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Rambles in the Capital of Tea
By Xu Wenwen |
May 10, 2010, Monday
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HANGZHOU is widely considered China's "Tea Capital" where visitors can enjoy tea-growing mountains, tea gardens and tea villages. Guests can appreciate China's ancient tea culture in tea houses, temples, museums and lush fields of green tea.
Dating back to the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), Hangzhou is one of the cradles of Chinese green tea where it is cherished. Residents grow it, write poetry about it (as the ancients did) and consume the healthful beverage.
Longjing tea, or Dragon Well tea, one of China's top 10 teas, is mostly produced in the West Lake District. Hangzhou is home to China's National Tea Museum and Jingshan Temple (Yuhang District) where the Japanese tea ceremony is said to have originated.
Meijiawu Tea Village
There's more than one beautiful Longjing Tea Village.
Another well known for preserving traditions is Meijiawu Tea Village, southwest of Longjing Tea Village. It is nestled in the hinterlands of West Lake District, and it is renowned as one of the most important tea production bases.
Surrounded by green mountains, clean air and fragrance of tea, visitors can get away from urban areas, stretch their legs and rest their spirits.
"Ten Miles of Tea Fragrance in Meijiawu Tea Village" is a special natural environment connected to Longjing Tea Village by Shili Langdang Lane.
The lane is actually a path up the hills across Wuyun Mountain. It is paved with slate and huge trees along the way provide shade.
Longjing Tea Village
Longjing tea takes its name from the Dragon Well, a karst formation spring on Bamboo Ridge southeast of West Lake. Locals believed that the perpetually flowing water led to the sea where the powerful, water-giving sea dragon lived. In dry years they used to pray at the Dragon Well for rain.
Today the spring is part of Longjing Tea Village, a scenic tourist resort in the West Lake District.
The tea grown in the hills around the village has a history of more than 1,200 years. It is famous as Hangzhou's speciality.
The tea leaves are brilliant emerald green and around 2 centimeters long.
Perching on misted rolling hills southwest of West Lake, the village has ideal tea-growing conditions - abundant rain, humidity and perfect soil.
Natural and cultural sites abound in the area.
Longjing tea came to be regarded as the best of Chinese teas as Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) preferred it and visited the area many times. He designated a small plot of 18 tea trees in front of Hugong Temple on Lion Hill to be his personal tea garden.
Those 18 imperial tea trees still stand there as a tourist attraction in a triangle-shaped garden near a stone bridge. Beyond the trees are tea houses, tea pavilions and a restaurant, all built in traditional Chinese style and nestled in bamboo groves and trees. Higher up on the low mountain are small tea pavilions where visitors can relax among the tea trees and sip tea.
The mountain is covered with green bushes and winding streams meander across the landscape. The Nine Creeks and Eighteen Gullies across the village make for a lovely stroll or bike ride through the countryside.
Heading north from one stream, the main path crosses tea paddies and tea terraces, following other streams and finally reaching a small pond, a tea house and tea plantations on the way to Longjing Tea Village.
A three or four hours' bike or walking trip gets visitors away from crowded West Lake.
National Tea Museum
The museum, which was opened in 1991 in Longjing Tea Village, is said to be the only museum in China with a tea culture theme.
The museum appears to lack major exterior walls and is surrounded by vegetation, giving it a naturally integrated setting.
Inside, the museum integrates corridors of flowers, artificial hills, ponds and waterside pavilions.
In spring, a fresh breeze and pink cherry blossoms float over the scene and within the museum area.
The entry road features 100 distinctive Chinese characters relating to tea.
A stream from the Qiantang River crosses the museum site from northwest to southeast and forms the axis of the museum. It embodies the close relationship between tea and water. It flows over large round stones, meandering and surging from high to low and finally reaching a creek near the museum.
In nearby tea houses visitors can sip tea and watch tea art performances in a tranquil setting.
The museum's six halls are named Tea History, Kaleidoscope, Tea Properties, Tea Friendship, Tea Sets and Tea Customs. The exhibitions illuminate various aspects of tea and its culture.
In the Tea Customs Hall, visitors can discover the impact of tea on the lives of various Chinese ethnic minorities.
Jingshan Temple
Jingshan Temple was first built in the Tang Dynasty and ranked first among the "Five Monasteries and Ten Temples" in China. It contains many halls and is home to more than 1,000 monks.
Visitors flock there to burn incense.
The temple is said to be the place where the Japanese tea ceremony originated and the birthplace of the tea sutra. It is very popular among Japanese tourists.
The founder of Jingshan Temple, Master Faqin, used tea during worship and served it to guests, thus the rituals of the Jingshan tea ceremony arose.
Japanese Master Shenyi (1202-1280) visited China and studied Buddhism in Jingshan Temple. He later introduced the "tea banquet" ceremony to Japan, and this gradually evolved into the "Japanese tea ceremony" that is performed today.
Dating back to the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), Hangzhou is one of the cradles of Chinese green tea where it is cherished. Residents grow it, write poetry about it (as the ancients did) and consume the healthful beverage.
Longjing tea, or Dragon Well tea, one of China's top 10 teas, is mostly produced in the West Lake District. Hangzhou is home to China's National Tea Museum and Jingshan Temple (Yuhang District) where the Japanese tea ceremony is said to have originated.
Meijiawu Tea Village
There's more than one beautiful Longjing Tea Village.
Another well known for preserving traditions is Meijiawu Tea Village, southwest of Longjing Tea Village. It is nestled in the hinterlands of West Lake District, and it is renowned as one of the most important tea production bases.
Surrounded by green mountains, clean air and fragrance of tea, visitors can get away from urban areas, stretch their legs and rest their spirits.
"Ten Miles of Tea Fragrance in Meijiawu Tea Village" is a special natural environment connected to Longjing Tea Village by Shili Langdang Lane.
The lane is actually a path up the hills across Wuyun Mountain. It is paved with slate and huge trees along the way provide shade.
Longjing Tea Village
Longjing tea takes its name from the Dragon Well, a karst formation spring on Bamboo Ridge southeast of West Lake. Locals believed that the perpetually flowing water led to the sea where the powerful, water-giving sea dragon lived. In dry years they used to pray at the Dragon Well for rain.
Today the spring is part of Longjing Tea Village, a scenic tourist resort in the West Lake District.
The tea grown in the hills around the village has a history of more than 1,200 years. It is famous as Hangzhou's speciality.
The tea leaves are brilliant emerald green and around 2 centimeters long.
Perching on misted rolling hills southwest of West Lake, the village has ideal tea-growing conditions - abundant rain, humidity and perfect soil.
Natural and cultural sites abound in the area.
Longjing tea came to be regarded as the best of Chinese teas as Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) preferred it and visited the area many times. He designated a small plot of 18 tea trees in front of Hugong Temple on Lion Hill to be his personal tea garden.
Those 18 imperial tea trees still stand there as a tourist attraction in a triangle-shaped garden near a stone bridge. Beyond the trees are tea houses, tea pavilions and a restaurant, all built in traditional Chinese style and nestled in bamboo groves and trees. Higher up on the low mountain are small tea pavilions where visitors can relax among the tea trees and sip tea.
The mountain is covered with green bushes and winding streams meander across the landscape. The Nine Creeks and Eighteen Gullies across the village make for a lovely stroll or bike ride through the countryside.
Heading north from one stream, the main path crosses tea paddies and tea terraces, following other streams and finally reaching a small pond, a tea house and tea plantations on the way to Longjing Tea Village.
A three or four hours' bike or walking trip gets visitors away from crowded West Lake.
National Tea Museum
The museum, which was opened in 1991 in Longjing Tea Village, is said to be the only museum in China with a tea culture theme.
The museum appears to lack major exterior walls and is surrounded by vegetation, giving it a naturally integrated setting.
Inside, the museum integrates corridors of flowers, artificial hills, ponds and waterside pavilions.
In spring, a fresh breeze and pink cherry blossoms float over the scene and within the museum area.
The entry road features 100 distinctive Chinese characters relating to tea.
A stream from the Qiantang River crosses the museum site from northwest to southeast and forms the axis of the museum. It embodies the close relationship between tea and water. It flows over large round stones, meandering and surging from high to low and finally reaching a creek near the museum.
In nearby tea houses visitors can sip tea and watch tea art performances in a tranquil setting.
The museum's six halls are named Tea History, Kaleidoscope, Tea Properties, Tea Friendship, Tea Sets and Tea Customs. The exhibitions illuminate various aspects of tea and its culture.
In the Tea Customs Hall, visitors can discover the impact of tea on the lives of various Chinese ethnic minorities.
Jingshan Temple
Jingshan Temple was first built in the Tang Dynasty and ranked first among the "Five Monasteries and Ten Temples" in China. It contains many halls and is home to more than 1,000 monks.
Visitors flock there to burn incense.
The temple is said to be the place where the Japanese tea ceremony originated and the birthplace of the tea sutra. It is very popular among Japanese tourists.
The founder of Jingshan Temple, Master Faqin, used tea during worship and served it to guests, thus the rituals of the Jingshan tea ceremony arose.
Japanese Master Shenyi (1202-1280) visited China and studied Buddhism in Jingshan Temple. He later introduced the "tea banquet" ceremony to Japan, and this gradually evolved into the "Japanese tea ceremony" that is performed today.
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