session began with an immersive dive into Chinese tea culture. A teacher guiding the workshop, connected Guyu traditions to its historical role in heralding peak harvest season for precious spring teas like Longjing Green Tea. Holding up plates filled with emerald twists and ebony curls, the instructor passed various loose-leaf teas among students—inviting them to inhale deeply and distinguish aromatic profiles while tracing China's 5,000-year tea legacy from medicinal herb to cultural cornerstone.

Under guidance: 1. Choose Your Favorite Tea: Students selected bases ranging from floral jasmine blossoms to earthy pu'er leaves. 2. Pound & Release: Mortars clinked rhythmically as participants crushed dry leaves into textured powders. 3. Infuse & Stir: Into warm melted glycerin soap base went spoonfuls of chosen teas plus potent drops of mugwort (ai cao) essential oil—ancient Chinese insect repellent! 4. Mold & Manifest: Lavender-tinted green-tea swirls or speckled black-tea blends were poured into molds shaped like lotus flowers or plum blossoms.

Participants  departed with more than tea soaps—they carried  fragments of spring itself. Each soap transformed into  vessels of cross-cultural memory where the transient seasons gained permanence through students' hands.