The Centennial Haipai Tea Culture Exhibition and the 40th Anniversary Achievement Exhibition of Shanghai Tea Society kicked off at the Sea Culture Center in Jing'an District. For the first time, the exhibition systematically showcased more than 200 representative collections and diverse historical materials from Shanghai collectors, showcasing the development and connotation of Shanghai Haipai tea culture in a three-dimensional manner, and contributing to the grand event of Haipai tea. This exhibition will continue until December 6th.
Although Shanghai is not a tea producing area, it is one of the largest distribution centers for tea in China and also a consumption hub for tea. For a century, the urban spirit of "embracing all rivers and seas" has enabled Shanghai to gather all the famous and high-quality teas from tea producing regions across the country. Good teas and tea sets from tea producing countries such as India, Japan, and Sri Lanka have also emerged one after another, ultimately forming its own unique tea culture.
At the "Tea and the Development of Shanghai style Tea Culture" forum held concurrently with the opening ceremony, attending experts traced the historical development of Shanghai style tea culture. More than 200 tea industry collections silently tell the unique charm of the "Maritime Tea Road". At the exhibition site, there is a wall of tea jars from the Republic of China, which houses more than 20 tea jars from time-honored brands such as Wang Yiji, Huang Longtai, Dexing Tea House, and Wang Yutai. Most of them are made of iron and are also printed with landscape paintings and beauty pictures, exuding a strong sense of the times.
The invoices of tea houses during the Republic of China period serve as windows for studying the tea industry. The trademark patents, advertising, tea prices, and tax information of the tea houses are clear at a glance. The reporter found that these invoices also have text in both Chinese and English, proving that after China opened the "Five Ports" trade, Shanghai became the largest port for Chinese tea exports due to its geographical proximity to tea producing areas in Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, and northern Fujian.
