Hunan's traditional tea-making skills exhibition Held

An exhibition of Hunan's traditional tea-making skills and related customs was launched at the Hunan Department of Culture and Tourism on December 12. Hunan's Qianliang tea, Fuzhuan brick tea, and Junshan Silver Needle tea making skills, which were recently added into the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list as three items of China's national intangible cultural heritage, are presented. The event will last until December 14.

Hunan has built a "Colorful Hunan Tea" public brand highlighting dark tea, green tea, black tea, yellow tea, and white tea based on their differentiated superiorities. At the "Colorful Hunan Tea" area, the tea-making skills of Qianliang tea, Fuzhuan brick tea, Junshan Silver Needle tea, Sangzhi white tea, and Anhua Pine Needle tea and red needle tea are displayed.

At the tea vessel area, visitors will find that Hunan's porcelain tea vessel making techniques are combined with some other traditional skills, such as Hunan embroidery and bamboo weaving. Such combination makes tea vessels more artistic and suitable for daily use. Besides, Hunan embroidery, Tujia brocade, Changsha's Tongguan kiln porcelain-making skills, and Liling's colorful under-glazed porcelain-making skills are exhibited.

Traditional tea processing techniques and their associated social practices in China was added on November 29 to the intangible cultural heritage list of UNESCO. Hunan's Qianliang tea, Fuzhuan brick tea, and Junshan Silver Needle tea making skills were included as three items of national intangible cultural heritage. China now has 43 items on the intangible cultural heritage list of UNESCO, continuing to be the top one in terms of the number in the world. With the three newly-added tea-making items, Hunan has 9 items added to the UNESCO list, in the front rank nationwide.