CHINA: The Tea Way - 1

China — is the homeland of tea. Tea is grown and produced here, it is tasted and drunk, advertised and sold. The production technology and traditional ways of consumption of tea have strongly intertwined with the Chinese mentality and religion. It is possible to understand it only in the context of the full structure of Chinese life. It will also become the main goal of our travel across the southern provinces of China - from Shanghai to Chengdu. We will visit large highly modern megalopolises and small villages, the tourist centers and godforsaken places, mountains and the oceanic coast, palaces and huts, tea plantations and factories, museums and tea shops, Buddhist and Taoist monasteries and temples, tea ceremonies and tea houses. Everywhere, where tea is grown, made and consumed. In China it is done all over the place. So let's get on our way. Our travel begins in Shanghai. In the 19th century, the trade missions of all large Chinese tea companies were located in Shanghai. From here, the tea caravans would leave on the way through Siberia to St. Petersburg and Moscow. The British sailing ships would load up in the local port, and bring tea to England and countries of Western Europe. The consulates and trade missions of European countries opened in Shanghai. From here, they would carry tea, and from India to here imported opium. Shanghai nearly became a European city. Here, in parks, there were signs placed: "The entrance is forbidden for dogs and Chinese". In 1887, in Shanghai, there were 420 foreign tea trade companies. Among them: 252 English, 65 German, 28 American, 25 Japanese, 18 of both French and Russian, 5 Spanish and 16 other. After the Chinese revolution, the foreigners were asked to leave from here. However, they have been coming back in recent years. Shanghai itself has been transforming. Globalization, in its peaceful manner, performs the same, as what used to be possible to do before, only at the gunpoints of ships' cannons. China copies western technologies, and along with them, the way of life. While there are new Chinese restaurants opening in western countries, and more and more Chinese tea is exported from the country, Chinese with eagerness, worthy of better use, seek borrowing of the advanced achievements of the western world. From Shanghai to Hangzhou, the capital of the Zhejiang province it is about 200 km. This distance is covered in 45 minutes only, by the high-speed train "Hukhan". Hangzhou with only five million residents seems like a small town, in comparison with the huge Shanghai. Although, it is one of the largest industrial and financial centers of the country. There are skyscrapers, and the underground here and … air polluted by the industrial emissions. But all of this is a little away from the Old Town. It is, as though specially conserved, turned into the "reservation" for tourists. It is rather easy to orient oneself through the intertwining streets — it is only needed to keep the direction to the west. Sooner or later, we will meet the east coast of the Xi Hu Lake, the name means "Western Lake" in translation. The Museum of Tea is not only a museum building with an exposition, but also a real tea plantation. Hangzhou – the capital of the Zhejiang Province, and the local Zhejiang cuisine is one of the ten main cuisines of China. It has many dishes with fish and seafood. The local type of tea - "Xi Hu Loong Jing" has a very long history. Already during the Tan's era, it was made in the Tianlan and Linyin Monasteries. Since then, the technology did practically not change. To make one kilogram of high-quality tea, it is necessary to hand-pick 70-80 thousand whole buds with leaves. After the leaves dry a little, they get sorted in three types — depending on the size of the leaves. Each type is roasted separately, at a different temperature and has a different processing time.