Ancient tea road brought to life in Shanxi

A special exhibition focusing on the ancient China-Mongolia-Russia Tea Road, the first time an exhibition has been held on this theme in China, opened at Shanxi Museum in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, on Jan 28.

Developed during the 17th century, when the famous Shanxi merchants transported tea and other products from Southeast China to Mongolia and Russia, the ancient China-Mongolia-Russia Tea Road was similar to the more famous Silk Road and linked more than 200 cities across China, Mongolia, and Russia, extending for some 13,000 kilometers.

The exhibition, which is divided into three parts, displays 279 articles from over 20 renowned collections of relics from seven Chinese provinces and one autonomous region. Visitors are able to view items such as tea production tools, Chinese and Western tea sets, tea advertisements, and old invoices issued by the tea merchants.

The exhibits highlight methods of tea production, processing, transport and trade along the ancient route and the prosperity it brought to the area.

More than 20 collections from five local Shanxi museums related to Shanxi merchants, a group active during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties that played a vital role in pioneering and extending the Tea Road, were included in the exhibition to give visitors the opportunity to learn more about this important group of traders and their contribution to the province.