It is time to sip cups of fine tea with the scents lingering in the air.

The 4th Shanghai International Tea Industry Expo is open through Saturday in the Pudong New Area, featuring tea and elegant utensils from all over the world and an array of tea-themed activities.

The Tea Plus Chinese Tea Culture Experience Week is being held at the same time to promote the Chinese tea culture, featuring displays of exquisite tea ware, tea-themed literati gathering in an ancient style, and diancha (making finely ground powder from processed green tea) performances.

Covering 25,000 square meters, the expo, a four-day feast for tea lovers, has 1,200 booths and brings together more than 500 tea companies and governments from tea production bases across the nation.

Focusing on the latest development trends of the industry, the expo comprises seven areas featuring vastly different teas, including white and Pu’er, as well as zisha (purple clay) and tea utensils.

The expo shows the design aesthetics of tea utensils, from Longquan celadon to Jingdezhen porcelain.

About 20 activities are planned during the expo, ranging from Yuhang tea culture promotion, tea sipping, and reading events, to a Song-style diancha competition, cultural relics restoration, and rubbing techniques of oracle bone script of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs

Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) royal palace diancha performances will also be featured, together with tea health lectures and incense and tea gatherings. A Song-style tea bazaar has been set up, featuring clay pots, tea sets, tea-related costumes, and other tea-related handicrafts.

The literati class of the Song Dynasty played a leading role in cultural life, and the diancha, flower arranging, incense burning, and hanging paintings they advocated were collectively known as the “Four Elegances of the Song Dynasty,” and will be replicated at the expo.

Visitors can also play touhu, an ancient arrow-throwing game popular during the Song Dynasty.

Although Shanghai is not a tea-producing area, it has “embraced” tea products and unique artistic utensils from all over the world with an open mind, and has given birth to the exquisite, widely inclusive, elegant and fashionable Shanghai-style tea culture, with the event creating a platform for tea industry trade and tea cultural exchanges.

If you go:

Time: Through Saturday, 9am-5pm

Admission: free

Venue: Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center

Address: 1099 Guozhan Road, Pudong New Area

浦东新区国展路1099号