The eighteen bushes and an emperor’s visit
Discover the Longjing story of Qianlong, a temple visit and eighteen tea bushes, a local tradition that made imperial favour part of the landscape.
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Hangzhou
30 articles
A valley read from the path
Walk through Longjing Village in Hangzhou, where tea rows climb the slopes and homes, lanes and small businesses occupy the valley below.
A Thread Learns a Pattern
A loom, a cocoon and a patterned surface give China National Silk Museum a story that reaches well beyond Hangzhou.
A Leaf with Many Lives
At China Tea Museum, the small distance between a tea garden and an exhibition opens into a much larger world of leaves, vessels and human choices.
A Temple Courtyard Teaches the Eye
At Lingyin, halls, open spaces and older stone details make architecture something to read in sequence.
Where the Butterfly Lovers shared a book
Wansong Academy keeps a Hangzhou chapter of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai’s story.
The Landscape Inside a Tea Leaf
Around Longjing, a leaf’s familiar shape leads into a living craft and the hills that sustain it.
White Snake: An Umbrella, a Marriage, a Tower
A borrowed umbrella begins a life together. Beyond it lie magic, separation and the hope of reunion.
A spring from a tiger’s dream
Two tigers, a sleeping monk, and the water that found its way into Hangzhou’s tea culture.
The king who faced the tide
On the Qiantang, a sea wall and a flight of arrows share a place in the city’s imagination.
The well that brought the timber
At Jingci Temple, a small circle of water opens onto a very large story.
The bride, the monk, and the flying hill
A wedding procession takes a very unexpected turn beside Lingyin.