A tea company is in hot water after Shenzhen officials deemed its latest marketing campaign to be “borderline” illegal. Hey Tea (喜茶, xǐ chá), a popular national beverage chain, recently partnered with the Jingdezhen China Ceramics Museum on a marketing campaign that featured cup designs inspired by 20th century artist Zeng Longsheng’s porcelain renderings of arhats, original followers of the Buddha in the Chinese Buddhist tradition. The promotion, called the “Happy Buddha Latte,” featured one of three arhats (Rahula, Kanaka the Vatsa, and Maitreya) alongside the character for “Buddha” on the cup. The promotion went live on November 28. On December 1, Hey Tea executives were issued a “summons” by officials with the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs, an informal but potentially serious punishment. By December 3, the promotion was taken off in-store and online shelves. When reached by reporters for The Beijing News, Hey Tea offered no comment on the incident…
