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Ecke Pledge Launches Campaign to Build Shi Wu Tea Lodge in Partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Cultural and Educational Exchange Facility to be Built at the Harold L. Lyon Arboretum Site

(Honolulu, Hawaiʻi) - University of Hawaiʻi Professor Emeritus Dr. Tseng Yuho Ecke recently pledged $600,000 to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, through the University of Hawaiʻi Foundation, to launch plans to build the Shi Wu Tea Lodge at the site of the university's Harold L. Lyon Arboretum in Mānoa Valley. Dr. Ecke's pledge launches a special fundraising initiative for creation of a cultural and educational gathering place for the practice and enjoyment of the humanities, in the manner associated with a traditional Chinese teahouse.

"Through our partnership with Dr. Tseng Yuho Ecke, founder of the Shi Wu Tea Lodge and internationally known artist and scholar, we are proud to announce a special initiative to construct this important cultural facility," said Peter Englert, Chancellor of UH Mānoa. "We offer the University of Hawaiʻi, with its unparalleled location as a gateway to Asia, and its diversity of people and cultures, as the location of the Shi Wu Tea Lodge."

The Shi Wu Tea Lodge will be a guild available to UH Mānoa faculty and staff, their guests and special visitors, for workshops, seminars, meetings and tea service. Workshops may include arts and crafts of China offered by UH Mānoa's Department of Chinese Studies, the Department of Art and many other creative specialists at the university. And, in cooperation with the John A. Burns School of Medicine, talks on Asian and Pacific nutrition and diet, medicinal herbs and natural healing, and preventive health care.

"Shi Wu means to learn and understand universal experiences, to enhance and enjoy the six human senses: what we see, hear, smell, taste, touch and comprehend," explains Dr. Ecke. "Throughout my life I have experienced how the arts and scholarship enhance these senses and contribute to the positive side of humanity. I am most grateful to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa for joining with me to create this place to share friendship, knowledge, and the inspiration of creativity in everyday life."

The public will have opportunities to enjoy the lodge through tea service and other events such as film events, lectures, classes, intimate concerts and recitals, and exhibitions. Experienced tea masters from Hawaiʻi and abroad will demonstrate the art of tea. A gift shop will feature Chinese folk art and tea implements and a small gallery will showcase the work of UH art faculty and artists from Hawaiʻi, Asia, the U.S. mainland and Europe.

Plans call for the lodge to be built in the style of a country house, with simple furnishings representative of the tea implements and folk art that flourished in China. The site, located at the Harold L. Lyon Arboretum, which has been part of UH Mānoa since 1953, looks out upon a tropical garden and mountains. The overall effect will be one of simplicity, tranquility and harmony.

"Under the direction of a distinguished Board of Advisors, the lodge will serve as an effective focal point for the many interdisciplinary subjects related to the aesthetic, scholarly, and healthy attributes of tea. In today's fast-paced world, there must still be a time and a place for the time-honored traditions of scholarship and community that the Shi Wu Tea Lodge will offer," comments Englert.

An estimated $1,200,000 is needed to fully establish the Shi Wu Tea Lodge -approximately $600,000 to build the structure, including fixtures, and $100,000 to purchase furniture, tea and tea implements, and Chinese folk art. An additional $600,000 is needed to establish an endowment to maintain the lodge and its programs. A membership program, fees from tea service and public programs, gift shop proceeds, and an annual fundraising festival will supplement endowment distributions for annual operations.

For information on contribution opportunities, please contact Susan Lampe at the UH Foundation at 956-8034 or at e-mail address giftplanning@uhf.hawaii.edu.

About the University of Hawaiʻi Foundation
The University of Hawaiʻi Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization whose purpose is to raise private funds according to priorities determined by the academic leadership of the University of Hawaiʻi. Founded in 1955, the Foundation provides a full range of fund raising and alumni relations services for all 10 UH campuses. For more information on the Foundation, visit www.uhf.hawaii.edu.