According to Liao Bao-xu, curator and ex-research fellow of the National Palace Museum (NPM), tea-tasting is a form of lifestyle, fashion, art, and culture as well as a language between tea aficionados.
“The Far-Reaching Fragrance of Tea: The Art and Culture of Tea in Asia,” one of the five opening permanent exhibitions of the NPM Southern Branch, details the long history of Chinese tea culture. In 761, Chinese writer Lu Yu (ca. 733–804) wrote The Classic of Tea. Since then, tea has become an important symbol of Chinese culture. The art of tea-tasting has even spread across the entire continent of Asia. With more than three decades of experience in tea culture-related research, retired research fellow Liao Bao-xu was invited to write this catalogue; her profound knowledge on tea will surely fascinate all readers about the “way of tea.”
This catalog features a collection of NPM’s tea culture-related artifacts including ancient tea books, tea paintings, tea ware, Qing court milk tea ware, Taiwanese Kung Fu Tea, and Japanese tea artifacts. Divided into chapters “The Homeland of Tea: Chinese Tea Culture,” “The Way of Tea: Japanese Tea Culture,” and “The Joy of Tea: Taiwanese Kung Fu Tea,” this catalog describes regions influenced by Asian tea culture as well as the different tea cultures from different times. Various tea ware and tea-tasting habits of each region were introduced to take readers on a journey to understand the philosophies and spread of tea in Asia and how tea from different eras and regions contrast and complement each other, resulting in modern tea culture.
The catalog illustrates the unique tastes of tea aficionados by presenting readers tea ware from different dynasties as well as the craftsmanship of such artifacts. Comparisons are subsequently made between Chinese and Japanese tea culture as well as Taiwanese Kung Fu Tea and specially made exhibition space such as Ming dynasty teahouse, Japanese tearoom, and modern tea ceremony are set up to facilitate culture-to-culture exchanges.