Siyi Chu
Contributor
Siyi Chu
Beyond the teapot: How Hangzhou is reinventing its longjing tea culture
✦ Hangzhou, home to China's famed Longjing (Dragon Well) green tea, is reinventing its tea culture beyond farmhouse poker games and bus-tour photo stops. ✦ From the centuries-old Jingshan Tea Banquet to a 10-yuan teahouse on Wugong Hill, Hangzhou now offers tea experiences spanning ancient ceremony to contemporary reinvention. ✦ Meijiawu native Xu Mingjun runs a hands-on teahouse where visitors pick, roast and grind their own Longjing leaves, reflecting a shift from sightseeing to participation. ✦ Tea master Mao Wanji and modern venues like cocktail bar One More Tea show how ritual, tea therapy and mixology are expanding what tea means in the city today.
Siyi Chu
Living on dying: Meet the coffin makers of Liuzhou, China
✦ Liuzhou, in China’s Guangxi region, has been famous for handcrafting high-quality coffins since the Tang Dynasty ✦ Since 1979, its mini coffin souvenirs have been sold across China and become popular souvenirs in Hong Kong, Macau and beyond ✦ In villages like Liudao outside Liuzhou, families still carve full-size coffins, even as decades of cremation policy and a slowing real-estate sector reshape the trade’s future
Siyi Chu
The Beijing government offices where you can eat your way across China
The first thing I did once I landed in Beijing after a year of living away was to hop into a taxi with some urgency.
