Yuhua Tea Museum

Yuhua Tea Museum

The Yuhua Tea Museum is located within the Yuhua Mountain Scenic Area in Nanjing. Covering a construction area of 820 square meters, the museum showcases both images and physical exhibits to narrate the history of tea culture in Nanjing, as well as the "past and present" of Yuhua Tea. Originating in Nanjing, Yuhua Tea has been ranked among China’s famous teas since its debut in 1959. With its one-of-a-kind spirit, symbolic and unique shape, and pure essence, it has become a remarkable highlight in the contemporary world of tea culture.

The entire museum exhibition is divided into three sections. This is the first section: "Golden Age Tea Tales," which mainly introduces anecdotes related to tea in the ancient capital of Nanjing. First, we’ll introduce the origin of the Chinese idiom "using tea instead of wine": It is recorded that during the Three Kingdoms period, Sun Hao, the emperor of the Wu Kingdom, often hosted drinking sessions with his ministers and mandated that each must drink at least seven liters. However, he made an exception for Wei Yao, a learned but light-drinking court official whom he highly respected. Whenever Wei Yao found it hard to keep up, Sun Hao would “secretly offer him tea to replace the wine.” “荼?” is the earliest known term for tea, and this is also the origin of the idiom "using tea instead of wine."

By the Southern Dynasties, tea began to be widely used as an offering. During the Tang Dynasty, tea was already widely cultivated in Nanjing, especially around Niushou Mountain and Yuhuatai, producing tea known for its exceptional color and aroma, called "Heavenly Gate Tea." The copy of the Classic of Tea (Cha Jing) displayed here is the first monograph on tea studies. Its author, Lu Yu—later revered as the "Sage of Tea"—personally went to Qixia Temple in the eastern suburbs of Nanjing to pick tea. The image shows the remains of where he tested tea at Qixia Temple. When Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty made his fifth southern tour, he strolled through the woods of Qixia Temple and, upon seeing the remnants of Lu Yu’s tea-testing pavilion, gazed at the stone inscriptions and composed this poem with delight.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, the great poet Lu You visited Yongning Temple on Yuhuatai out of admiration. The monks there served him temple tea brewed with Yongning spring water. After tasting it, Lu You spoke highly of it and, in a moment of inspiration, praised Yongning Spring as the “Second Spring.” During the Republican era, a "Second Spring Teahouse" was built above the Second Spring. Lu You’s love for tea is also reflected in his poetry. His collection, "Jian Nan Poetry Manuscripts," contains about 300 poems related to tea. Displayed here are his poems "Looking Toward Jiangnan" and "Seven-Character Regulated Verse: Daytime Sleep."

During the Tang and Song dynasties, tea was made into cakes, known as "cake tea." By the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Hongwu Zhu Yuanzhang, aiming to reduce the burden on tea farmers, issued an edict to abolish compressed tea cakes and switch to loose leaf tea. After the shift from compressed to loose tea, the method of tea preparation changed dramatically—from whisking or boiling—to directly infusing the leaves with boiling water, a practice that continues to this day.

Cao Xueqin, the author of "Dream of the Red Chamber," had profound knowledge and understanding of the art of tea tasting. Every character in his novel loves tea, with tea mentioned 273 times throughout the book, including famous varieties such as Liuan Tea, Laojun Mei, Siam Tea, Pu'er Tea, Maple Dew Tea, and Longjing Tea. Chapter 41, "Tea Tasting with Plum Blossom Snow at the Green Lattice Nunnery," vividly reveals the personalities of the characters through detailed descriptions of Miaoyu selecting, brewing, and serving tea to different individuals.

In the Republican era, in 1931, Soong Mei-ling advocated planting over 300 acres of tea trees around Linggu Temple, Meihua Mountain, and Meiling Palace, developing the tea gardens of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum. Dr. Sun Yat-sen also loved tea throughout his life. Not only did he understand and cherish tea himself, but he also actively encouraged the public to drink tea, elevating tea drinking to a matter of people's livelihood. He believed that "tea is the most hygienic and elegant beverage for humans," and said: "Before foreigners had tea, they drank alcohol; but after getting Chinese tea, they replaced alcohol with tea."

During the Republican era, teahouses were already very common in Nanjing, with twenty to thirty just in the Confucius Temple area alone. Famous ones included Yishun, Kuiguang Pavilion, and Six Dynasties Residence.

In 1958, to commemorate the revolutionary martyrs who sacrificed their lives at Yuhuatai, the Jiangsu Provincial Committee proposed creating a special famous tea. Once successfully developed, it was named "Yuhua" to remind drinkers of its origin. According to the decision of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee, the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Forestry organized over ten master tea makers from Yuhuatai, the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, and across the province, using the relatively large-scale Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum Tea Garden as a testing base for repeated experiments. A "Yuhua Famous Tea Creation Committee" was also specifically established. To reflect the commemorative significance and red heritage of "Yuhua Tea," experts proposed various designs for the tea’s shape: "broadsword and spear-shaped," "sickle and axe-shaped," and "petal-shaped." However, none of these ideas proved feasible during repeated experiments. Eventually, it was decided to shape the tea into pine needle form, symbolizing the everlasting spirit of the revolutionary martyrs. In the spring of 1959, a new type of green tea—Yuhua Tea—different from famous teas like Longjing and Biluochun—was successfully developed. This is a report from the Xinhua Daily about the successful creation of Yuhua Tea. In May 1959, Yuhua Tea was submitted to relevant departments for tasting and evaluation, and its quality received unanimous praise. Displayed here are tools used in tea production during the 1950s and 1960s, including this drying basket. Charcoal is placed underneath, and tea leaves are spread on top to dry them.

The success of Yuhua Tea greatly promoted the production and development of tea in Nanjing. The image shows early tea gardens on Yuhuatai. Also displayed are the main Yuhua Tea production areas in Nanjing: Yuhuatai Tea Factory, Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum Tea Factory, and Jiangning Tea Experimental Farm. Yuhuatai Tea Factory’s Yuhua Tea began exporting as early as 1966, but because the tea was entirely handmade, production was very low. In the early 1980s, to meet the growing domestic and international demand for Yuhua Tea, mechanical production was attempted. Yuhuatai specially imported the SD-60 precision rolling machine from Japan. After several years of effort, the mechanized production process for Yuhua Tea was successfully developed at Yuhuatai Tea Factory, achieving full mechanization and increasing production efficiency by 26 times. In December 1986, the "Research and Development of Mechanized Yuhua Tea Production Technology" was officially approved. Yuhua Tea became the first national famous tea to achieve full mechanized production. The display case features exported machine-made Yuhua Tea, which received unanimous praise from foreign merchants at the time. Many even came to visit Yuhuatai Tea Factory in person.