China's Tea Industry Takes to E-Commerce and likely to make a comebackTOP
There is a phrase Westerners use that says they won’t do an unsavory task “for all the tea in China.” The phrase originated in the 1880s, when British coffers were drained due to massive tea imports from China. That period was the zenith of the tea trade in China. Today, tea exports are a minor share of the country’s total export, and the sector is faced with many challenges to growth.
China's traditional tea culture has recently entered the Internet, pioneering e-commerce in the tea business in China.
By visiting www.sxs.org.cn , a newly-established multilingual website introducing China's tea culture in Chinese, English and Japanese, tea lovers can now keep up with the latest information and knowledge about various categories of Chinese tea.
In addition to setting up websites, many domestic tea companies have begun resorting to e-commerce to promote their businesses.
Experts have pointed out that the current development of China's tea industry websites falls far behind the Internet, which is progressing by leaps and bounds.
Before the founding of www.sxs.org.cn, most home tea websites only displayed a few pictures of tea products, accompanied by simple captions. Other useful information about the production, processing and sales of tea all over China could be accessed only through retailers, as well as through newspapers and magazines.
Statistics show that China now has tea plantations totaling more than 1.1 million hectares, and over 20 special tea research institutions.
However, there has never been an organization specializing in collecting, analyzing and spreading information about Chinese tea.
Though some domestic tea societies and companies have set up affiliated departments engaged in gathering and classifying data as well as issuing publications related to tea, they have never tried to take advantage of the Internet service. Some don't even have computers.
The most efficient way of changing the situation is to present China's tea industry on the Internet.
However, China's tea markets, scattered all over the country, are mostly small-scale and have distinctive regional characteristics. This sharply contrasts with the e-commerce system demanding a platform with comprehensive product information.
The southern tea market, one of the few domestic markets that can serve as a "platform", was the first to operate through e-commerce.
One of the main problems in the tea industry in China is pesticide residue. This problem has become more serious as trading countries raise the standards for tea.
These regulations have created a downward trend in exports of tea from China. The industry now lags far behind the industrial development of the country in general.
Meanwhile, China Tea Co is expanding the planting of organic tea. It has selected tea gardens with suitable environments throughout the country and has built organic tea gardens in Hunan, Fujian, Zhejiang and Yunan.
Despite the hurdles, China Tea Co is expanding its marketing system abroad.
Due to barriers and hurdles in the overseas market, the future domestic market seems more attractive. China has the largest population, the fastest developing economy, and more people will turn to tea as they become conscious of their health.
Starting a Tea BusinessTOP
Starting a tea business can take many different forms other than a tea room. You can open a tea bar or have a home based business. Starting a tea business isn't as hard as you think if you do the proper planning. You can have a home-based business with several options.
Tea is becoming very popular. Tea is the most consumed beverage in the world after water. Now is the time to be starting a tea business and get into the tea trade. It is expected that the tea business will double in the next five years. In 2010 it is expected to reach $10 billion. As you can see, starting a tea business now is going to increase as more and more people turn to tea. The potential earnings are there for you and your hard work!
Opening a tea bar is less expensive than starting a tea room. A tea bar would be in the same category as a Starbucks. You would have a tea selection with some basic food--scones, tea bread, crumpets, etc.--and possibly a gift corner with tea pots, cups and saucers, and tea accouterments. A tea bar has less restrictions than a tea room which in generally classified as a restaurant. It is less expensive to start a tea bar than open a tea room.
These are home parties where you could educate people about tea as well as sell tea and tea accouterments. You can offer your hostess percentage off for meeting sales quotas. You can offer future hostesses incentives to host a party in their own homes. Your imagination can run wild in this department.
If you like to speak to groups, you could talk on all aspects of tea. You topics could range from health benefits to history of tea to Victorian tea parties or to tea etiquette. There are many groups that would love to learn about tea. Tea is gaining in popularity and the tea business is forecast to double in the next five years. Start with your local church groups. Retirement homes, newcomers clubs, health care networks, local bookstores, libraries, schools, including home schools would all be interested in having tea talks. You can present classes at your local community college and/or university. The parks and recreation department holds summer classes and would love to have one to offer on tea. Also, local clubs, such as the Red Hat Society love to have speakers. I found that once they knew I gave tea talks, they all wanted to hire me.
Another idea for a tea business is leading tea tours. These can be tours of your local area or adjoining areas. You can work with travel organizations and set up tours across the United States as well as in foreign countries.
Longwu, A Forever Hometown of TeaTOP
Longwu: Tea festival once every year
In 2005, the spring of Hang Zhou is the one of tea.” Tea as National Drink and Hang Zhou as Tea City .Well-planned tea fares and tea ceremonies unfolded mysterious tea complex and turned out to be a cherish for the festival .Mar.26,2005 is preset date when a significant West Lake Longjin” Tea Opening Festival” will be staged .Media has focused their lens on the place called “Longwu”.
Hang Zhou is a tea city and it is a tea village here
“Hang Zhou is a tea city and it is a tea village here” was that Longwu Township Governor Ms. Zheng Guomei when we interviewed her. If we want to build Hang Zhou to a tea city, Longwu, as the biggest tea producer in West Lake Longjin, shall carry on its commitment and responsibility at the same time .She said, many years ago there was a dispute on Longwu’s authenticity as West lake Longjin and ever some medias now focus their lens on the old production areas of Meijiawu etc. A major event of China (Hang Zhou) West Lake Tea Culture Exposition ----West Lake Longjin Tea Opening Festival will be held in Longwu. This is a good opportunity for Longwu.
First visit to Longwu Tea Village
Longwu is not far away from Hang Zhou City area and only half hour drive to the Hang Zhou downtown. Farmhouses are scattered on the two sides of the straight road. The villa buildings are newly painted and look extremely attractive in the spring sunshine.
Sit down and enjoy a cup of authentic West Lake Longjin in a farm family after watching tea leave picking, tea making or outdoor sports .prepare the tea with the fountain from the mountains and it tastes delicious.
Beautiful Future of Longwu Tea Village
Village Party Secretary Sheng Zhihua introduced the detailed plan for Shangcheng Dai Village to build up Longwu Tea Village. We took numerous photos of the farm villa effect drawings that are in unique style and outstanding. This is the today and tomorrow of Longjin Tea Village------ Longwu.
Hupao Spring－ranked the third in ChinaTOP
Hupao Spring is ranked the third in China, according to scientific research on the quality of the water of the spring, followed by Leng Spring in Zhejiang and Hui Spring in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. The pleasures to be gained from Hupao Spring are listening to the spring, viewing the spring, tasting the spring, feeling the spring, even dreaming that the spring enables every thought about the spring to come to mind.
Hupao Spring is well famed for its unique fountain. People of all ages highly praise it after tasting a cup of Longjing tea made of water from Hupao fountain. Many laudatory poems about the spring have been composed by famous Chinese poets, both in ancient and in modern times. No surprise then that Longjing (Dragon Well) tea and Hupao (Tiger Running) fountain bring out the best in each other and are acknowledged as 'two wonders of West Lake'.
Hupao Spring is at the foot of Daci (Great Compassion) Hill, five kilometers away from Hang Zhou city, which stretches between West Lake and the Qiantang River. A temple named after Daci Hill was erected there during the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). Legend has it that a monk named Xingkong lived in Daci Temple. Coincidentally, he dreamed one night that an immortal told him that two mighty tigers would move a fountain there, just after he had made plans to leave the temple, due to lack of water. To his surprise, two mighty tigers sure enough came in the following day from Mountain Hengshan and dug a hole in the spot where the spring immediately gushed forth. Hence, the spring was named Hupao Spring (Tiger Running Spring).
Actually, Hupao Spring forms as the result of underground water seeping through veins and cracks within quartz sandstone that is not eroded by acid materials. Due to its low content of mineralized ingredients and its high percentage of radon (a radioactive element), the spring water, which tastes pure, sweet and cold, is an ideal beverage for good health. Most interestingly, the spring water rises three millimeters above a bowl edge without overflowing even if a coin is put into the bowl, a scientific phenomenon made possible by the high surface tension of the spring water.
Today, Hupao Spring and the surrounding twisting valley have been turned into Tiger Running Spring Forest Park. On the site is Li Shutong Memorial erected in honor of the scholar and hierarch, who was outstanding in the fields of music, drama, painting, and calligraphy, and entered into Buddhism in Daci Temple in 1981.
No matter when locals ponder over the new top ten scenic spots of West Lake in Hang Zhou, Hupao Spring must be chosen for its excellent temperament.
Hang Zhou TeaTOP
Hang Zhou, three hours southwest of Shanghai, is a popular tourist destination for the Chinese. Tea is popular everywhere in China, but few places enjoy Hang Zhou’s reputation for tea culture - an undefined element that seems to encompass all things related to tea.
West Lake Dragon Well tea, a green tea grown in the hills surrounding the city, is Hang Zhou’s specialty. High-grade Dragon Well tea is expensive - often displayed in luxury shops like jewelry. Yet many of the poorest locals consider it a necessity. The leaves of the green tea, brilliant emerald green spears about 3/4 inch long, are renowned throughout Chine for their beauty. The Buddhist monks first started tea-growing around Hang Zhou’s Lingyin Temple, the most significant landmark of this 2,200-year-old city. In ages past, emperors demanded the green tea as tribute, and it was offered as a gift to President Nixon when he visited China in 1972.
National Chinese Tea Museum, southeast of the city, is largest tea museum in the world. Along wide stone steps uphill, small tea villages nestled in valleys with rows of tea bushes clothing the surrounding hills. The tea houses in Hang Zhou are also unique. There are over 700 tea houses scattered in the city area. The houses are well visited by tea fans, no matter they are primitive, modern, Chinese style or western style, and the famous and elegant tea houses are full of visitors day and night.
Spring in Hang Zhou today is elegant and lively .Thousands of foreign tea loving guests come and cultural content of “West Lake Water and Longjin Tea” resurfaces, Becoming a platform of new industry and culture exchange. 2005China (Hang Zhou) West Lake International Tea Culture Exposition Will not only a big pageant, but also will build a brand of “Tea as a National Drink, Hang Zhou as Tea City”.
Through the centuries, tea has gained a niche in the lives of the Chinese, particularly the teahouses that line West Lake and huddle in the valleys of the surrounding hills. Brews of green tea are priced from $4.60 to $30.50 in those teahouses, and the price of a pot there buys hours of lazing around, snacking and drinking - a favorite
From earliest strong economic city through building a famous culture city up to building “Hang Zhou as Tea City” and “The City of Relaxation”, Hang Zhou is developing with more and more individuality and humanity. Material civilization of high degree have to be supported by deep spiritual civilization, just like the environment we need for “harmonious pioneering” and the experience that we need for “culture relaxation” This is also the intention to publish the magazine “Tea Panorama” with sufficient writings.
Please follow us to go over and enjoy it –a cup of “Tea of Hang Zhou”.
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