Tea and the city
Tea as a plant is a product from the countryside that grows best on misty mountain hills. As a drink and cultural habit, tea is the product of an urban way of life. This is not to say that people on the countryside don’t know how to enjoy a cup; but the popularization of the tea drinking habit beyond its production areas has happened through the cities and their many tea houses. China saw very early the development of big cities with their urbanite elite. Nowadays urban areas are without any doubts the biggest markets for tea.
Shanghai (上海) is at the forefront of modern China’s urban culture. It’s geographical location next to the sea and its population density don’t allow it to grow tea. But it is surrounded by tea producing areas: Zhejiang (浙江) and Jiangsu (江苏), the two provinces bordering the Shanghai municipality, are the home of some famous teas. Anhui (安徽) province isn’t that far away either.
The ambition of the Shanghai International Tea Culture Festival (上海国际茶文化节) is to be a platform between the big metropolis of the Yangtze Delta and the tea producing areas. It also aims to help popularize Chinese teas outside of China by attracting foreign visitors and delegations. By giving counties a stage to promote their teas, Shanghai is also diversifying its own tea culture and helping tea related economic activities to develop.
In recent years, Zhabei district (闸北区) has established itself as a centre for tea related activities. Created in 1991 and located in Zhabei, the Songyuan Teahouse (宋园茶艺馆) has become one of China’s most famed place to enjoy the art of tea (茶艺). Not only is it a good place to enjoy this total tea experience, where the quality of the tea leaves, matches the refinement of the atmosphere and the skills of the staff; but it is also a place of education, where people come to be trained in this art. It is also the place of birth of the festival in 1994.
A product from the countryside, tea has since long served as a refuge from the nervous life of the big cities and as a sign of urban refinement. This is more true now than ever and will be even more in the future. It represents an opportunity for economic development for both urban and rural areas. For this opportunity to become real, there needs to be a mutual understanding and coordination between the cities and the counties. Among many other things, tea is also a link between the urban world and the rural world.
Chinese sources: 2009年第十六届上海国际茶文化节4月15日—23日举行; 闸北区：“茶”与“节”精彩组合16载
