Zhoushan tea culture exhibition earns provincial recognition

A tea culture exhibition held by Zhoushan Museum has been listed among fine provincial collections, the Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau announced on June 8.

The exhibition, which covers 600 square meters, displays more than 100 cultural relics about the origins of tea, tea-making techniques, and the evolution of tea sets. Some relics were on display for the first time.

A series of traditional tea activities such as the tea-whisking technique of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) was also held during the exhibition period.

The exhibition is aimed at telling stories about Zhoushan tea through cultural relics, as Zhoushan was an important export location for tea leaves in history and boasts many historic sites, documents and physical collections, said a staff member of the museum.

The staffer added that the design of the exhibition was inspired by a story that Britain's earliest tea specimen was collected by James Cunningham, a British biologist, in Zhoushan in 1700, as well as the fact that Zhoushan Port was a major supply depot on the Maritime Silk Road.