National Tea Museum is situated in the Longjing (Dragon Well) Tea plantation near West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. The building complex in "Jiang Nan water-town" is a perfect example of ancient Chinese civilian architecture. The museum was first built in 1987 and opened to public in April 1991, occupying a total construction area of 3500 square meters (less than one acre).
National Tea Museum is the only state-level museum specialized in the theme of tea culture. It is also the largest tea museum in China with the most comprehensive collection of tea utensils and other relative exhibits on view. The museum is made up of five themed buildings: exhibition, tea drinking, tea performance, multiple functions, and international exchanges. The exhibition hall is the main body of the museum. Branching off it are areas dedicated to the history of Chinese tea, tea drinking customs, tea utensils used in past dynasties, and the knowledge surrounding tea culture, and even the complicated process of picking and roasting tea leaf.
The two
locations dedicated to tea drinking and tea performance are
designed to introduce the ways of drinking tea and show the
diverse tea-related performances in different regions of
the world. The two are also considered the denotation and
supplement for tea culture.
Visitors
here not only appreciate but also take part in the
tea-drinking ceremony. Guests can choose their own
particular tea, for example the Chinese Longjing tea named
as the imperial tea by the Emperor Qianlong during the Qing
Dynasty (1644-1911).
The multiple function rooms generally hold international
seminars and exchanges on any sort of tea culture. That is
to say, National Tea Museum would rather be an
international-level research center on tea and tea-related
culture than just a museum showing the history of tea. Each
year, tea professionals and aficionados come to Hangzhou
city from all over the world for the "West Lake
International Tea Festival". Tea, as the symbol of world
peace and friendship, connects people from all over the
world.
National Tea Museum plays an important role on the tea
stage and offers the chance and space for international
research and exchange about tea and tea culture. So far,
the museum has been a hot tourist spot and an educational
base that attracts millions of people from both home and
abroad. Undoubtedly, National Tea Museum will help begin a
new era in tea development.
content from Travel China Guide