Hard to believe in this day and age that there are still remote areas such as this. A charming story.


Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. There is ritual and routine, and it has been ever thus for generations. Then one day a jeep appears at the village gate--the first automobile any of them have seen--and a stranger arrives.

In this remote Yunnan village, the stranger finds the rare tea he has been seeking and a reticent Akha people. In her biggest seller, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, See introduced the Yao people to her readers. Here she shares the customs of another Chinese ethnic minority, the Akha, whose world will soon change . Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, translates for the stranger and is among the first to reject the rules that have shaped her existence. When she has a baby outside of wedlock, rather than stand by tradition, she wraps her daughter in a blanket, with a tea cake hidden in her swaddling, and abandons her in the nearest city.

After mother and daughter have gone their separate ways, Li-yan slowly emerges from the security and insularity of her village to encounter modern life while Haley grows up a privileged and well-loved California girl. Despite Haley's happy home life, she wonders about her origins; and Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. They both search for and find answers in the tea that has shaped their family's destiny for generations.

A powerful story about a family, separated by circumstances, culture, and distance, Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane paints an unforgettable portrait of a little known region and its people and celebrates the bond that connects mothers and daughters.

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Discover how an ethnic minority, the Akha, from a small Chinese village lives in a tea growing region. Li-yan makes her way into one's heart as one begins to understand her life in China. Determined to marry the man she loves, she runs away with him but discovers that he is not the man she believed him to be. Only when he gives his life to save hers from the mauling of a tiger, does she realize that he loved her in his own way. Alone and pregnant, she returns to the village where she gives birth to a daughter. With no income, she gives her up for adoption and returns to school to immerse herself in learning about the culture of growing tea.

This read offers so much more than a story about a Chinese woman. The Cultural Revolution impacted even those as isolated as the Akha whose beliefs about life and tea ruled for so many years. In addition, the author follows the life of the adopted daughter in America. She grows up wonders who she really is when she discovers that even other Chinese recognize her differences.

The book gives readers much to reflect upon: development of modernizing of the tea growing industry, the impact of world economics on the industry, and how it all affects lives of people like Li-yan who becomes an expert in all things tea.

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I was absolutely delighted with this Lisa See novel about Chinese tea, the customs of the Akha people and American adoption of Chinese girls. It was wonderfully woven with fascinating information about the history of Chinese tea and I learned much more than I had expected. The touching ending left me wanting the story to continue so I am hoping that there will be another book about Haley.

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