The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, by Lisa See

Characters
Akha Ethnic Minority	Others
Li-yan – “Tina” A-ma A-pa Three brothers and sisters-in-law Haley Davis – Yan-yeh, Li-yan’s daughter, left at orphanage Paul William Chang – Li-yan’s son with Jin Ci-tech – best friend	Teacher Zhang Deh-ja – married Ci-do, had twin “human rejects” and had to kill them, banished from community San-pa – pancake thief and Li-yan’s first husband Huang Benyu – tea buyer from Hong Kong Xian-rong “Sean” – son Pu’er tea Tea Master Sun – Pu’er Tea College Jin Chang Mrs. Chang – mother Haley’s parents: Constance – professor of biology Dan - arborist Girls in therapy session with Haley: Tiffany Jessica Ariel Heidi

For Discussion:

NOTE:  Page numbers refer to the hardback edition of the book.

1. Traditions played a large part in the Akha people’s day-to-day life at the beginning of the novel.  When Li-yan returned as a grown-up after being away eight years she found things greatly changed.  When asked, her father said that “the world has come to us…we don’t have time for all the cleansing, ceremonies, sacrifices, or worrying about Dog Days and Buffalo Days when we have so much work to do” (pages 184-5).   How important were the traditions if they were so easily abandoned?
2. Is there a difference between a tradition and a superstition?   What were most of the things the Akha people did?
3. How did the Akha people justify encouraging the unmarried girls and boys to go to the Flower Room but then deemed it disgraceful if the girl got pregnant?
4. The word “tu” was used very often in the novel and changed meaning over time.  The original meaning was negative (page 168) but changed to a positive concept meaning, “…untouched by the evils of civilization” (page 169).   What words are in our vocabulary that have changed meaning?
5. Discuss the character of Jin.  Would you have trusted him?  Was everything he did (secret trips to visit Li-yan’s family, purchases he made such as houses without consulting anyone, etc.)  realistic? 
6. How do you think Jin and Li-yan were so easily able to go between the two lifestyles in America and China – living in a mansion to a primitive newlywed hut?
7. What did you learn from the transcript of Haley’s therapy group?   Do you think the author portrayed the adoptee’s experience realistically?   Did you understand the pressures the girls felt to be successful and their conflicted feelings of being both grateful and angry?
8. The ruma and nima call a village meeting when Ci-teh and Li-Yan return to the village after the tea market collapses so that they will settle their differences in front of the people (page 155 – 262).  The ruma states that, “The Akha Way tells us that a single moment changes destinies” (page 261) and the moment that changed both women was when the “human rejects” were born into Ci-teh’s family.  Where else in the novel does a “single moment” change someone’ destiny?
9. In Haley’s English class in October 2012 she wrote a story about her immigrant experience.  The instructor’s evaluation noted that she, “would have hated to see you fall back on the Shakespearean trope of coincidence” (page 316).  What part did coincidence play in this novel, for example Haley meeting Xian-rong who knew where her tea cake came from or Li-yan running into Deh-ja on the street?  Was this too much?
10. Discuss Ci-teh and Li-yan’s relationship throughout the novel.   Were you surprised that Ci-teh wanted to tear down the tea trees and plant coffee?   Could you understand Ci-teh’s motivation given what her family went through when they lost everything due to her brother and Deh-ja having the “human rejects?”
11. Pu’er tea was as important as a major character in the novel.  What was in the tea that cured Xian-rong?
12. Tea Master Sun taught Li-yan that there are three disciplines of tea: 1.) Confucius, “…help people understand their inner dispositions” 2.) Buddhists, “…among the four ways to concentrate the mind” and 3.) Daoists, “…a way to regulate internal alchemy, be in harmony with the natural world, and serve as an ingredient in the elixir of immortality” (page 191).  Do you think tea can do all of this?
13. If you like to drink tea or are a “tea nerd” (page 333) like Xian-rong, what did you learn about tea in this novel?
14. Discuss your reading experience.  This book was unique in that it used spelling lists, emails, homework assignments and therapy session transcripts in addition to regular narrative to tell the story.   Did you like that?  Do you think it added to the story?

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