Tea is not just a drink. It is also an important element for learning about Chinese culture. To understand more about tea and its development, Professor Cheng Pei-kai, Director of the Chinese Civilisation Centre at City University of Hong Kong (CityU), and Professor Zhu Zizhen from Nanjing Agricultural University spent six years co-editing The Complete Annotated Collection of Chinese Tea Books.

This new publication is a compilation of 114 Chinese tea books dating back from the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) to the Qing Dynasty (1644 -

1911). It is the most detailed extant tea book of its kind, offering the public both academic and practical insights. The book provides a testimony on tea history and culture for scholars and it is a handy reference for tea lovers.

"Tea is a special element for revealing more about Chinese culture because it relates to the daily life of almost everyone. It carries both the meaning of the materialistic and the mentalist," Professor Cheng said.

The new book further demonstrates the effort that CityU is putting into promoting Chinese culture and nurturing students with related knowledge.

Preceding the launch, CityU organized a symposium from 13 to 14 March on tea and Chinese culture. It was held on campus and co-organized with the Home Affairs Bureau and the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware. Twenty guest speakers from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea shared their views about tea in terms of history, medicine, economics, culture and art.

The Complete Annotated Collection of Chinese Tea Books is published by The Commercial Press (HK) Ltd.