It's time for tea at alluring exhibition
The exhibition highlights Shanghai's role in Chinese tea culture.
An exhibition exploring Shanghai's lesser-known title as a tea trading center has opened.
Shanghai is well known as the global coffee capital with the most coffee shops, while its active role in China's tea industry is relatively obscure.
Shanghai has actually become the most important port for exporting symbolic products representing China, such as porcelain, silk and tea, to the West, after it opened as a treaty port in 1843.
The city grew to become China's largest tea trading center after 1860 because it's close to China's major tea producing regions such as Zhejiang and Anhui provinces.
Old tea tins on display at the Haishang Culture Center.
The exhibition is designed to showcase the city's tea trading history over the past century, with more than 200 exhibits from Shanghai collectors on display at the Haishang Culture Center.
Highlights include a wall of old tins from well-established brands such as Wang Yi Ji, Huang Long Tai and Wang Yu Tai, and an array of century-old invoices printed with Chinese and English characters, demonstrating the city's role as an international trade hub.
The exhibition is part of the 28th Shanghai International Tea Culture Tourism Festival.
It will run through December 16. Special tea tasting is available every day.
If you go:
Date: Through December 16
Venue: 1F, Haishang Culture Center 海上文化中心
Address: 1222 Pingxingguan Road, Jing'an District 静安区平型关路1222号
