Tea master serves up fine frothy art

Before getting heavily involved in the tea industry, Zhang worked as a traffic police officer in Yuhang after graduating from university in 2011.

At a family gathering many years ago, Zhang's mother talked to her about the difficulties that a local tea factory had been having and requested that she return to help.

Zhang, who had been fascinated by the Song Dynasty tea and art culture since childhood, agreed to return to assist the industry's development. In 2016, Zhang founded Hangzhou Jingshan Yunlaiji Business Management (Wufengshanfang) with the help of her family.

Wufengshanfang, located in Jingshan, is a homestay aiming to integrate leisure tourism with the local tea industry. The 400-square-meter space consists of 12 rooms and can accommodate about 50 people for training and activities. There are more than 100 hectares of tea gardens nearby, where tourists can experience traditions such as picking tea leaves, making tea and learning dian cha.

"As a young entrepreneur, I wanted to bring the young idea and energy to my hometown," Zhang said. "So I redecorated the original old house into a homestay and integrated intangible cultural heritage experiences, including Jingshan tea frying and teapot-making activities and opportunities to try on hanfu (traditional clothing of the Han people in ancient China). I also created the Jingshan Tea Club."

The homestay has received recognition, being designated as a model homestay in Yuhang and in Hangzhou. It has also been dubbed an excellent intangible cultural heritage homestay in Yuhang. "As a representative of the Jingshan Town People's Congress, I also want to do something for my hometown. So I have set up a social organization, and I do public services such as providing free tea art training and offering free porridge at the Laba Rice Porridge Festival," Zhang said.

Fang Xiaoying in Hangzhou contributed to this story.