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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.
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