The Chinese Tea Museum has a construction area of ??7,600 square meters and an exhibition area of ??2,244 square meters. Opened in October 1990, it is a national-level professional museum jointly built by the National Tourism Administration, Zhejiang Province, and Hangzhou City. Due to its outstanding contributions to the reform and development of cultural heritage protection, on May 24, 2007, the China Tea Museum was awarded the honorable title of Advanced Collective in the National Cultural Relics System by the Ministry of Personnel and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.
As a museum with the theme of displaying tea culture, the Tea Museum is located in the Shuangfeng area where West Lake Longjing tea is produced in Hangzhou, thus designing the history of tea, tea extracts, tea affairs, tea relationships, tea sets, tea The six relatively independent but interconnected display spaces interpret tea culture from different perspectives and have a good display effect.
Building No. 1 is an exhibition building with 5 exhibition halls. The Tea History Hall introduces the development history of tea production and tea culture in China. The Tea Collection Hall displays samples of famous Chinese teas and foreign teas. The Tea Ware Hall displays the evolution and development of tea sets in various historical periods in China. The Tea Ceremony Hall introduces tea planting, tea making, and tasting. Scientific knowledge of tea, the Tea Customs Hall introduces the tea drinking methods and etiquette of Yunnan, Sichuan, Tibet, Fujian, Guangdong and the Ming and Qing Dynasties, reflecting China's rich and colorful tea culture.
Building 2 is used for reception of foreign guests and academic exchanges.
Building 3 has 6 tea rooms of different styles for visitors to taste the tea-drinking flavors of each tea series.
In Building 4, visitors can enjoy tea art and tea ceremony performances from ancient and modern times at home and abroad. The architecture inside the museum has the characteristics of Jiangnan gardens, and the winding rockery and surrounding tea gardens complement each other, bringing visitors into the rich and colorful atmosphere of tea culture. Tea is one of China's important contributions to mankind and world civilization. China is the origin of tea trees and the first country to discover and utilize tea. The tea industry and tea culture started with the drinking of tea. For thousands of years, as the custom of drinking tea has continued to penetrate into the lives of the Chinese people, tea culture has continued to enrich and develop in the long history of our country's national culture, becoming a treasure of traditional oriental culture. Modern tea culture has enriched world culture with its unique style.
Today, tea, as a global beverage, maintains the deep emotions of the Chinese people and people from all over the world. Tea has been chanted in Chinese history for thousands of years since Shennong first discovered and utilized it. The seven things that open the door are firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea. This ancient proverb illustrates the indissoluble bond between tea and the Chinese people.
As for tea, tea people of all ages have made countless explorations and attempts. Since the publication of Lu Yu's "Tea Classic", tea has become very popular.
Throughout the ages, tea has been planted, made, used, stored, drunk, and used, each with its own techniques, methods, and emotions. When you walk into the museum, the first thing that shocks you is that it has no walls. Generally, museums give people a solemn and solemn feeling, with a shelf of classic culture. However, the Tea Museum has completely opened up the fences and walls. Only in the areas that need to be blocked, thorny plants are densely planted, which is both transparent and effectively blocked, creating an ecological wall-less museum where "the museum is in the tea room and the tea is in the museum". It seems to be telling people: We have no threshold and we welcome every guest.
The museum has no walls, but it is a leisure scenic spot with a strong tea culture atmosphere. It highlights humanistic themes and tea culture charm everywhere, with unique Jiangnan-style garden art and extensive and profound tea culture special exhibitions. It attracts tea culture enthusiasts and Chinese and foreign tourists.
The road underfoot suddenly took away all the sight. The pavement paved with natural stone is unexpectedly inlaid with 100 "tea" characters or nicknames for "tea" (such as "tea") from past dynasties' steles, rubbings, famous posts, celebrity calligraphy, paintings, ceramic inscriptions, and cliff carvings. , surprise, tea, tea, etc.), some are flowing, some are vigorous and vigorous, some are unrestrained, some are full of ancient interest. People can't help but be intoxicated in this artistic paradise of calligraphy and seal carving, which not only has the fragrance of calligraphy and ink, but also smells the strong tea. Fragrance, before the tea arrives, the fragrance arrives first.
Unknowingly, after walking this tea road called "Double Fragrance Path", we arrived at the northwest corner of the Tea Expo. A water system with tea charm that runs through the Tea Expo has become the landscape axis of the Tea Expo tour. It appropriately expresses the theme of "water is the mother of tea" and fully demonstrates the blending relationship between "tea" and "water".
The water system takes advantage of the mountain terrain and introduces the living water of the Qiantang River. It runs from the northwest corner of the Tea Expo to the southeast corner and merges with the mountain stream outside the museum. It is built with natural large rocks washed by natural waterfalls for many years, and a paved road at the bottom of the stream. Layers of pebbles are used to store water in deep pools, build dams in layers, springs, mountain streams, and creek beaches to let the water flow down step by step, just like nine streams and eighteen streams, forming a cascading water effect. Going down the river, there are special teahouses and outdoor tea tasting areas on both sides of the water system. Going out to the southeast, you come to the exhibition building, the essence of tea expo culture. Here is the long-standing Chinese tea culture. The waterscape gradually comes to an end here, and the entire tour route is complete. It not only appears smooth and continuous, but also has profound meaning.
When I walked into the prologue hall of the exhibition building, I was immediately attracted by the sound of gurgling water. I saw a water curtain slowly falling from a height of ten meters, and a spring water soaked a large green "tea" character. , it looks particularly clear and eye-catching. It is really "the essence of tea contains fragrance, which is produced by water. It cannot be compared with tea without water." Under the water curtain, the rockery bonsai is lush and green. This dynamic and static design symbolizes the long history of Chinese tea culture, interprets the intimate relationship between tea and water, nature and people, and highlights the theme of the exhibition.
The cultural display of the Tea Museum is attractive, and this is the essence of the museum. The entire exhibition is divided into six parts: tea history, tea extracts, tea affairs, tea sets, tea customs, and tea relationships. It displays the infinite charm of tea culture in a multi-faceted, multi-level and three-dimensional manner.
Walking in the exhibition hall, the most fascinating thing for the audience is the colorful reproduction of tea customs from various places. Each vivid scene describes the daily life of people of all ethnic groups drinking and loving tea. Audiences can make butter tea in Tibetan homes by themselves; under the simulated big tea tree, the "bamboo stove soup first turns red" is roasted tea from the Dai family in Yunnan; at the tea stall next to the river, the seven-star stove is in full swing. Climbing up the steps, you can see the clouds and rain in Wushan Mountain in the distance; looking back at the "tea" banner fluttering in the wind in front of the Huizhou Merchants Teahouse under the setting sun, it feels like you have returned to the era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On one side of the tea house, the Fujian Kung Fu tea ceremony is being performed. The solemn and elegant tea art lady is brewing a pot of strong Tieguanyin for you. Those who stop to watch have already become the scenery in the eyes of others.
From slices of wild tea trees in primeval forests to various cultivated tea tree specimens; from simple and crude drinking vessels of the Liangzhu period to exquisite palace tea sets of the Ming and Qing Dynasties; from tea seed fossils to rich ethnic styles. Tea custom scenes, precious cultural relics, supplemented by carefully designed texts, pictures, diagrams, well-made models, lifelike statues, and elegant and moving music, interpret the process of civilization for thousands of years.
The display of the Tea Museum has many unique ideas. It strives to increase the intuitive sense and improve the audience's perceptual understanding. It changes the rules of traditional museums that only allow viewing and no hands-on, and provides the audience with as much information as possible. Participation opportunities to increase audience interest in visiting.
Some exhibition halls have open display areas. The tea collection hall displays more than 300 tea samples of six major tea categories: green tea, black tea, oolong tea, white tea, yellow tea, black tea and processed tea, etc., which are placed on the cylindrical tea tree-shaped table in categories. , and equipped with corresponding buttons. As long as the audience puts on headphones and clicks the button next to the specimen, a melodious voice will introduce relevant tea knowledge. At the same time, various pressed teas are also displayed in the open area, including pumpkin tea, bamboo shoot shell tea, Qizi cake tea, square brick tea, Fu brick tea, etc. The diameter of the small ones is only one or two centimeters, and the diameter of the large ones is more than one meter. As long as the audience is interested, they can touch it with their hands or even smell its fragrance.
In the tea hall, the open display once again gives the audience the opportunity to feel all the tea leaves, from the seeds and branches of the tea tree to the fruits; from a leaf to the delicious tea beverage... Just turn the turntable, The appropriate brewing time for various types of tea, the amount of tea used, the ratio of tea to water and other knowledge are clear at a glance. The "Three Boiling Pictures" vividly illustrates the theory of the "Three Boilings" proposed by the tea sage Lu Yu in the "Tea Classic": "fish eyes, crab eyes, and roaring waves."
The use of multimedia extends the limited display infinitely. The entire exhibition is equipped with five multimedia touch screens, which organically combine social politics, economics, music, poetry, painting, dance, religion and other elements related to tea culture and program them into a computer program. At one point, a lot of information about tea culture came one after another. The multimedia system of prize-winning guessing is more attractive to the audience. With a click of the mouse, you can get the joy of gaining knowledge.
In addition to enjoying professional tea culture displays at the Tea Museum, you can also continuously deepen and broaden your knowledge within your field of vision and feel the strong cultural atmosphere.
The park-like museum carefully handles the surrounding plant configuration and spares no effort to use the unique plant configuration to highlight the theme and continuously extend the tea culture to the surrounding environment. There are various varieties of camellias belonging to the Theaceae family, whose properties can be compared with tea trees; there are also plants that are highly ornamental and can be brewed for drinking, such as Gynostemma pentaphyllum, Dai Dai, large-leaf holly, June frost, wolfberry, tea maple, Mint, jasmine, Houttuynia cordata, wild hawthorn, rose, osmanthus, honeysuckle, white chrysanthemum and so on. It not only increases the popularization and interest of science, but also creates a characteristic plant landscape. At the same time, the configuration is hierarchical and has the characteristics of tea culture. Wandering around the museum, you may casually see that it is an ecological park that shows no traces of man-made changes. However, if you look closely, you will see that every bridge and every pool has a poetic name, and contains vivid cultural stories, even every grass and every pond. Each wood has its own name and cultural charm.
Tea Expo also has a unique, open tea tree variety resource garden - Jiamu Garden, which is a vivid thematic tea tree garden, displaying more than 100 tea tree varieties in various forms. There are obvious differences among many varieties. In addition to the commonly seen shrub-type tea trees, you can also see large tree-type tea trees, such as Wuniuzao, Huangyezao, Cinnamon, Hairy Crab, Yunnan Daye and other large tea trees. The resource garden also has plaques explaining the origin, name, and suitable tea types of various tea tree varieties, creating a lively outdoor exhibition area. Located under the Jiamu Garden, the Bakxiangzhen also performs tea frying to the audience during the tea picking season, demonstrating the tea frying skills and important processes of tea processing, deepening tourists' understanding of the tea production process, and is a vivid supplement to the exhibition hall display.
The careful plant configuration and variety garden have greatly enriched the connotation of tea culture in Chabo, and successfully liberated tea culture from a single visual display, extending it to the surrounding environment, forming a considerable and visible A new tactile and perceptible experience. The environmental sketches of the Tea Museum are also very eye-catching. More than 300 beautifully carved pillar bases of various shapes are placed under the pillars of the glass corridor, used as environmental decoration, or for visitors to take a rest. The pillar foundation stones are of different qualities, sizes and shapes, showing that they have different life experiences and contain rich information about humanities and ancient architectural art. In the museum, you can always see many tourists exclaiming in admiration at the pillar foundations on both sides of the road. These exquisite stone pillars, despite being eroded by wind and rain over the years, are still vaguely identifiable, and each of them has auspicious meanings. The stone carvings are rich in meaning and expressive in style. With the participation of these pillars, the cultural atmosphere of the Tea Expo is even more intense. It is a place where tea culture flourishes and it is also a dazzling collection of stone carving art.
The immortal spirit of tea sage Lu Yu makes people stop in their tracks. Lu Yu, overlooking the mountains in the distance, inspires people to remember the sages. The statue of Lu Yu in Tea Expo is made of bronze, about 2.5 meters high, and is equipped with a low tea table, on which are placed tea stoves, tea cups and other tea drinking utensils. A tea book, with an aftertaste of the fragrance of tea between the lips and teeth, a calm expression and vivid momentum. The guibiao and sundial placed near Jiqingtai also attracted people's special attention. Although it is set up for a sketch, it can actually be used. Both the Guipiao and the sundial are the oldest astronomical instruments spread in my country. They use the sun as the observation target and determine the time based on the length of the sun's shadow.
The Guibiao is used to determine solar terms and length of time based on the changes in the length of the shadow at noon. It consists of two parts: the Guibiao and the Biao. The base of the Guibiao is decorated with "Twelve Tea Sets for the Old Shen'an of the Song Dynasty" for one week. "Tu Zan" and "Twenty-Four Solar Terms Song".
The sundial uses the direction change of the shadow on the surface of the day to determine the time. It is composed of a disk and a needle. One side of the sundial is decorated with "Advance with the Sun" and the other side is decorated with "One Inch". Time is worth an inch of gold, but an inch of gold cannot buy an inch of time.” The time pointed by the sundial is the actual local solar time, that is, true solar time, and there is an unequal time difference from the commonly used Beijing time.
Gui watches and sundials were extremely helpful to agricultural production in ancient my country, and tea production was also a part of farming culture. Gui watches and sundials were needed to determine the solar terms and time for tea picking, which reflected the importance of tea. Seasonal requirements. The setting of the standard watch and the sundial not only helps people understand more astronomical knowledge, and can measure the time and solar terms by themselves according to the prompts, but also incorporates the tea ceremony into a complete farming culture, showing the connection between tea culture and farming. cultural intimacy.
With a relaxed and happy leisure mood, you can observe and taste in the Tea Museum. When you are tired, you can sit down at random and take a deep breath of the sweet scent of osmanthus in the air. When you are thirsty, pick a place with tea. I sat down where the water and birds were singing, ordered a pot of tea, and sipped it carefully, slowly letting the fragrance of tea fill my lips and teeth, and I tasted a kind of leisurely leisure and a different kind of elegance.
Such elegance will be remembered, and half of it will be remembered for the tea expo style and half for the humanities. Walking into the Longjing Tea Village, I tasted another taste of the West Lake Smoke and Moon. This taste is just like the tea in the cup. Although it is strong and strong, it also tastes sweet for a long time.